Priceless

Every single one of Jolene's senses exploded at the sight, sound, touch, taste and feel of this beautiful woman. She closed her eyes, wrapping herself in the lustful moment, and moaned against Eve's soft lips. Her mouth was clean and fresh, but hot and steamy all at the same time and Jolene unabashedly took her tongue and slid it deep inside.

"You're so bad, baby," Eve grinned when they caught their breath. "So, so bad!"

Jolene wrapped her arms even tighter around Eve's waist, pressing her body full against her new lover. Eve's scent invaded Jolene's very being, and she reveled in the fresh rose fragrance.

Their kisses grew in intensity and Jolene was enveloped in a heightened sense of sensuality and passion. Her head began to spin as she felt Eve's hands roaming all over her body, grasping, pulling and tugging at her clothes.

"We need to take these off," Eve said, matter-of-factly.

Taking control, Eve pushed her into the last stall and shut the door. Hold still," Eve said as she knelt before Jolene. Eve reached up, underneath Jolene's skirt, and pulled down her panties.

"I'm keeping these," Eve chuckled as she tucked them into her pants pocket. Then she slid her hands up Jolene's thighs, until she cupped her full, taut ass.

"Ohhh," Jolene sighed. Eve's touch was light, but sure, and Jolene's heart started to race.

To Jolene's surprise, Eve pressed forward and placed her lips right on Jolene's pussy. "Mmmm," Eve moaned, as she stroked the soft, smooth skin with her lips and fingers. She then snaked out her tongue to get a taste of Jolene's warm, sweet honey.

"Oh God!" Jolene exclaimed at the wet, wiggling sensations coursing through her. "That feels so good!" she hissed.

Eve drank deeply from Jolene's erotic well. She licked and sucked the hot nectar that flowed from her core. Her lips, tongue and fingers were busy, touching and teasing her lover into a frenzied, passionate state.

Low moans continued to escape from Jolene's lips. "Oh God, Eve! Oh yes, baby!" Every nerve in her body was on fire, threatening to consume her in a blazing-hot inferno.

Eve flicked her tongue even faster. "Hurry, baby!" she urged as she took long laps at Jolene's wet pinkness.

Jolene's moans increased in intensity as she gripped the back of Eve's head and pressed it against her pussy. Jolene rotated her hips, then began to buck them back and forth as her body began to tremble.

"Let me taste it," Eve said seductively, "Let me taste that hot, sticky juice!"

"Oh God," Jolene groaned. Everything she'd ever dreamed of was coming true. A beautiful, sexy, wanton woman was giving her all of the pleasure she'd ever desired. The thought of finally getting what she'd always dreamed of gave her a heady feeling.

Eve licked even harder, trying to draw out the young woman's climax. "Give it to me, honey! Now, now!"

Jolene threw her head back, lost in the exquisite sensations coursing through her body. "Ohhhh," she moaned at Eve's swift licks and nips to her swollen gem. "I'm gonna...I'm gonna..."

"Cum for me, baby," Eve breathed. "Cum for me, sweet baby!"

"Yessss!" Jolene cried out at the erotic vibrations that began deep inside of her and consumed her entire body. "Ahhh!" she called out as her body tensed, then exploded into an exquisitely carnal bliss.

Finally, Eve had drunk every drop of Jolene's sweet nectar. She planted a soft kiss on Jolene's pussy and stood up. She pulled Jolene into a warm embrace, comforting the trembling woman until she gently calmed down.

Several minutes later, without a word, Eve slipped out the door, leaving Jolene to catch her breath alone.

When Jolene was able to compose her self, she looked in the mirror and smiled. Her reflection was suddenly calmer, brighter. She straightened her uniform, smoothed down the incriminating wrinkles, and left the bathroom.

As she walked to the counter, she tensed up as she looked for Archie. Her shoulders relaxed as she found him still in the same place. She went to the cash register, her eyes now on Eve.

Eve gathered up her jacket, purse and briefcase and coolly walked up to the register. She reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet. "How much?"

"It's on the house."

"No, I have to pay you something. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"All right. Five bucks. For everything."

Eve slid a black American Express card over the counter. "And I want to make sure I leave a tip for you," she winked.

Jolene bristled. "You trying to pay me?"

Eve held up her hands. "No! I was just..."

Jolene nodded, embarrassed for thinking such a thing. "Of course you weren't." She toyed with the keys on the cash register, trying to draw out their time together. "Well, about the tip, it's not like I'd get it anyway. Archie doesn't give us our tips off of credit cards."

