Betting the Rainbow (Harmony) by JODI THOMAS

do to make it better, but there was nothing she could do about Noah. He’d have to find his way back. Until then, she’d work and wait.
    At this rate she’d keel over from exhaustion before she turned twenty-four.
    As they had every day since she’d been home from Las Vegas, the memories flooded back as she worked alone on the books.
    The night Noah had looked in her direction and not seen her waiting at the gate had almost broken her heart. She’d stayed the entire rodeo, fighting down tears, but he’d never walked past the gate again.
    The overly made-up blonde, Candy Lee, had invited Reagan to join her and her Johnny for a drink. He hadn’t won his event, but he’d made a good ride, so Johnny seemed in good spirits.
    Candy Lee said she felt like slow dancing and suggested the Lucky Sevens bar downtown. Johnny went along with the idea. In fact, if Candy Lee unbuttoned one more button, he’d probably go along with robbing the first bank they passed.
    Reagan remembered that she’d ridden in the front of the cab and talked to the driver while the couple got friendly in the backseat. When they reached the lights of the Strip, Reagan paid the cabdriver and helped pull the couple apart.
    The bar proved to be round two for them, plus liquor. They didn’t bother to talk to her, their mouths were too busy. But Reagan was glad to have someone to be with, even if they were pretty much ignoring her. She watched every tall man who came through the door, looking for Noah.
    By midnight, Johnny was drunk and Candy Lee giggled even when he burped. Reagan said good-bye, lifted her backpack over one shoulder, and walked down to the Golden Nugget. She figured she looked more like a runaway than a businesswoman. Not even the panhandlers asked her for money.
    One good thing about Las Vegas, it never closed. She played penny slots for a while, then ate breakfast and watched the people. After living in a town where she knew almost everyone, it seemed strange to watch hundreds of people go by and not see a face she knew.
    About four the crowd changed. Gone were the sightseers and the partiers. In the hours before dawn, all that were left were the hard-core gamblers, the druggies and drunks, and the hookers. Reagan felt like she’d flipped the brightly colored beast over and was looking at the scarred, dirty underbelly. If a gambler or drunk wasn’t depressed yet, he would be by this time of morning.
    At five, she strapped her backpack back on again and caught a cab to the airport. She decided she’d rather wait outside the airport than see anymore. By dawn, she was heading home.
    She slept until Dallas, then got a large coffee to wait out the two hours for a flight to Amarillo. The romantic weekend had been a total bust. She’d seen Noah, but he hadn’t seen her. She’d thought they’d laugh and make love, then order pizza delivered to the hotel and talk until dawn. He’d ask about everyone back home and she’d want to know the details of every rodeo. But that didn’t happen.
    She’d called every hotel he’d ever mentioned staying at and a few he hadn’t mentioned.
    No Noah.
    He’d told her once that he always stayed in good hotels where desk clerks didn’t give out room numbers because he liked using his own name.
    She’d tried everything to get into the contestants’ parking, but short of breaking in at gunpoint, she saw no way. He hadn’t been at the bar where Candy Lee thought he would be, so wherever Noah went after the rodeo, he was probably sleeping late and not even aware she’d searched for him.
    The only good thing she knew for a fact was that he hadn’t been hurt. He’d had the best time on his ride, pushing him up in the rankings. She only wished she’d been there to celebrate with him. He hadn’t even looked at the crowd when he’d walked out after his ride. His head had been down as if he’d lost, and half the crowd wasn’t on their feet cheering. The wide grin and one hand reaching for the heavens