E verything seemed right in the world with Peoria in my arms. The struggle of everyday life didn’t matter when I was with her. I had spent two days in paradise, yet I knew the hourglass only had so much sand. There was a part of me that wanted to talk to her about what I was feeling, but I didn’t want her to think I was crazy. She would return to Georgia and look back on me as nothing more than a vacation fling—the first, but probably not the last. I woke something up inside of her and that fire was going to burn out of control. I wouldn’t be there to see it consume her, but at least I would know I lit the match.

We finally departed after a kiss and promise to see each other at least one more time before she left. Neither of us tried to pretend there was more than that in our future. That was okay. There was no reason to let make-believe take us somewhere we couldn’t go. We would find each other in our dreams for the rest of our lives, but there would be someone else in the bed next to us when we did. That was just the reality of what we had. Our paths crossed and they would split again—it didn’t have to be complicated.

“Where the fuck have you been?” I walked up the steps of my apartment building to find Floyd sitting at the top of the stairs.

“I’ve been busy. What’s the problem?” I raised my eyebrows and sat down beside him.

“The jewelry store, man.” He leaned over and spoke in a hushed tone. “We only have a couple of hours to make this happen.”

“I told you I wasn’t doing that shit.” I shook my head angrily. “Did you not understand what I said?”

“It’ll be easy. Look, I went by there earlier and took some pictures.” Floyd pulled out his cell phone and held it up. “They don’t have any extra security—look at this shit.”

“Wow.” My eyes opened wide when I saw the array of diamonds, gold, and fine jewelry adorning the display cases.

“This will be so fucking easy. They’re just asking to be robbed.” He flipped through a few more pictures.

“If it is so fucking easy, then why don’t you do it yourself?” As much as I tried to fight it, I couldn’t deny that it looked like an easy score based on the pictures he was showing me.

“I can’t keep all the employees and the customers under control myself. I need someone to back me up. They probably have a silent alarm somewhere in there, so someone has to watch the people behind the counter while the other one makes sure none of the customers run out the door.” He shrugged. “Plus, I want to split this with my best friend. It’s more than enough for both of us to retire on.”

“Shit.” I tapped my forehead with my thumb knuckle. “It can’t be this easy.”

“It is. This is our ticket, man. We can live the rest of our lives like kings. Hell, we can even have matching crowns if we melt down some of this gold.” He grinned and nudged me. “You know you want to do this.”

***

I WONDERED IF THINGS were actually going to go right for once in my miserable life. I had met a beautiful woman and everything Floyd said made sense—that in and of itself was a miracle. I decide to check out the jewelry story myself before I agreed to anything. I parked on the opposite side of the street and watched it for almost an hour. Everything Floyd described was real. The old neighborhood had changed a lot. The shitty houses that adorned my block were replaced with upscale duplexes. The apartment building that had been rent-controlled to the point it was no longer profitable had been torn down and a tower of condominiums had been built where it stood. The jewelry store had a new sign, a fresh coat of paint, and every customer that walked through the door looked like they had more money than common sense.

I picked up my phone and tapped out a message to Floyd, telling him it was a go—I was going to help him rob the jewelry store. As crazy as it was, the opportunity was real and the risk seemed to be low. I parked my truck down the block where the gentrification hadn’t reached. It wouldn’t look out of place there. Floyd arrived about thirty minutes later and climbed into the cab of my truck after he parked his car.

“Okay, we can follow the road here on foot.” He held up a drawn map. “Once we make it up to where the Millers used to live, we can cut through to the main road, hit the store, and then follow the same route back to where we are.”

“I don’t like being that far out on foot, but we can’t park any closer. Our vehicles will stick out too much.” I nodded and stared at the map.

“I got two pillowcases. We’ll put as much as we can in each one and we’ll each head in opposite directions. If the cops do make it before we get away, they won’t be able to catch both of us.” He handed me a pillowcase that had a mask and a gun inside it.

“If I get pinched, you damn sure better have half of what you got away with waiting on me when I get out of prison.” I pulled out the mask and stuffed it into my pocket.

“You’ll be like sixty years old by then.” He chuckled. “The only thing you’ll find waiting on you is assisted living.”

“Thanks—that’s what I needed to hear.” I grumbled as I opened the door and stepped out of my truck.

“This will be easy.” He followed behind me as I started walking down the road.

“Yeah, you keep saying that.” I shook my head and sighed.

***

“E VERYBODY ON THE GROUND !” Floyd’s voice roared as he held out his gun when we entered the jewelry store.

“You! Back away from the counter!” I leveled my gun at one of the employees that took a step forward. “On the ground—now!”

“You really don’t want to do this.” A man in a suit held up both hands. “Do you know who owns this jewelry store?”

“I don’t give a shit!” Floyd pushed his way behind the counter and drilled the man in the side of the head with the bottom of his gun. “I said on the ground!”

Fuck—he didn’t have to do that.

Floyd was like an uncaged animal, but he was effective. Hitting the man caused everyone else to instantly obey and drop to the ground without challenging him. We started filling our pillowcases as fast as we could. Mine got heavy quick, even before I got to the cash register. There wasn’t much money in it—it seemed like most of the customers paid with their credit cards.

Floyd walked into the main part of the store and started gathering cell phones from the customers, smashing each one of them as they were surrendered. We heaved our bags over our shoulders and started running once we had everything we could carry. Every step felt like a mile and when I saw our vehicles ahead of us, it felt like I had ran a marathon. We didn’t look at each other, we just hopped behind the wheel and started driving in opposite directions. The silence was eerie. I expected sirens, flashing lights, and every cop in Las Vegas to come roaring into our neighborhood. Instead, I heard nothing. After taking the chosen route, I sent a message to Floyd who confirmed he was fine as well.

“I can’t believe this actually worked...” I lit a cigarette and started laughing as I headed back to our apartment building.

***

“W E’RE FUCKING RICH !” Floyd threw a handful of money in the air. “I told you this would work! I fucking told you!”

“I can’t believe we pulled it off.” I looked at the jewelry spread out on the table and then I heard a car door. “Wait, what was that?”

“Shit!” Floyd jumped up and ran into my bedroom to look out the window. “Oh, it’s just Mr. Smith. We’re still in the clear.”

“Okay, what the fuck do we do now?” I leaned back on the couch. “We can’t just keep this shit here.”

“No.” Floyd shook his head back and forth. “We need to split it up just in case. We’ll open a couple of safe deposit boxes at the bank using fake names and put some in a locker at the bus station in case we need to get out of town quick. It’ll be a while before we can move any of it. We’ll have to lay low until then.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I leaned forward and thumbed through the pile. “I’m going to keep a couple of pieces here though, just in case I can’t make it to the bus station and I need something to pawn.”

“Pick whatever you want, man.” He chuckled.

I chose a diamond ring, a tennis bracelet, and a necklace that was adorned with a mixture of diamonds and sapphires in a tilted heart. The ring and the bracelet would be my emergency getaway fund, but the necklace was going around the neck of Peoria. It would give her something to remember me by once she was gone. I had no idea what it was worth, but it looked like it would be something worthy of a woman as beautiful as she was. Floyd and I spent the remainder of the daylight hours stashing everything away, looking around every corner with our nerves on full alert. When I got back to my apartment, I felt a huge sense of relief. The plan had somehow worked and we were home free. Even if we got pinched, the cops wouldn’t find everything. I might be geriatric when I finally got out of prison, but I would live my life in luxury. I lay back on the couch and thought about Peoria. I wouldn’t have much more time with her, but at least I could cherish that if we managed to make it through the night without the cops kicking in our doors.