Eve looked shocked. "What? That's illegal. You should report him!"

"The sheriff? That's Archie's brother-in-law, so lotta good that'll do me. Anyway, our credit card machine's broken, so that's that."

"Damn. Guess that takes care of that. Thank goodness I've got cash." She opened the next compartment on her wallet. "Oh shit."

"What?"

"I only have enough cash for the bill. Six singles."

Jolene shrugged. "Not too many people leave tips anyway."

Eve handed the bills to Jolene. "So that means I've only got a dollar for your tip. Sorry." Eve looked around the diner. "So you're really in a bad situation here, huh?"

Jolene shrugged, trying to hide her disappointment at Eve's leaving. "Not forever. Just for now."

"Well here's my number," Eve said as she pulled out her business card and gave it to Jolene. "And give me your number."

Jolene pulled out her order pad, wrote her number on the back of one of the tickets and handed it to Eve.

Eve smiled as she put it in her pocket. "Thanks. Well, about the tip, I'm sorry I couldn't give you more. But make sure to take that dollar and do something special. Buy a lottery ticket, even," she joked. "Seems like today's your lucky day!"

"Well, thanks for everything," Jolene said wistfully. She wasn't sure if she'd ever see Eve again and it made her somewhat sad.

"What are you thanking me for?" Eve asked as she started for the front door. "You're the one who made my day."

"No," Jolene whispered as she fondled the business card. "Thank you. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to."

She tucked the card in her pocket and gave Eve a small, barely perceptible wave as she walked out of the diner, and possibly out of her life forever.

For several long moments afterward, Jolene watched the door, wondering what might have been, and fought back a storm of hot, sorrowful tears.

~~~

Late that night, after her shift, and without a car, Jolene walked the two-mile trek back to her grandmother's house. Just before she got to her house, she passed the local gas station on the corner. Following a hunch, she went inside, walked past the thin man behind the counter and looked at the brightly-lit lottery display.

The week's grand prize for the Magical Millions lottery was one hundred and eighty million dollars.

On an impulse, she pulled out her dollar bill, set it on the counter and pointed to the lottery machine. "Give me one of those tickets, please."

"What numbers you want?" he asked in a gravely voice.

Jolene thought for a moment. What numbers should I pick?

Then a thought hit her: Why not birthdays?

"All right," she began. "Three for my birthday. Twelve for Grammie's. Twenty-seven for Mom's, bless her soul, and eighteen for Auntie Millicent's.

"One more," he said, punching the buttons on the lottery machine.

"One more?" But which one? Ten for Auntie Ruth or Thirty for Uncle Randall?

She quickly decided in favor of Girl Power. "Give me number ten for Auntie Ruth."

"And the bonus number?" he asked.

She smiled. "Seven. Today was my lucky day."

~~~

"I need you to come back in tonight, Jolene. And I don't want any arguments!"

That Saturday night, Jolene lay on her couch, drifting off to sleep in front of the TV. Her feet were on fire, her back was sore and her head throbbed after her long shift. Having only laid down for a couple of hours or so, the phone had jolted her out of her nap. She'd run to answer it before her grandmother was woken up.

She looked at the clock. It was ten minutes after eleven. "The restaurant's closed, Archie! What the heck you want me back down there for?"

"I need you to help me with some...inventory."

"I'm about to get into bed, Archie. Can't I do this in the morning?"

"Jolene? I'll be here for thirty minutes. If you're not down here, don't even bother coming in tomorrow. Or ever!"

Jolene thought about trying to find another job, given the current economy of Edgerrin. Making up her mind, she took a deep breath. "All right."

"Good. And wear that short skirt I got you," he said, breathing heavily into the phone. "Them legs you got is so, so sexy!"

She jumped as he slammed the phone down in her ear. Slowly she got up off the couch and went to put on her coat. As she was shrugging her arm in the sleeve, she heard a voice from the television.

"And the first number, ladies and gentlemen, is...Three!"

Jolene froze. Then, coming to her senses, she ran to her purse in the kitchen, pulled out her ticket and ran back into the living room. She sat perched on the edge of her couch watching the spotty reception on her 13-inch TV screen. Adjusting herself on the tattered fabric in order to get more comfortable, she winced as one of the springs poked her in the bottom. Ignoring the sharp pain, she looked down at the ticket in her hand.

"Hey," she smiled. "Three? I got that one. Cool!"

