He’d thought he’d kept his tone carefully neutral, but some sort of edge must have slipped through because a smile flickered at the edges of Delia’s mouth.
“No, they’re getting married here in Las Vegas,” she replied.“My mother also mentioned that her fiancé recently bought a house in Henderson.I guess he and Olivia decided they would rather have a kind of destination wedding since he already owns property in the area and they’ll have a place to stay for as long as they like.”
Caleb supposed that the plan made some sense.Growing up in Indiana, he’d been to Chicago enough times to know that it could be a soupy mess in the summer.Sure, Vegas was hot, but the humidity was usually down in the teens or twenties, which meant it was a lot more comfortable.
“When’s the wedding?”
Now Delia frowned.“That’s the weird thing…they’re getting married on the thirtieth.”
“Ofthismonth?”he asked, eyebrows lifting again.
Maybe he didn’t know a whole lot about weddings and wedding planning, but he thought that sounded like pretty short notice.
“That’s only a few days from now,” he added.
“I know,” Delia said, and turned the wrinkled envelope over in her hand, expression still a little perplexed.“It sure looks like the invitation got misdirected, judging by the condition it’s in.It’s kind of strange that my mother didn’t mention it to me, since I know my parents would have been invited, too — Vicky is my father’s younger sister.”
Caleb had to admit that did seem a little odd, since what he’d seen of Delia’s and her mother’s interactions indicated they were fairly close.“Maybe she assumed there wasn’t much to talk about, since you’re just attending and not actually in the wedding party.”
“Maybe.And since she was out of town at that conference in L.A.last week and also had two properties fall out of escrow this month, she’s been kind of preoccupied.”Delia’s frown morphed into an amused little smile.“Will you be my plus-one?”
He blinked at her.“You want me to go to the wedding with you?”
The smile didn’t budge.“Do you see me dating anyone else?”
He supposed not.Still, inviting him to a family event like this seemed like kind of a big step.He’d met Delia’s mother only because the two of them worked together, and he’d spent enough time at Dunne & Dunne handling real estate business that he’d bumped into Linda on several occasions.
However, he’d never met Delia’s father or anyone else in the family.That wasn’t so strange, not with her father’s relatives in Chicago and her mother’s family in Seattle, but Caleb had just assumed that Delia had held off introducing him to her father because she still wasn’t completely sure where things were heading with the two of them.
“No,” he allowed.“And I think it would be fun.Where’s the ceremony being held?”
She picked up the invitation and scanned it briefly.“Something called ‘The Angel’s Dream Wedding Chapel,’” she replied, then grinned.“Sounds appropriately cheesey and Vegas-y.”
About the same notion had passed through his mind.Was that on purpose?Was part of the reason Delia’s cousin and her fiancé had decided to tie the knot here in Las Vegas that they didn’t want to take the whole thing too seriously?
A sudden thought occurred to him.“Hey, we should go check out the chapel.”
Delia appeared dubious, to say the least.Brow lifting slightly, she asked, “Why?”
“I’ve never been to a Vegas wedding,” he told her, which was only the truth.“I want to know what I’m walking into so I’ll know how to dress.”
Still looking a bit skeptical, Delia glanced down at the invitation again.“It just says ‘dressy casual.’I don’t think she’s expecting the male guests to dress like Elvis or anything.”
“Maybe not, but it couldn’t hurt to take a look anyway,” he said, trying to sound as persuasive as possible.While he’d been all right with staying at her house and ordering in, going out on an exploratory mission and grabbing something to eat nearby felt like much more of an adventure.
For a moment, Delia hesitated, but then she took another look at his face and seemed to understand he was more in the mood to go out than have another quiet evening in.“Okay,” she said at length.“But give me a minute to change.I don’t feel like putting those stilettos back on.”
“Not a problem,” he replied.“I’ll check out restaurants in the area and make sure I pick something casual.”
“Almost everything in Las Vegas is casual,” she said with a chuckle.
True enough, unless you were going out to one of the top-tier places.And while Caleb appreciated fine dining, he was much happier finding someplace that had great food and not a lot of pretension.The buttoned-up shirts and suit jackets and hoity-toity country club fare had always been his father’s kind of thing, not his.
“True,” he allowed.“So I’ll scope things out, and you can get changed.”
She nodded, paused to take a sip of pinot noir, then leaned over to give him a quick kiss before she headed out of the kitchen and down the hall where the main suite was located.“I won’t be too long.”
No, she wouldn’t.While she always looked put together — probably because she never knew when she might run into a potential client, and therefore even her casual outfits were stylish and attractive — she also knew how to get ready fast.Caleb still wasn’t entirely sure how she did it…some magic of her own, he supposed, something separate from her ghost-whispering talents and her newly developed ability to see into people’s thoughts.
