“She’s been found.” Blake McGivern waved Ryan down as soon as he and Lisa stepped into the lobby.
Lisa felt relief wash over her like the downpour of the waterfall at the back of the Renaissance Grand’s resort-style pool.
Only two things mattered to Lisa right now...that Nana was safe, and that she would be happy.
“Oh, thank you, God. And thank you, Mr. McGivern.” Lisa’s prayers had been answered. And she had Ryan’s quick thinking and connections to thank for the early intervention that brought Nana back quickly and without incident.
“Where was she, Blake?” Ryan cupped a hand around Lisa’s shoulder, a side hug full of happy emotions.
“Next door at the Palazzo. She’d gone to the spa over there to finish her pedicure.”
Of course, she had. Because while Lisa had held misgivings about the wedding, there had never been any doubt in Nana’s mind that she would marry Bill today. Nana had always been one for quiet determination. Once she set herself on a path, nothing caused her to waver.
Once it had become clear that Lisa’s father’s medical issues would prevent him from being an engaged parent, and once it had become clear that Lisa’s mother wasn’t coming back, Nana had never wavered. She stepped in and acted in the role of father, mother, and great-grandmother. Unconditional love and a backbone of steel. Nana had always possessed both in bushels.
Lisa knew she needed to repay her grandmother with nothing less than the same.
“Let’s go get her, Ryan. We have a wedding to prepare for.”
McGivern listened to something coming through his clear earpiece. “No need. The Palazzo security staff is escorting her back here. She should be back shortly.”
“Thanks again, man.” Ryan reached his hand out toward McGivern and shook the security officer’s hand heartily. “I appreciate it. Lisa, do you want to go back to the suite and wait for her, and I’ll call Pops?”
She shook her head, nervous energy fueling her movements. “No. I’m going to wait right here. I have something to say to her, and I don’t want to wait.”
“Ok, well, let’s go over to the couches by the door, then.”
Ryan led Lisa over to a grouping of red leather couches just off to the left of the main entrance area. Lisa tapped her left foot in a random pattern, ticking off the seconds.
Ryan rested a hand lightly on her knee. The arch of his palm curved over her kneecap and Lisa couldn’t help but notice how it seemed to fit perfectly.
Finally, after a few minutes, the oversized sliding glass doors opened and a black-uniformed man guided Nana inside and turned toward the security desk.
“Nana!”
Lisa leaped up and covered the distance between them in mere seconds. She gathered Nana in her arms as though she were a child’s prized teddy bear and squeezed. She never wanted to let go.
Tears began to trickle over the paper-thin skin of Nana’s cheeks.
“Don’t cry, Nana. This is all my fault.”
“I shouldn’t have gotten so angry, sweetheart.”
Lisa jumped in before Nana could speak any further. This was her apology and she wanted to fully own it. The responsibility fell squarely on her shoulders.
“It’s okay, Nana. I was wrong and I’m sorry. I felt like what I was doing was right. I promise I’ve only tried to do what I felt was right for you. But I need to trust you and respect your decisions. And I respect why you want to marry Bill. I was scared, and I felt you weren’t thinking through your decision. I was scared that I was going to lose you—both mentally and physically, too, if you stayed out here.”
Nana gave a powerful sniff to stop the parade of saltwater droplets. “Then I raised you right. I raised a girl who loves mightily and cares enough to do what she feels is right, even when it’s tough.”
Lisa didn’t quite know what to say. Nana’s approval felt better than any critic’s review or any red carpet she could walk or any gold statue for which she could give an acceptance speech.
“I wish I’d told you about all this weeks ago so we could have worked this out before things ever came to this. I accept your apology, Lisa Marie. Will you accept mine?”
She buried her head in Nana’s shoulder and tightened the bear hug. “Always, Nana. I love you.”
“I love you too, Lisa Marie. Now, can I ask you something one more time?”