The glamorous pecan-colored model on the television screen plucked the next white ping-pong ball from one of the two machines on the stage. "And the second number is...Eighteen!"

Jolene looked at her ticket. "I got that one too."

The model held up the next white ball. "And the third number is...Twenty-seven!"

Jolene tilted her head. "That one too? Wow!" Beaming, she remembered from the Magical Millions lottery brochure she'd taken home, that matching three numbers automatically netted her twenty dollars. "Wow!"

The model smiled as she glanced at the next white ball. "And the fourth number is...Twelve!"

"That was your birthday, Grammie! Thank you!" Jolene yelled. She was now barely on the edge of the couch. Her mind began to spin. Could it be? Could this really be happening to someone like her?

The model's smile grew even brighter as she held up the next white ball. "And the final number is...Ten!"

Jolene's heart nearly leapt out of her chest. "Oh my God! I won! I won!" she yelled, leaping into the air. Because she had matched five numbers, she knew she'd just won one hundred thousand dollars.

The model then turned to the machine on her left where there was a spinning collection of royal-blue ping-pong balls. In an instant, one of the balls shot up to the top, and the model pulled it out.

"And the Magical Millions mystery number is..."

Jolene froze in place as she watched the model turn the ball toward the television. "Oh my Lord..."

"...Seven!"

Jolene clutched her chest. Then she screamed as loud as she could.

"OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!" She jumped up and down. "I won! I really won!"

Suddenly afraid she'd wake up her grandmother, she quieted down. But she quickly went out to their backyard, kicked off her slippers and danced around the soft grass. "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Then the rhythm hit her and she started doing the "Uh Oh" dance she'd seen her favorite singer, Beyonce, doing all those years ago.

Then a thought hit her and she was filled with glee.

She looked toward the sky and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Kiss my ass, Archie Dunbar!"

~~~

Jolene's next several weeks were filled with a collection of attorneys, financial planners, accountants. She also signed more documents than she'd ever had in her life.

The sole winner of the jackpot, she turned down the twenty-year annuity option in favor of receiving a lump-sum cash payment. Now the proud owner of one hundred and twenty-six million after-tax dollars, she set out to redo her life as she saw fit.

The first thing she did was buy a brand-new cell phone. Once the news of her winnings got out, the house phone had been ringing off the hook so bad, disturbing Grammie's sleep, that she'd had it disconnected immediately.

Then came the late model used car, and a new wardrobe.

Next, in the first of many meetings with her financial team, she made sure that her Grammie was taken care of, setting her up with a generous bank account to provide for her every need. She also hired two of Grammie's younger church members to serve as her live-in nurse and cook. Finally, she purchased a new house for her right on Rosewood Lake, just outside of Nashville. She even made sure Grammie's new master bedroom had a great view of the calming waters.

Jolene also set up various trusts and investments for herself and the rest of her relatives, insuring that they'd never be broke, as was the fate for many other lottery winners and their families.

Next, she sent an anonymous check to the cashier at the gas station who sold her the ticket. She then sent a generous check to Alice with a note that read, "Take that job and shove it!"

Next, she donated part of her winnings to renovate her old high school and elementary school, and set up scholarships at each. She also donated funds to renovate the town's library, which included installing Internet access for the residents.

She then used her brand-new laptop computer to scout out culinary schools. After a whirlwind application process, she was accepted into her first-choice school, located in a brand-new city. Excited, she quickly found a new apartment in the city, shipped her belongings and made her final plans to leave Tennessee.

Just before she left, on a whim, she decided to use a portion of her winnings to buy the rickety structure known as Archie's Diner. "Wait'll he finds out," she chuckled as she signed the final real estate documents. "I wish I could be there to see it!"

Once all of her affairs were in order, she took a mini vacation in order to complete the last item on her agenda. Bundled up in a soft, fluffy robe in the penthouse suite of a swanky Nashville hotel, she tapped the keys on her new laptop.

"Now, I finally get to really take care of me," she said as she typed as fast as she could, conducting the most important Internet search of her life.

~~~

"Eve? There's someone here to see you."

Annoyed, Eve looked up from the thick stack of papers on her desk. "Who is it?" she barked to the feminine voice on intercom.

Her assistant, Jackie, answered. "She says it's personal."

Eve took off her reading glasses. For the past two months, having little else to occupy her time and missing Jolene with every fiber in her body, Eve had buried herself in her work.

