“Thanks.” He leaned a little more, just enough to kiss her forehead. “We’re going to have some time before the flight tomorrow. Unless we leave here late. But if we leave early, we could wander around in Vegas for a bit. If you want. You mentioned food and shopping. Caesars Palace, maybe? Or one of the other big casinos?”
“You wouldn’t find that boring?”
“Nah. Not if it makes you happy. Plus, there’s always people-watching, which is pretty much how I build new characters.”
She smiled. “All right. Sounds fun.”
He stabbed the last piece of his cake. “That’s our plan then.”
The next morning was a repeat of the previous morning, just a little quicker. They ate in the hotel restaurant, then packed up and got on the road.
Ninety minutes and much conversation later, they arrived back in Las Vegas. Mitch navigated to Caesars Palace, following the GPS directions right to valet parking.
He handed the keys to an attendant, got a claim ticket, and they headed inside. Mitch took Harper’s hand as they walked into the well-air-conditioned shopping center. She smiled, enjoying the feel of his strong hand holding hers.
She couldn’t stop looking around. The mall was really something. The ceiling was painted to look like a blue sky with scattered clouds and there were architectural details everywhere to give it the feel of ancient Roman splendor. There were even benches that looked like marble columns that had fallen over.
The lights were changing as they walked, turning the blue sky to the soft purple of evening. She took it all in, trying to save the memory. “This is cool.”
“Have you been here before?”
“Not here, no.”
“Then that makes two of us.”
“How’d you know to come here then?”
“I’ve been to Vegas before, for a convention, actually. All the women talked about was shopping at Caesars, so I figured it was a good bet.”
“You figured right. Would it be super touristy if I took pictures?”
He shook his head. “Go for it. I’ll probably take some, too.”
They went into a souvenir shop and picked up T-shirts for Kyle, Ruthie, Willa, and Frankie. Joyce and Beryl got fridgemagnets. They also found an almost reasonably priced suitcase to hold her mom’s things. Harper insisted on paying for that.
“All right,” she said as they walked out of the shop. He wheeled the suitcase behind them. “That’s taken care of. Where to now?”
Mitch looked around. “I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking about food.”
The aroma of garlic, meat, and red sauce drifted past as they approached a restaurant with an eating area set up outside. It was obviously not outside, as they were in the mall, but it was designed to look that way.
She nodded at it. “You want Italian again? I know we just had pizza, but it smells good.”
“It does. Let’s go.”
They had a quick lunch. She had an antipasto salad, he had a lunch portion of spaghetti and meatballs. Then they went back to walking around, hand in hand, him rolling the new luggage.
It was funny to be so happy after being so sad. Her grief hadn’t gone away. It was sharing space with her happiness, but the happiness was front and center, letting her enjoy the time with Mitch. Amazing what the emotions were capable of.
They stopped to look in the window of a high-end jewelers, Mitch’s gaze caught by a display of watches in the window.
“You’d look good in any of those,” Harper said.
He nodded at the one in the center. It was a dive watch with a cobalt blue face and matching bezel. Against the stainless-steel case and bracelet, it was a beautiful contrast. “I like that one.”
“Why don’t you try it on?”
He smiled. “Maybe I will.”