“Sure.” Lisa pulled back and looked at Nana, wondering just what she was getting at.
“I asked you the other day and you didn’t answer. You said you were going to get me a dementia test. Now that we know that test is out of the way, I still need a maid of honor. Will you stand up with me when I marry Bill?”
Lisa couldn’t keep the tears from welling up. She nodded her assent, momentarily unable to speak. “Of course, Nana. There’s nothing I’d like more.”
After they’d gotten everything sorted out with the security team, Lisa and Nana left Ryan and went to the Renaissance Grand’s wedding chapel, where the wedding ceremony would take place later this evening.
Nana gave one last signature on the checklist she’d been handed by the hotel’s wedding coordinator, confirming all the details. She handed it back to the coordinator with a smile.
“I think everything’s settled. Except for one thing.” Nana looked at Lisa with a sideways glance.
Lisa couldn’t think of any more burdens that needed to be lifted. “What?”
“Well, you and Ryan, of course.”
Nana laid her words out with a matter-of-fact finality, forcing Lisa to realize she wasn’t sweet-talking her way out of answering.
Except that she didn’t know what the answer was.
In fact, she wasn’t one-hundred-percent sure even what the question was.
“What about me and Ryan, Nana?” Lisa held her breath slightly while waiting for Nana’s clarification.
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Lisa Marie.”
Lisa shook her head at the admonishment. “But I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Nana.”
“I’ve seen you through a few relationships. Some good. Some bad. And then there was that two-faced jerk you were engaged to for a while. But I’ve never seen you let your guard down so quickly with someone.”
“Well, you know what they say, Nana. What happens in Vegas...”
“They say it stays in Vegas. So, are you going to go back to Port Provident and let Ryan stay in Vegas?” Nana sat on the front pew in the chapel.
“Well, I can’t stay here. I’ve got a few more days of Spring Break, but that’s it until summer. I have a teaching contract. I can’t just quit and never go back.”
“What strings does Ryan have tying him down? He quit his job. Why don’t you ask him to come with you?”
“You want me to ask him to leave the lights of Las Vegas for Port Provident? I just can’t see anyone trading all this for humidity and seagull poop on your car.”
Besides, she needed Ryan close to Nana and Bill. Lisa needed to know someone was there to take care of them since she would be hundreds of miles away.
She wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if Ryan wasn’t in the same place as Nana and Pops.
Of course, she’d be doing plenty of tossing and turning thinking about this Spring Break to remember—and the man she’d never forget, the one who had taught her to be more spontaneous, to trust in her instincts, and to not be afraid to take a gamble on life every now and then.
“You never know until you ask, Lisa Marie. Remember where you got with not asking me about my plans with Bill and your suspicions about how my brain was—or wasn’t—working.”
Lisa frowned at the recent, biting memory. That shoe fit. And it was way too tight.
“But what would I say, Nana? Hey, I’ve known you for less than a week...wanna run off with me to the paradise of Port Provident, Texas?”
“That doesn’t sound appealing at all.” Nana tsk-tsked with her tone of voice.
“Exactly. It so
unds crazy. Which is what it is.”
Nana reached up and took Lisa’s hand in her own, the swirls of her fingertips softened and worn down by more than nine decades of living. It felt like the touch of a velvet teddy bear, holding on tightly to a dream.
“No. What’s crazy is not listening to your heart and watching someone walk out of your life, possibly forever. You don’t have to deal with World War II, but this is one lesson you need to make sure you learn from me.”
Lisa paused, conflicted by Nana’s words. “But Nana, I still don’t understand something. If you hadn’t gone your separate ways back then, you wouldn’t have me. Bill wouldn’t have Ryan. If you erase the mistakes of your past, then you erase me.”
Nana’s fingers squeezed the edges of Lisa’s palm tightly. “That’s when it all comes down to faith. Knowing that God works out our lives the way they’re supposed to. But that doesn’t mean we abdicate responsibility for making thoughtful decisions, or just throw our lives to the wind like a boomerang and hope it comes back to us.”
