The Amalfi Wish
Six women split a lottery ticket as a joke. By morning it's worth eighty-four million dollars.
Laurel McBride has been the events director at the Mariner's Crown Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida, for thirteen years. She hasn't taken a vacation in any of them. Then a freak hurricane shuts the causeway to Calusa Key on a Friday in April, six women split a Powerball ticket as a joke, and by morning the joke is worth eighty-four million dollars.
Three months later Laurel is on the Amalfi Coast in a rented villa with five friends she barely knew six months ago, a binder she won't put down, and a Florida boyfriend who keeps texting. The boutique hotel next door is run by Tore D'Amico, who knows the parking politics at Marina di Praia and the right glass for Aglianico. He takes a tray of wine glasses out of her hands and asks how long she's been a guest at his hotel.
"Sixteen minutes," she says.
"It takes time," he says.