Page 244 of Vegas Heat

“You better pick that up then.” I drop my arms from around her.

She slides her phone out of her pocket. “Hey Joanie.” I watch her as she paces around a little. “Oh, hey, Dad.”

I take it they’re together as they share the news with Gabby.

“Yeah, I can be there in a few minutes. Is anything wrong?”

I watch as she puts on her actress shoes, going for what sounds like a natural question in this situation. “Okay, I’ll be right over.” She hangs up and looks up at me. “They want to talk to me in person. And I have to pretend I don’t know they’re getting married and throwing parties for themselves tonight.”

I grab her hand and squeeze it. I wish I had the right words for this situation, but there aren’t any. Sorry you have to go lie to your father some more just doesn’t seem right. Instead, I simply grab onto her and hold her for a few beats.

“I better go,” she says against my chest.

“I know,” I murmur down into her hair. I breathe her in, and then I let her go.

She tips her chin up for a kiss. “Good luck tonight,” she says.

“Same to you.”

And then she turns out the door she just came through a few minutes ago as I force thoughts of what I wanted to happen tonight with her from my mind and instead focus on getting ready for a night out ahead of my best friend’s wedding tomorrow.

CHAPTER 23: GABBY

“We decided to get married before we leave for spring training. The wedding is tomorrow,” my dad announces as if I don’t already know.

I force my jaw to drop open. “What?” I gasp dramatically.

“Life’s too short to wait,” my dad says, looking lovingly at his future bride.

Life’s too short to wait. You’d think maybe by this pointImight’ve picked up on that lesson myself considering everyone around me is getting pounded with it, but here we are.

Another opportunity to tell himpoof! Gone.

“Congratulations!” I say, hugging both of them. “This is so exciting! What do you need me to do?”

“Do you have a black dress?” Joanie asks.

I nod. “It’s a staple in any woman’s wardrobe, am I right?”

She laughs. “You’re absolutely right. Wear it with black heels tomorrow. That’s all I need you to do.”

“But I’m your maid of honor! Surely you have other duties for me!”

“I do. I’ve decided to have a low-key bachelorette evening with a few of my closest friends, so we’re just going to do dinner at Desmonds. I’d love for you to be there,” she says.

“I would love to,” I lie. In truth, I’d rather be curled up under a blanket watching Netflix with Cooper in front of his fireplace with my cozy socks on, or, you know, walking through hot lava rather than listening to Joanie and her girlfriends discuss whatever it is people discuss the night before they get married, but I guess that’s not in the cards tonight.

“I have my own party to attend,” my dad says, standing and planting a kiss on Joanie’s lips. “You ladies have a lovely time at dinner.”

“I’ll see you after,” Joanie says.

My dad nods once, and he raises a brow. “Room three-oh-eight, say…eleven?”

She offers a sly smile. “Three-oh-nine at eleven.”

Oh God. I don’t even want to know what they’re talking about, but my stomach turns over at the thought of thethreebeing thethirdfloor at my dad’s club. And the eight or nine…is that, like, in front of other people versus behind closed doors?

My stomach twists back at that new thought, and I push it away.

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