Something about Nana’s words slowed the whirling thoughts in Lisa’s mind. She’d been guilty of not always making the most thoughtful decisions.
“But what should I do, Nana?”
She remembered being a child, sitting at the window at the front of her house, waiting on her mother to come home, and asking Nana the same question. What should I do?
Lisa didn’t want to waste her life waiting and wishing and hoping. She’d done that as a child because that was the only course of action she knew to take. This time, she knew better.
Nana patted Lisa on the hand, always a steady presence in her life.
“Follow your heart.”
Chapter Eight
Ryan headed back toward the NCN TV set at the Shamrocks for Students tournament.
Before Mariela had summoned him to Lisa’s side, he’d had the chance to spend the morning talking to the head of the Cutting Edge Students charity, the recipients of the funds raised through the tournament. Their mission was to raise money to support new and innovative ideas in education around the country.
Ryan thought back to the conversation he’d had this morning.
“A lot of times districts have ideas to improve access to certain types of education, or to bring a completely new program to kids, but they don’t have the funding to sustain it,” Jim Palmer, the charity’s president, told Ryan. “That’s where we come in. We raise funds to support these programs and the districts and teachers who are thinking out of the box. Then we give it to them as grant money. Big tournaments like the Shamrocks for Students event are our bread and butter, but not everything we do is as much of a splash as this. Little things, day in and day out across the country add up to make a difference too.”
They’d gone over a list of things that the Cutting Edge Students Foundation had done and their plans for the year ahead. Thinking about the conversation he’d had with Jim started Ryan’s mind racing again. Jim had clearly laid out the dots that needed to be connected to accomplish their goals.
What Ryan had appreciated the most about their conversation was the enthusiasm Jim had for the students he served. It had reminded Ryan of how animated Lisa had been the other night in their booth in the piano bar.
She’d shared all about her students and the passion she’d found for teaching once she’d left her dreams of stage and spotlight behind. Lisa’s sincere joy in that whole evening forced him to see her from a totally different perspective.
And as this wedding weekend had continued to bring them together, that perspective had grown sharper and sharper. He had more questions than answers right now about where he was going and what he wanted out of his life, but he knew he didn’t want to lose Lisa’s place in it.
Of all the risks he’d taken over the years, losing Lisa wasn’t one he was willing to take.
And he wasn’t content to just be her step-whatever-relative when their grandparents married.
It wasn’t good enough.
But how could he convince her that the only jackpot he wanted to win was her heart?
“Ryan!” Tony Collins, the lead producer for NCN’s coverage of the Shamrocks for Students tournament, waved in his direction, breaking the Lisa-induced fog which had completely surrounded his thoughts on the walk over here.
He’d been on complete auto-pilot through the halls of the Renaissance Grand.
Love would do that to you, he guessed.
Love.
He’d begun to realize it when he was teasing Lisa yesterday as they were getting out of the limo. It had come on quickly, but strangely, it didn’t even cause him the slightest hesitation to reinforce that in his mind—and in his heart.
He just didn’t know what to do about it. He knew Lisa appreciated his help earlier today, and even seemed to enjoy the time they’d spent together—when she’d finally let her guard down. But he’d be fooling himself if he thought she’d come to the same conclusions he had.
“You ready, Lucky Charm?” Emma Brown swiveled in her chair to face him.
“I told you, Emma. The name’s just Ryan. Ryan McBride. The poker player is retired. And the name is retiring with him.”
“Aww, that’s no fun.” She pushed her lower lip into a slight pout. “I guess I’ll just have to play along.”
He wouldn’t miss this kind of nonsense, of every woman in Las Vegas trying to flirt with him. “I guess you will, Emma.”
