Alicia flushed when she saw him.
He greeted her with a rueful smile.
“Listen, Zeke,” Alicia said hurriedly, “I really am sorry. I didn’t even know Abe was in town – I swear!”
Zeke waved away her apology. “Nothing got broken,” he replied, “and you can barely see the bruises anymore. No real harm done.”
Alicia smiled gratefully at him. “Thanks, Zeke.”
She leaned closer.
“Listen, Abe really is out of town tonight, so if you wanted to get together – just for a drink,” she hastened to assure him. “I think I probably owe you a beer at the very least.”
Zeke chuckled. “I’ll have to let you know. I haven’t seen Manny – you know, the woman I’m travelling with – for the last few days, and I want to check in with her before I start making any other plans.”
Alicia shrugged. “Let me know, okay? And I think I just saw your Manny heading towards the casino.” She nodded her head towards Zeke’s right, which was the opposite wing of the casino than the one he’d just explored.
He thanked her and strode in the direction she’d indicated, his long legs making short work of the distance to the casino floor. He walked down the main path, looking down each bank of slot machines without success. He was about to give up when he heard his name being called.
He turned and smiled as Manny walked up to him. Her mousy not-quite-blonde-not-quite-brown hair was, as always, tightly bound in its habitual bun, but he saw her face was again slightly sunburned, her nose rosy. She was wearing blue jeans and a grey tank top that hugged her figure. For the first time Zeke noticed Manny carried her weight in her breasts and hips, and even though she was a bit overweight, her waist appeared quite tiny, especially in that tank top. He frowned slightly, not sure he liked just how much her current outfit revealed of her figure while she was wandering around Vegas on her own. She was, after all, his Auntie Em.
On the other hand, he was surprised at just how happy and, yes, relieved he was to see her. He must have been feeling guiltier than he thought about leaving her to fend for herself. To be honest, he’d barely thought of her at all during the last five days, first because he’d been in pain from Abe’s punch, then hungover from all the whiskey he’d drunk that night after Abe had taken Alicia home, and then he’d been too busy working to worry too much about how Manny was spending her time, or what she was wearing while she wandered the Strip.
He greeted her now, though, with real pleasure, then asked, “So, what have you been doing the last few days?”
Manny gave him a distracted smile as she glanced around the casino, and said, “You first.”
Zeke considered telling her the truth for all of half a second, then decided to keep the illusion of his last week going for a while longer. Besides, he couldn’t really explain about Leah without skirting dangerously close to inadvertently leading her to his blog that was focused on her and this trip.
His grin turned wolfish as he instead said, “If I have to explain it to you, then you really shouldn’t be let out of the house.”
Manny raised a questioning eyebrow. “Really? For four whole days?”
Zeke preened slightly, making a show of straightening the sleeves of his green button-down shirt. “Impressed?”
“Skeptical, actually. But unless...whatshername decides to share, I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”
Zeke mock-glared at her, his hands on his jean-clad hips.
“Thanks,” he said drily. “Anyway, I’ll bet what you’ve been doing can’t come anywhere near that!”
Manny tsk’d and lightly patted his arm. He stared down at her hand, startled and suddenly noticing just how much shorter she was than him. This was, he realized, the first time she’d touched him since their trip started.
She said lightly, seemingly oblivious to his startled reaction to her touch, “Well, if I’d known we were in a competition, I might have – oh, hi, Angeline, Reuben!”
Zeke looked to his right and saw two people in their mid-to-late sixties striding briskly towards them. He hesitated between polite curiosity and frowning confusion as the older woman and Manny shared a hug.
“There you are!” Angeline said, leaning back and smiling cozily at Manny. “I was getting worried about you! Are you ready to go to the chapel?”
Zeke whipped his head towards Manny.
“Chapel?” and to his horror, his voice actually squeaked.
“Absolutely,” Manny said to Angeline, then met Zeke’s wide eyes with an amused grin. “Zeke, meet Angeline Steinberg and her fiancé, Reuben Kingsley. They’re getting married today, and I’m going to be a bridesmaid.”
She bit back a laugh at the look on Zeke’s face as she turned back to the happy couple.
“Have you seen Lionel?” she asked.
Lionel? Zeke thought blankly.
“He’s going to meet us at the chapel,” Angeline replied. She turned to Zeke with a broad grin. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Zeke. I’ve heard a lot about you. If you have the time, you’re more than welcome to join us.”
Zeke blinked at her, feeling a confusion that was disorienting while at the same time, surprisingly familiar. It reminded him of walking into Leila’s bed and breakfast to find Manny in the midst of a no-holds-barred card game. The world currently seemed to be tilting on its axis in much the same way.
He shook himself out of his fog and said, “Thank you – I’d like that. Are you an old friend of Manny’s?”
Angeline laughed, a surprisingly young and musical sound. “Oh, no! We met here at the slot machines the other night. She brought us luck, and we’ve sort of adopted each other.”
“Oh?” Zeke replied faintly, as they began to walk to where Zeke assumed the chapel was located.
