The Year Rita Got Lucky

For eleven years Rita has worked the overnight shift at the Fuel-N-Go, cleaned houses on her mornings off, and played the same six numbers twice a week: family birthdays, mostly, and one for her late father. Then the numbers hit. $3.2 million. And the Halbrook Herald prints her name.

Suddenly everybody in Aberly needs something. Her son needs a fresh start. Her daughter needs her to be careful. Half the Thursday-night bowling league has an idea, and people she has never met have a story. Rita has never said no to anyone. Saying yes is how she knows she’s loved.

The only person who won’t take a dime is Vince Pagano, who has known her for nineteen years and whose sixty-five-year-old bowling alley is about to go dark. He would rather lose Slater Lanes than be rescued, and Rita has never once asked anyone for anything.

Funny, big-hearted, and true to life, The Year Rita Got Lucky is a novel about money, family, second chances, and finding out who will still be there when you finally say no. Book Two of The Penrose Street Stories. It stands alone.