Page 30 of Ice Ice Maybe
“Pace yourself, champ,” I teased. “There is no rush.”
We both knew this was round one. The gelato bar and those mini desserts in individual serving vessels were waiting for us, promising a sweet end to our gastronomic adventure.
As we dug into the food, Nolan’s eyes lit up. “Hey, I’ve got an idea.” He pulled out his phone. “Let’s give Mitch something really juicy to look at.” Before I could respond, he was holding up a piece of prime rib to my mouth. “Open up.”
I rolled my eyes but played along, opening my mouth as he fed the prime rib to me. He captured the moment with a photo as I moaned.
“My turn,” I said, spearing a piece of orange chicken with my fork and holding it up to him.
Nolan leaned in to take the bite as he snapped another photo. We continued this back and forth, feeding each other bites andcapturing each moment, our laughter drawing curious glances from nearby diners. After we’d had enough selfies, he sent me all the photos he had taken with his phone.
“These actually turned out pretty cute,” I mused, especially liking the one of us kissing in the gondola. “You’re quite the photographer, pretty boy,” I added in a flirtatious tone.
“Thanks, pretty girl.” Nolan leaned over, a thoughtful expression on his face as he eyed my Instagram posting. “I wonder what Mitch will do when he sees these.”
“Hopefully, score ten goals,” I joked.
“Let’s not get greedy,” Nolan said. “Six goals is plenty.”
After we finished eating and could not take another bite, we sat there in a food coma, neither one of us having the urge to move. That was when I spotted a couple coming in our direction with their food, both wearing Sea Lions jerseys. It was such an unexpected sight since we were over three hundred miles from home.
“Go, Sea Lions!” I called out as I leaned back in my chair.
“Thanks,” the woman said with a muted smile, settling at the table next to ours with her husband.
“I’m surprised to see Sea Lions’ fans in Vegas,” Nolan said. “You’re the first ones we’ve seen since we got here this morning.”
The wife shook her head. “Oh, we’re not locals. We drove in from San Diego for tonight’s game.” She motioned to her husband. “Jeff is in the Navy and is being deployed in a couple of days. I thought tickets to the game would be the perfect send-off for him since he’s a big-time Mitch Redding fan and won’t get a chance to see him play for at least a year. Maybe more.”
“What a great idea,” I said. “You must be so excited to see the game.”
The husband frowned. “Actually, we can’t go.”
“What? Why not?” Nolan asked, his forehead creased.
The woman explained their predicament, the sold-out game, the exorbitant resale prices because Mitch Redding was playing, and their dashed hopes of seeing him play before the deployment.
“We had planned on buying tickets from scalpers, but we found out the tickets are going for at least five times face value,” she said. “That is way over our budget, even for the nose-bleed seats in the upper level.”
“We’ll probably end up watching the game over at the Circa Casino,” the husband shrugged with a smile that seemed forced, trying to sound upbeat. “It’s supposed to be one of the best places to watch sports in the world, three levels, and monitors everywhere you look. Better than watching at home, or in our hotel room, I guess.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, feeling my heart sink.
“Me too,” Nolan echoed. He glanced at me with a strange expression I couldn’t get a good read on. “Hey, I have an idea.” He gestured off to the side. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”
Curiosity piqued, I nodded, grabbed my purse, and followed him a few steps away. “What’s going on?”
“Our tickets to the game,” he said, his tone urgent. “You have them with you, right?”
The realization hit me like a splash of cold water. “Wait, you want to give them our tickets? I don’t understand. How will we get into the game?”
“We don’t need to go,” Nolan said simply.
I stared at him, utterly confused. “What about our plan? The whole reason we’re here is to go to the game and make sure Mitch sees us together.”
Nolan’s hands found mine, his touch grounding me. “It sounds crazy, but hear me out. I came up with an idea when the guy mentioned his hotel room and it will be much more effectivethan our original plan. You’re going to love itandit will be fun. Do you trust me?”
I hesitated, searching for the earnestness in his face, and despite the craziness of the situation, I nodded. “Yes, I trust you.”
