“Olivia Henry?” the voice calls out from the deck, and an older man in brown slacks almost stumbles as his feet hit the loose gravel. Before I have a chance to answer, the local TV news van is pulling up in front of the Depot and car doors slam, more feet hitting the deck. Oh god.

The man now next to me has his phone held out, probably the way he held his tape recorder out twenty years ago, except now it’s just a black-and-green screen. Behind him, Ellis has emerged from the building, looking unnerved.

“Exciting day,” the man says, gleaming at me as if I’m the bucket of fried chicken his wife never lets him near. He adjusts his glasses and then his eyes meet mine. “How do you feel about your mother’s big win, Olivia?” When I don’t say anything, he tries again. “Will you be celebrating with her tonight?”

“She doesn’t live here,” I say. Not that I would be having dinner with her if she did, but it’s the truth. I take a step back and almost trip on the stump podium. “I’m not sure why you’re here.” Yes, my mother is from Riverton, but she hasn’t lived here in years, doesn’t live here now, and basically has nothing to do with me. Why am I the one being asked questions?

“It’s very sweet,” the man says, looking at me with soft eyes. “A woman wins the lottery, and all she wants is to win back her daughter.” He takes a few more steps toward me, his phone coming at me like a cattle prod. “Quite a story.”

“It is,” I say. It is quite a story. “I don’t really want to talk about it, I really just found—” But before I can finish my thought, a primped woman in a pencil skirt and a man with thick black glasses are crossing the gravel toward me. A camera hangs at the man’s side, dangling from his hand. The woman totters through the gravel, her heels sinking and sliding.

Ellis puts a hand out toward her just as she slips again. “Let me help you there.” He gives me an apologetic glance. “Seems like a bit of a liability. We don’t want any broken ankles.” He wipes sweat off of his forehead and gently touches the front of his hair, which is finally slipping from its perch after all these hours. “I can’t be on the news looking like this,” he says.