“Good,” was all Ruth said.
“Why?” Mia wanted to know..
“I want you to come with me and Anderson to Las Vegas We’re getting married.” Ruth grinned as she said it.
Mia knew her mouth was wide open in shock. Ruth and Las Vegas seemed like oil and water, but Mia really wanted to see them together just the same, “Why?”
“Because I think I’m pregnant, and no way am I having a baby without being married. I’m not making my mother’s mistakes.”
Which made perfect sense Ruth had been raised by a single mom with no man in the picture for most ofher life. Though she and Mia hadn’t been friends, Mia knew life hadn’t always been easy for Ruth.
“You’re getting married, like, today?” Mia asked in confusion.
Ruth shook her head. “Tomorrow.”
“When do we leave? Will I get time for some shows? Some gambling?” Mia jumped up and started to pace, starting to pack in her mind.
“The plane leaves in three hours, so we have to leave soon. I only need you sometime tomorrow, and we’ll know more when we get there. The rest of the time is yours. But…” Ruth stopped shifting the stack of papers on her desk.
Mia turned quickly—there was always a but. “But?”
“Anderson is asking Rafferty to go as well.” Ruth bit her lip.
Rafferty. Of course, Rafferty. She had been avoiding him since the wedding—the “not wedding.” Once again, she had woken up hung over and naked after spending time with him. Once again, she couldn’t remember anything. Had they had sex? Had they had sex in a church? Had they used protection? There was no evidence of it this time. The last thing she remembered was kissing him while dancing at the church, then nothing. But she’d woken up in her own bed.
So far, he hadn’t said anything, and she was never going to ask him about it. So, she had no idea what had happened. All she knew was that she had his tie wrapped around her hands when she woke up. Bondage? Was she even into bondage? She had no idea!
“He’s my brother, Mia, and Anderson’s best friend. There’s no way Anderson would want his own brother here, so can you put up with Rafferty for me?”
Mia looked at one of her best friends, who chosen her over all her other friends for this. “I can do it for you. But you owe me. Big time.”
Ruth jumped up and hugged her. “Thank you, Mia! Now go get packed, and don’t tell anyone. We want to keep it secret until we get back.”
“Okay.”
With only an hour, Mia ended up not having a lot of time to pack. She got the restaurant organized for her to be gone for a few days and then threw some stuff in a bag, grabbing as much cash as she could find for gambling, and her currently empty travel credit card. She rarely got to travel. After changing into more Vegas-appropriate attire—a yellow sundress—she was ready.
Climbing into the back seat next to Ruth, she wished she’d had time to color her hair. It was supposed to be platinum blonde, but the black it had been before had actually made it so close to her natural color that she usually just stared at it when she looked at herself. It had been years since she had brown hair. But the bleaching had done some damage, and she couldn’t fix it for a while. So she was stuck for a few weeks with the brown.
“Is everyone ready?” Anderson asked from the driver’s seat.
“You bet! So excited that in a few hours, I’ll be betting on anything and everything.” She laughed in excitement, which seemed catchy because everyone laughed with her as they headed out of town.
Since she was next to Ruth, they chatted the entire way to Grand Forks to catch the plane. She hadn’t even noticed Rafferty was there except she could hear his voice, but he was in front of her, so she could only see the back of his head. He was easy to ignore this way.
It was even easier on the plane, because those seats were way bigger. There he was still right in front of her next to Anderson, but she couldn’t hear or see him.
“So, I’ve come up with my payment for putting up with your family on this vacation,” Mia said to Ruth, who was sitting by the window, looking out at the ground far below.
“What would that be?” Ruth turned to her and asked.
“Godmother to your first born.” Mia pointed at her stomach and grinned.
“Really? Because I bet I can tell you who Anderson will pick as godfather then.” Ruth pointed to the seat in front of Mia. The one Rafferty was in.
“But you don’t need a godfather. I’m enough of a godmother that your baby will never even know there are other families not like ours out there, two godparent families,” she stated boldly, because she was losing her dream. So far, not one of her sisters had picked her either. What was it about her that nobody wanted her to be a godparent to their children?
Ruth stared at her in confusion for a moment before she shook her head. “Nope, you will have to share. We want two people.”