Free Astrid Amara by Holiday Outing Page B

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    repeatedly, which meant she got the whole pot. Within minutes I was disastrously losing,
    and she sat beaming in her bedclothes, surrounded by chocolate.
    “I think this dreidel is loaded,” I mumbled.
    She laughed. “You just need to know how to spin. It’s all in the wrist!”
    I spun again, and while it stayed aloft a lovely length of time, it fell once more on the
    letter shin, so I had to put more into the pot.
    “At this rate, I’ll be out of chocolate before the sun has fully risen,” I told her.
    She chuckled and rolled another gimel.
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    “I’ll put some chocolate in.” Matthew entered, and sat on the bed as well. He dropped a
    bag of chocolate coins beside me. “We’ll split my massive profits.” He reached out and
    touched his mother’s arm. “Sorry I gave you a scare.”
    “Just don’t go sneaking around!” Goldie scolded him, but her eyes were keenly focused
    on the dreidel. “Go on then! Spin!”
    Rachel found us, and so did Daniel, and we all crowded on the queen-size bed, playing
    dreidel with crazy Aunt Goldie, until she laughed and appeared oblivious of the morning’s
    trauma. When we ran out of chocolate, Daniel suggested we play for real coins.
    “Nothing big,” he said, reacting to Rachel’s instant glare. “Just coins. Pennies even.”
    “No gambling, Dan,” Rachel scolded him.
    “It’s just a friendly game,” he said. “Look. I’ve got lots of pennies myself. I’ll just share
    what I have.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out an impressive
    fistful of change.
    He distributed his money among us. But when he played his first quarter, Rachel’s eyes
    went wide.
    “You asshole!” she cried.
    Daniel scowled. “What’s your problem now?”
    “That’s my quarter!”
    “How the hell do you know that?” Daniel scowled.
    Matthew, Goldie, and I watched in silence.
    “Look! It has white nail polish on the corner! That’s from my prom night, I remember!”
    “Maybe you owed me money and gave it to me,” Daniel said, although he looked
    unsure himself.
    Ethan heard the yelling and stepped inside the doorway. He looked at me pointedly.
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    I could feel his look, it sank through me, but I dismissed the feeling and tilted my head
    toward Daniel so he would identify the focus of the rage.
    “Honestly, Rach, I didn’t --”
    “I put that money in the pushke!” Rachel cried, now standing.
    “Oh come on!” Daniel shouted, now standing as well. “You can’t identify a single coin!
    It could have come from anywhere.”
    “I only wore white nail polish on prom!”
    “And maybe the cashier at the gas station wears it all the time, and she gave it to me,
    because it’s my quarter.”
    “Everyone just calm down,” I said loudly, ushering them both out of the room. I saw
    Aunt Goldie’s apprehension returning, and I wanted to keep her in a cheery mood. “It’s
    twenty-five cents.”
    “But if he took it from the pushke --” Rachel started.
    “Go help my mother with breakfast,” I told Daniel. I turned to Rachel. “And don’t say a
    word of this to your father. We don’t need him shouting accusations all over the place.”
    Rachel frowned. “But I’m sure --”
    “Can you light the fire downstairs or something? It’s freezing.”
    Rachel took a deep breath and stared at me. “Daniel has a real problem, you know.” She
    said it softly, and then turned and left in a huff.
    Ethan and I stood in the hallway.
    “Well well,” he said quietly. “The plot thickens.”
    “It’s a quarter with a spot on it,” I said. “Hardly the equivalent of a DNA scan.”
    “But it’s a clue,” Ethan said, holding up a finger. He grinned.
    I shook my head. “You really are enjoying this, aren’t you?”
    “I’ve always wanted to be a detective,” he admitted.
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    “Great. Well, hone your secrecy skills by making some excuse up to my parents for my
    disappearance. I’m going off to have