She'd tried to call Jolene the very evening they'd met, and the next, but Grammie had told her she wasn't back from work yet. She dared not call the diner, so she decided to wait. A few days later, she was back in Los Angeles and still hadn't heard from her. Not wanting to wait any longer, Eve tried her home number again, but the phone had suddenly been disconnected. Unable to reach Jolene, and not having heard from her, Eve's patience had worn thin. Last week, she'd even made a trip back to Edgerrin, only to find the diner closed and boarded up.

"I'm pretty busy here," Eve snapped, her mind not only on Jolene, but on how to get season two of Pledges underway and under budget. "If she won't tell you her name, I'm not sure I even have time to see her."

A moment passed, then Jackie came back on the line. "She says it's about...Edgerrin?"

A slow smile spread across Eve's face as she got up from her desk. "Show her in."

A moment later, The door opened and Eve caught her breath at the beauty before her.

With a confident stride, the young woman entered the room. She wore a sharp navy pantsuit with a matching pair of four-inch Jimmy Choo stilettos. Her thin braids had been unraveled, leaving a wild wavy mass of hair. However, wanting a more businesslike appearance, she'd pulled back her tresses into a ponytail that had a bushy, wavy pouf at the end. She wore elegant jewelry and artfully applied makeup. She had an oversized leather handbag slung over her shoulder.

"Glad to see me?" Jolene asked with a wry grin.

"Baby!" Eve ran to her and embraced her in a warm hug. "I missed you so much. I never thought I'd see you again!"

Then Eve pulled back. "Look at you! You look..."

"Fantastic?"

"Yeah. You look like a true corporate diva! But you looked great before. Anyway, what's been going on? And why are you in Los Angeles?"

Jolene was cool. "May I have a seat?"

Eve suddenly found herself flustered. "Sure." She pulled out one of the chairs at her desk. "Have a seat."

Jolene sat and crossed her legs. She now had an undeniable confidence, which translated into an immense sex appeal. She was sure of herself, poised and elegant. However, she hadn't lost any of her youthful appearance, nor any of her Southern charm. Eve found the new Jolene to be incredibly appealing.

Eve watched her carefully as she took a seat behind her desk. "How can I help you?" Eve asked.

Jolene smoothed back her ponytail. "I want to repay you."

"For?"

"For saving my life."

Eve frowned. "I don't understand."

Jolene took a deep breath. "When we met, I was a poor waitress in a shitty diner in rural Tennessee. And you saved me."

"I still don't understand."

"Well...that tip you left me? That dollar?"

"Yeah?" Eve said slowly.

Jolene leaned forward. "Well...I bought a lottery ticket."

Several beats passed. Eve blinked, understanding suddenly coming to her. "You don't mean..."

"Yeah!" Jolene squealed, temporarily abandoning her cool, business-like demeanor. "I won!"

"Oh honey, that's fantastic!" Then Eve's eyes softened. "I couldn't think of a better person that it happened to."

"Thanks. But I have something for you."

Jolene reached into her handbag. She pulled out an envelope and handed it to Eve. "Here. I'm just sorry it took so long, but I had a lot of stuff that had to be worked out first."

Eve opened the envelope, pulled out the slip of paper and gasped. "Oh my God!"

"That's my gift to you," Jolene beamed. "That's for everything you'd done for me that day. And I mean everything!"

Eve's hand trembled as she held the piece of paper. "Five million dollars?" Eve was floored. "This is a cashier's check for five million dollars?"

"It's for your television show," Jolene said proudly. "For Pledges." Then she paused. "The show about the lesbians. Us lesbians," she added with a wink.

"Oh my God!" She grabbed Jolene's hand and squeezed hard. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She stared at the check for several long moments, until Jolene's words sank in. "Wait. You said 'us lesbians'? So you mean..."

Jolene grinned. "Yep! We'z family now!"

The two women cracked up laughing. Then they settled down and stared at each other. Eve felt a protectiveness well up in her for this bright, surprising, generous young woman. Her feelings quickly growing out of control, she tried to calm herself.

"Well, what about you?" Eve asked, trying to keep her voice steady. "What are you going to do now?" A tinge of fear gripped Eve's heart when she realized that with all of her fortune, Jolene was free to walk right out of her office and go explore the world.

Jolene wore a bright smile. "First, I'm goin' to culinary school. And while I'm there, I'm gonna open up my own restaurant."

Eve held her breath, not wanting to ask her next question. "Sounds great!" she said with more glee than she felt. "That must mean that you're going back to Tennessee?"