The pout faded and she rolled her eyes slightly at Ryan. Too bad for Emma and her years of trying to come on to him—but the only eyes he had time for now, sparkled like warm honey. Lisa had never tried to come on to him. Even when she’d found out that he’d won some tournaments and had a bank account to go along with that, she’d never treated him differently.
Emma adjusted her cotton candy pink leather skirt and fluffed her blonde hair, arranging the front corkscrew curls just so, placing them over each shoulder with a practiced hand.
“Tony, let me know when you’re ready to start.”
“In about two minutes, Em. The second-to-last round is almost over. We’ll cut to you and Ryan at the break between rounds.” Tony took off his headphones and looked at Ryan. “I saw you talking with Jim Palmer earlier, Ryan. What was that all about?”
“I ran into him earlier and he was telling me about some of the things the foundation is doing. This is a tournament that does a lot of good, you know. It’s something I think more people need to know about.”
“Want Jim to join you for part of the interview? He’s supposed to be stopping by soon.”
Ryan nodded. He may have dropped out of the tournament, but he could definitely still help Jim spread the word about the goals of the Cutting Edge Students Foundation and try and motivate people to get involved beyond sitting at home and watching some guys play cards on TV.
“Let’s do it, Tony. See if you can get him over here. That sounds like a much better interview than me talking about myself.”
Tony waggled his pointer finger. “Oh, you’re not getting off that easily, McBride—see, I remembered. We’ve got plenty of questions for you. Our Twitter feed blew up after you announced your retirement, then when you cut your stay in the tourney short...well, you wouldn’t believe it. You were trending on Twitter for hours.”
“So, you’re saying I’m trendy?” Ryan sat down in the seat next to Emma. A staffer adjusted microphones nearby and another came by and brushed powder on his forehead. A small army clustered around Emma and made sure she was camera-ready as well.
“I’m saying you’re something else, man. I don’t think there have been that many poker players with that kind of effect in the last few years.”
Ryan had been so consumed with Lisa and everything surrounding Pops and Gina Mae that he’d stayed largely off his phone. He hadn’t seen Facebook or Twitter or his email in days. And he rarely ever pulled up a news page. He’d never been one to read the reviews, lest he find himself buying into the hype. He’d always thought of it as a c
ompetitive advantage—he’d just wanted to stay neutral and do his thing when and where it counted—at the tables.
But this week, he’d been even more cut off than ever. The only opinions he’d cared about belonged to Pops, as Ryan tried to get to know Gina Mae so he could do right by the man who’d raised him.
And then there’d been Lisa.
There just wasn’t much room for nameless, faceless people providing their opinions on a computer in one-hundred-forty characters or less.
Tony waved Jim over, said a few words to him, then directed him to the chair closest to Ryan.
“Good to see you again, Jim.” Ryan put his hand out to shake Jim’s hand.
“Me too. I’m looking forward to continuing our conversation and spreading the message further.” The older gentleman’s handshake was hearty. Ryan felt the same instant comfort and connection he had when they’d spoken earlier.
“Ok, we’re coming back from commercial in forty-five seconds. Everyone ready? On my count, Emma.” Tony stepped into position next to a stationary camera. Ryan nodded. Emma barely moved her head, seemingly afraid to adjust the carefully-arranged curls.
Tony’s fingers counted down and gave the signal for the interview to begin.
Three.
Two.
One.
Ryan had no idea what was coming in Emma’s interview, but he’d get through it. Besides contributing his entry fee with no chance of earning it back, he saw this as one very tangible way he could make it up to the Foundation for retiring thirty-six hours earlier than planned.
He needed to finish his run in Vegas on good terms, then move on to the next chapter.
Whatever that might be.
Maybe he could talk to Jim a little more after the interview. Maybe he could catch some of that man’s enthusiasm.
And maybe he could catch Lisa Fleming’s heart.
Somehow, he couldn’t see his future without a good dose of either—both Lisa and the chance to change someone else’s luck instead of his own for a change.
Nana didn’t even twitch.
Lucky in Love Page 15