Angeline chattered on, “And she’s been so kind, humoring us by making all the arrangements and accompanying us wherever we wanted to go. She did the Fremont Street zipline with us.”
“Screaming the entire way,” Manny confided drily.
Angeline shook her head and continued, “We rode donkeys down into the Grand Canyon, and yesterday we toured Death Valley. Then, of course, there was Area 51 and the UFO watching tour – which was very exciting for everyone!”
“In more ways than one,” Manny nodded.
Zeke didn’t have a chance to ask her what she meant before Reuben said, “Tomorrow is the ghost tour, and the day after that we’re going to hit all the museums we can find.”
“Tonight’s the wedding, of course,” Manny said, “but then we’re all going to the high stakes poker room afterwards – mostly for drinks and the ambience because I don’t think many of us can afford to actually play at a table. Maybe you can bring, um, whatshername to that. It’s formal, though, so you’ll need a tux and she’ll need a formal outfit.”
Angeline slipped a hand in the crook of Manny’s arm and said, “It’s very hard to organize so many people for all those activities, but Manny just seems to pull it all together so easily.”
“Well,” Zeke said weakly. “there are only the four of you -”
Manny laughed. “Four? Oh, Lord no! You’ll see everyone at the wedding. Lionel, Jack, Simon-Simone and I have to be there because we’re in the wedding party, but nobody from the group would miss this!”
Zeke stared at her in utter confusion before his dark brows lowered thunderously over his eyes.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded.
Before Manny could respond, Reuben said, “We’re here,” and pulled open the door.
Zeke’s jaw dropped as he gaped at what at first appeared to be a kaleidoscope of people of all ages, shapes and colours. The tiny chapel was packed, but as he began to make sense of the scene, he realized there were actually only about thirty people in the room.
There was a rather dapper man in his sixties talking to a trio of twenty-somethings of various nationalities but with their hair in matching shades of purple, and each sporting several
tattoos and piercings. As Zeke watched, they all began laughing uproariously at what Zeke could only assume was the punch line to a joke. His gaze moved to a group of women standing around a very tall, striking blonde woman. The shorter women were obviously giving commentary on the tall woman’s dress, shoes, hair and makeup. Zeke blinked and frowned as he peered closer and realized the tall woman was male. He stared for a moment before admitting that he – or rather, she – was really quite attractive.
Everywhere he looked, he saw a mixed bag of people, mingling together in high spirits and good humour. Well, he thought dazedly, they were at a wedding after all.
He turned as a big, bluff, classically handsome man in his fifties strode up to them, his arms spread wide in welcome.
“Here you are!” he boomed. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d gotten cold feet! I’ve put your wedding dress in the bride’s alcove, Angeline, and Manny, your maid of honor dress is there as well. There’s also a woman waiting to do your hair and make-up.”
“Shoes?” Manny asked, stopping his words with one raised finger.
Lionel – because Zeke could only assume this larger than life man was Lionel – put a hand to his broad, elegantly clad chest and his eyes widened in mock pain.
“I’m hurt – of course I remembered the shoes! The three of you are going to look absolutely stunning.” He turned to Reuben. “We’ll do them justice as well. Our tuxes are in the groom’s alcove.”
He finally seemed to notice Zeke and quickly gave him the once-over.
“Another addition to the menagerie, I see,” he said to Zeke with a smile. “Introduce yourself, find a seat – and enjoy the show. You’ll need to get a tux before we go to the high-stakes poker room, but don’t worry – everyone has to go change. Will you be bringing a date?”
Zeke simply stood, feeling shell-shocked. “Uh, maybe,” he finally managed, and Lionel beamed at him.
“Good man. Make yourself comfortable. The wedding will begin soon.”
Manny and Angeline hurried off the bride’s alcove, taking the tall woman with them as they left. Zeke took the opportunity to slip back to the front desk and ask Alicia if she’d be interested in buying him that drink at a wedding reception. She stared blankly at him before she slowly agreed.
Zeke slipped back into the chapel just as the wedding began. He hastily sat and watched as Reuben, Lionel and another impeccably dressed fifty-something man took their places at the altar and turned expectantly towards the back of the chapel.
The first bridesmaid was the tall woman Zeke had noticed earlier. She was now dressed in a dark blue sheath dress that ended just below her knees and she was no longer blonde. Instead she wore a chestnut wig with the hair pulled away from her face and then allowed to tumble loosely down her back in thick waves. She was wearing delicately pretty shoes with one-inch heels that exactly matched the colour of the dress. She walked slowly and a little unsteadily on the shoes, biting her lip and frowning in concentration as she walked down the aisle.
Manny was next to step out of the bride’s alcove. Zeke thought she was pleasantly plump and decently pretty in the same sheath dress but in a brilliant jewel blue, and with a similar hairstyle as the first bridesmaid. He hadn’t realized just how long Manny’s hair truly was, well past her mid-back, and he guessed he could now almost understand why she always wore it in a bun.
