This happened when you were friends with someone for so long. You knew all their quirks. “No,” I said, holding back a laugh at my predictable brother. “He took it better than expected. Asked me if I needed money for a hotel room.”
Hale was the uptight brother, but when you really needed help in a pinch, he normally came through. Actually, his behavior on the call was a little weird, even for him. The longer I thought about it, the more questions I had.
Hopefully, sitting around in the big empty bed-and-breakfast alone didn’t turn his holiday into a Stephen King novel. I had enough crazy people in the family. I didn’t need any of them to become actually crazy. We had like five axes in one barn.
Chance stood beside me, his smirk growing. I loved it when he smiled that large. It made his green eyes sparkle in playfulness. It also meant he was definitely up to something. We’d been friends too long for him to hide it from me.
“What are you up to?” I asked him.
Chance’s smile only stretched further across his face. Caught him. “What?”
“Dude,” I said, and raised both my eyebrows. “You have that look.”
Chance smacked his lips. A dead giveaway. “What look?”
I laughed and pushed him against his shoulder. “Chance, we’ve been friends too long for you to get away with whatever you’re plotting. I know you too well. Just spill.”
He shook his head. Bingo. Chance never kept up his ruses for long.
“Okay, listen,” he said and grabbed on to both of my shoulders and gave me a little shake. “Everyone else wants to take the meal credits and hit up the city, but I have bigger plans.”
Chance always had plans. That’s why I loved him. He didn’t just want to get through life. Chance planned to make every day an adventure and, thankfully, he normally took me along.
“Just tell me.”
He dropped his hands from my shoulders and twisted his fingers with mine, the phone sticking between our joined palms. Whatever crazy idea he’d come up with, he expected me to argue.
“I talked to the woman at the gate, and we can hang out in the city that we’ve already seen or,” he laid it on pretty thickly at the end, “switch our tickets and go somewhere fun.”
I raised my eyebrows higher and gave him a tilt of my head. No way had he brought this idea all the way over to me without already having a spot. Chance didn’t do half plans.
“Where?” I asked. It had to be somewhere good for his excitement level.
He lit up as a plane took off further off on the jetway. “Vegas, baby.”
“Vegas?” I questioned without his enthusiasm.
“Vegas, baby,” he answered and waved his hands close to his head in a demented version of jazz hands. “You’ve always wanted to go.”
I laughed. Chance knew how to make me smile, and that usually meant he got his way. I also wanted to visit Vegas. We’d talked about it more than once when planning future wishful trips. I’d even suggested it for this trip but had been outvoted.
But it wasn’t exactly how I envisioned a Vegas trip.
“What about the game?” We had big plans to hang out with our friend from high school in East Lansing and watch the football game with a bunch of his friends at his place. It wasn’t Vegas, but we’d been planning our get-together with Jay for the last three months.
Chance shrugged. “Babe, it’s Vegas. There will be other games and other chances to sit in Jay’s apartment and drink cheap beer with his frat brothers.”
“True.” I grabbed my backpack from my feet and looped it over my shoulder.
Chance ran a hand through his hair again and adjusted his bag. “Plus, with this storm, we’re not getting to Michigan, anyway.”
Another good point.
I only had one more question. A big one.
“What about a hotel?” We had no place to stay in Vegas.
He looped his arm through mine and tugged me away from the window. “It’s on me.”
