Contents
2004
Overview
In Boise, Lucky builds a respectable investment practice while Cary grows restless and buys a failing restaurant. Mounting debt and Cary’s pressure lead Lucky to skim client funds, rationalizing no one is hurt. After infertility diagnoses, two costly IVF attempts fail, deepening financial and emotional strain and entrenching their slide back into crime.
Summary
Lucky and Cary settle in Boise, where Lucky establishes a cautious investment and accounting firm that gains small-business clients and a reputation for steady returns. Meanwhile, Cary drifts, growing bored with domestic life despite insisting he is content.
Seeking purpose, Cary fixates on a shuttered restaurant and persuades Lucky to buy it, plunging them into debt. The workload strains their relationship. When costs mount, Cary pressures Lucky to “borrow” from client investment accounts to fund an expansion, promising to repay. After initial reluctance, Lucky starts siphoning funds, telling herself no one is harmed, and Cary’s mood improves.
As a family goal emerges, Lucky proposes having a baby. Medical tests reveal endometriosis and blocked fallopian tubes, making IVF their only option. The treatments are expensive, prompting further withdrawals from client funds to cover procedures and medications.
Two IVF implantations fail. The hormone regimen exhausts and destabilizes Lucky, but she refuses to quit, vowing to force a success despite the deepening debt, renewed criminality, and widening rift between their earlier hope and present reality.
Who Appears
- LuckyBuilds a legitimate investment firm, then embezzles client funds to support Cary’s restaurant and pay for failed IVF.
- CaryBored at home, buys a restaurant, pressures Lucky to skim accounts for expansion; supportive of having a baby but drives risk.
- Fertility doctorDiagnoses Lucky with endometriosis and blocked fallopian tubes; recommends IVF, which twice fails.