Her High-Stakes Affair. Katherine Garbera

way out of the parking lot and toward the Moenkopi Loop.

      She wished he’d stop saying things like that. But it fit perfectly with his bet, and she realized she had to keep her mind sharp. That was another of her dad’s lessons—don’t forget the end goal.

      But Scott was different. He made her want to reevaluate her life. Take stock in where she was—almost thirty and still single. And he made her want to change things, to forget she was very happy with who she was.

      “Why are you here?” she asked when they found the trail and walked side by side. Get to know the mark, she thought.

      “You asked me to come.”

      “Ha-ha, smart-ass. I meant, why are you doing the show?” she asked, focusing on Scott and not on how easily the rules of grifting were returning to her.

      “I’m friends with Joel Tanner. He needed a name to take to the networks.”

      Joel was the executive producer on the show. He was riding a string of popular hits on television that threatened to rival Aaron Spelling’s golden touch in the eighties and nineties. Raine found him to be a fair man most of the time. She didn’t have to deal with him too often, which she liked. He was also her boss, so if this thing with Scott didn’t work out, Scott had the inside track on making sure she never worked again. “That was nice of you.”