They headed toward the Ferris wheel not too far away from the building. With night now fallen, Thelma took in the bright lights of Vegas, including the ones illuminating the Ferris wheel in the near distance. As soon as they lined up to wait their turn, Thelma checked her phone and saw two messages from Megan.“Hey, are you okay?” “We’re going back to our room. Could you wait to come back until like… after 11? Thanks.”
“They’re so doing it,” Gretchen said while looking over Thelma’s shoulder.
“Gretch!” Thelma shoved her phone in her purse. “That’s none of our business.”
“Trust me, I used to babysit that kid. I don’t wanna think about it, either.”
Their turn to enter an “observation cabin” came only a few minutes later. Thelma assumed it was a typical Ferris wheel that allowed a pair to watch the world go by in private, but wasn’t opposed to sharing a moving room with twenty other people who mostly kept to themselves. She and Gretchen picked a spotthat let them see the length of the Strip as their cabin leisurely ascended. Music played and lights created a dazzling display, but Thelma was more into hanging onto the rail and gazing out into the distance with her date beside her.
“I’ve had a lot of fun tonight,” she told Gretchen. Behind them, most of the other guests gathered together to take pictures for some club they were in. The lights dimmed while the music continued to play. Soon, all that remained was Thelma and the woman next to her. “Thanks for inviting me out. I can almost forget having to go on a plane again tomorrow.”
“I should be thanking you for distracting me from how boring this town is when I’m by myself. To think, I really tried to get out of it.”
That gave Thelma a recurring thought. “Perhaps you saw a sign. Or heard a sign, as it usually happens for me.”
“A sign, huh?”
“Yup! Like that song we danced to. ‘Twilight Time,’by the Platters.”
“As sung by Willie Nelson,” Gretchen reminded her.
“The point is that the original song was playing at one of the most important moments of my life. Just a few months ago. Shortly before we met.”
A flash of light from the Strip briefly illuminated Gretchen’s face. “Is that so?”
“We don’t really think about those things while they’re happening, you know? But then they keep coming back like a guardian angel. I like to think…” Thelma faced the window, breathing in deeply for strength. “I like to think things happen for a reason. There are notrueaccidents, like the major things. Maybe we forge our own destinies to some extent, but…”
“But, what?”
Thelma pivoted directly into Gretchen. “But it’s no coincidence, right? That right when I needed someone the most, they appeared.”
“You mean me?”
“It’s not like I was looking…”
Gretchen hugged her again.Every time we’re ensconced in one another…Thelma felt a little lighter. A little more protected. She nuzzled her nose against Gretchen’s shoulder and maneuvered a hand beneath her jacket. For a few blessed moments, they watched a city like Las Vegas slowly pass by, giggles, laughter, and shouts of disbelief erupting behind them—but never distracting them from each other.
“I’m glad I met you, Gretch.”
The hand on her waist momentarily lightened before squeezing her with every ounce of strength in Gretchen’s body. “I’m glad I met you, too. Even if you’re Robert’s niece…”
“About that…”
But Thelma had no intention of sharing the truth that night.Let her think whatever she wants about me.Thelma knew a kiss was coming, and she would be damned by her own guardian angel if she passed the prime opportunity.
She wasn’t sure, but Thelma swore that fireworks exploded in the distance the moment her lips landed on Gretchen’s.
The silliest thing wasn’t that Thelma went with Gretchen up to her room. It was that Gretchen thought Thelma might benervousto be alone with a bed present between them.
If anything, she couldn’t wait to close the sheer curtains while leaving open the blackouts. Gretchen’s view of the Strip wasn’t grand, but it was inspiring enough for Thelma to remove herdenim jacket and toss it atop Gretchen’s on the back of a lounge chair.
“This is a big leap up from my couch with my cat watching,” she joked as she came up behind Thelma, who still gazed out the window. “but, you know, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want—”
She was cut off by Thelma pushing her back from the window.Toward the bed.
“There’s a lot that I want,” Thelma sultrily declared as Gretchen sat on the bed. “But rarely do people let me tell them what that is.”
“Well, uh…” Ever the consummate date, Gretchen maintained whatever veneer of confidence her own guardian angel had graced upon her. “What do you want, Thel?”
