It would definitely be that.
Millie swooped in with some words of wisdom. ‘And the best cure for jet lag is just to stay awake, so maybe we can get you to walk on the wild side with us, Mum. All day activities and all night dancing and drinking.’
Brenda would usually laugh that off as she’d never been much of a drinker. In fact, she hadn’t been drunk since she was in her twenties, apart from that one work night out where the young nurses on the ward had introduced her and Bernadette to apple-flavoured shots. The last thing Brenda remembered was asking if they counted towards her five a day. But that said, right now it was sounding like a healthy plan for surviving the next five days.
They gathered up their belongings, waited patiently in line for the passengers in front of them to move forward, then eventually followed them along the aisle to the door.
‘Goodbye. And welcome to Las Vegas,’ the smiley flight attendant chirped.
‘Thank you,’ Brenda replied, because even in times of emotional turmoil, she was nothing if not polite.
When she took her first step in to the Las Vegas terminal, she felt her hands begin to shake and shoved them in the pockets of her cardigan.
‘This is awesome!’ Millie cheered, slipping her arm through her mum’s. Brenda prayed that she wouldn’t feel her trembling. ‘This must be so different from last time you were here, Mum.’
Brenda gazed around at the white walls of the terminal building but recognised nothing.
‘It sure is,’ Meryl Streep answered with a wide smile.
‘I’ve never asked you before. When you came here last time, were you and Dad planning to get married? Or was it a spur-of-the-moment thing?’
Not even Meryl could handle this one. Conflicting answers ricocheted across her brain, but she couldn’t quite nail one down. It was all too much. The memories. The fractured marriage. Even making her way, right now, to a place she really didn’t want to go, either physically or emotionally. Yes, she wanted more excitement in her life, but not this kind, because this was the equivalent of a marital death row and she was a dead woman walking.
This city held so many secrets, so much that she wished hadn’t happened.
She blamed herself. She blamed Colin.
And more than anything, she absolutely blamed the other two people who had landed in Vegas with them back in 1993.
11
AIDEN
The text message beeped into Aiden’s phone just as he was leaving his apartment. He checked the screen, every time his first thought going to the possibility that it could be Layla. Of course, it wasn’t. Other than the text about collecting her stuff, he still hadn’t heard a word from her since the no-show at their wedding. And no, that still didn’t sting any less. Although this whole Vegas thing had been a welcome distraction, as had the couple of calls he’d exchanged with Zara and her sister, Millie. In fact, they’d had a FaceTime call a couple of nights ago that had lasted an hour, mainly because Millie was regaling him with stories about the social life in Glasgow. He already had an open invitation to visit and he hadn’t even met them in person yet.
They’d discussed all the different ways to let the reunion play out and they’d come to the conclusion that keeping it a surprise for everyone would make it even more special when they all came together. Hopefully, his mum would have got over the fact that his dad was there by then – or, if not, at least meeting Zara’s parents again after all these years would cheer her up and give her something to make the trip worthwhile. Reuniting with old friends – that had to be a special moment for her and his dad too. He couldn’t wait to make that happen for them. And it went without saying that if the four of them got together again, then maybe his parents would remember why they had once liked each other. It could definitely be the catalyst that rekindled their friendship.
That’s probably why he smiled when he saw that the text was from Zara.
The eagle has risen. Or at least, we’ll be taking off in about ten minutes. I’m hopeless at this spy stuff. Mum was so shocked, I thought she’d keel over and she still doesn’t know the best bit! Can’t wait to see our mums’ faces when they meet each other after thirty years. Dads too. It’s going to be epic! Have a safe flight and see you soon (feels really weird saying that!). Zx
He was getting used to Zara and Millie’s habit of putting an x or two at the end of every text. It was kinda endearing.
He fired off a reply.
Just leaving for airport now. See you on the other side. A
Then he remembered and changed it to ‘Ax’.
He slipped his phone into his pocket as he rode the elevator down to the lobby of his apartment block, running through the plans to make sure he had everything covered. His dad was spending the week down in Hilton Head, so he was making his own way to Charleston airport. Aiden had planned to pick up his mom on the way, but she’d called to say she had a showing on a house she was selling, so she’d meet him there. In truth, it was probably the best way for this to play out, because if he told her on the way to the airport that his dad was coming with them, he was pretty sure she’d demand that he stop the car and let her out on the freeway, whether it was a life-threatening situation or not.
Whenever he felt a twinge of anxiety about the duplicity of this whole situation, he reminded himself of three things. The first was that this had all started as a plan to reunite his mum and dad with old friends on a special occasion. The second was that the relationship between his mom and dad couldn’t get any worse, so there was nothing to lose. And the third was that he was one of the most respected and successful divorce lawyers in the city, so he should be able to negotiate some kind of peace agreement between his own warring parents.
Oh, and there was a fourth thing. He had adequate health insurance, so if one or both of his parents tried to murder him for this, he had a fighting chance of recovery.
‘Ready, bud?’ Trevon asked him when he reached the swanky car, fired up and waiting outside the door of his building. His mate had offered to drop him at the airport and pick him up again on his return. Aiden wasn’t going to argue. It meant he could have a beer on the plane on the way back and stay in holiday mode just a little bit longer. Or block out the chaos if his parents were still at war by then. Also, Trevon drove a slick Maserati, and Aiden’s childhood love of flash cars had never left him, so he’d take any excuse to ride in it.
It was a twelve-mile drive from downtown Charleston to the airport and traffic was light, so it only took about twenty minutes.