He looked curiously at her feet and raised an eyebrow. The shoes were the same delicately pretty shoes as the first bridesmaid’s, perfectly matched in colour to her dress, but the thin stiletto heels were at least three inches high. He had to admit, they were gorgeous shoes, but they looked far too dangerous for someone like Manny to wear. He idly wondered if any of the people in the chapel were also doctors or at least knew how to deal with a broken ankle. She walked steadily down the aisle and never missed a step.
Once Manny took her place at the altar, the music paused before the wedding march began. Angeline appeared wearing a simple pale yellow lace dress, her own shoes just as delicately gorgeous as her bridesmaids’ but with a much lower heel. She smiled rather shyly at everyone in the room and began to sedately walk down the aisle.
She’d only taken three steps when the music abruptly changed to a fast-paced country-rock song, and everyone in the chapel, including the groom and the minister, began to clap and sing along.
Angeline stopped short, her jaw dropping before she burst out laughing. She laughed even harder when Reuben did a shuffling dance down the aisle to meet her then scooped her into his arms and whirled her down the aisle before finally depositing her, flushed, breathless and starry-eyed, at the altar.
Even as he clapped along with the others, Zeke’s eyebrows rose even higher as he wondered just what, exactly, he’d missed over the last five days.
~~~~~
Two hours later, the odd group of people Manny had found were milling noisily around the high stakes poker room. They were the only people there and Zeke wondered how Angeline and Reuben had managed to convince the casino to rent them this room for the evening especially since very few in the crowd looked like they could afford to breathe the air in here, let alone lose any money at the tables.
He glanced at Alicia, standing in an out-of-the-way corner of the room, waiting for him to return with their drinks. She was staring around with the same expression he knew he wore on his own face, a mixture of confusion, dismay and amusement. He shook his head in bemusement.
Manny stood beside him, watching everyone with a fond smile.
Zeke leaned closer and murmured, “Why do I have that Dr. Hook song in my head?”
Manny tsk’d mildly then gave him her most fearsome prudish-maiden-aunt look as she firmly said, “They’re not freaks.”
Zeke found that the prudish-maiden-aunt look didn’t have quite the same effect while she was wearing those sexy high-heeled shoes and her hair wasn’t in its usual bun.
“Island of misfit toys, then?” Zeke teased.
She tsk’d again, more forcefully this time. “How about just people?”
Zeke shook his head. “How the hell did you fall into this group?”
Manny shrugged. “We all just...met.”
“Well, are they friends of Angeline and Reuben? Did they come to Vegas for the wedding?”
Manny shook her head. “No. I told you – we all just...sorta...met. Here in Vegas.”
“Don’t you listen to her,” Lionel boomed, and Zeke jumped a little before he turned around. He hadn’t realized the older man had walked up behind them.
Lionel continued, “Although it’s true we met here in Vegas, I think it was her ability to strike up a conversation with anybody that really drew us all together.”
Zeke blinked at him in silence for a moment.
“Manny’s ability to strike up a conversation?” he asked carefully.
Lionel slung a friendly arm across Manny’s shoulders. “And her willingness to get a conversation started between people, and then step out of the way.”
Zeke frowned and opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Manny forestalled him.
“Let’s get our drinks and rejoin Alicia – she’s looking lonely and uncomfortable. I promise I’ll tell you all about the last few days once we have drinks in our hands.” She glanced with some amusement at Zeke’s befuddled expression. “I think you’re going to be grateful for a drink or two by the time I’m done.”
Zeke was almost bursting with impatience and curiosity by the time they rejoined Alicia with a small entourage in tow. They stood in a circle, Zeke standing between Alicia and Manny, with Lionel and Jack, who’d been the other groomsman; Simon-Simone, who was the other bridesmaid, and Angeline and Reuben.
Zeke and Alicia introduced themselves and learned that Jack was Lionel’s life partner, and this was Simon-Simone’s first trip to Las Vegas. Lionel casually slipped an arm around Jack’s waist as they chatted.
Zeke pounced at the first lull in the conversation.
“Okay,” he said to Manny
, “enough with the small talk. Spill! What – who – how did you meet all these people?”
Manny took a sip of her drink and smiled with a half-puzzled, half-embarrassed air.
“Well,” she hesitated, “that’s a bit of a long story...”
“I think we have time,” Zeke said drily, “and you promised to tell me everything. With the way you’re squirming, I’m beginning to think you have something to hide.”
Manny shot him a mock glare, then shrugged and said, “Well, I guess I should start at the beginning, then.” She nodded at the newlyweds. “I met Angeline and Reuben when we were playing on neighbouring slot machines and we struck up a conversation.”
Angeline said, “I was having so much fun talking to Manny that I got distracted and accidentally hit the maximum bet button.” She leaned closer to Zeke and conspiratorially lowered her voice as she added, “I don’t ever play at the maximum bet - I can’t afford to lose that much. Plus I was down to my last twenty dollars for the day. I screamed when I realized what I’d done, let me tell you!”
“Really loudly,” Reuben agreed with a wince. Angeline smacked him lightly on the shoulder.
“Thankfully, she got the bonus,” Manny told Zeke with an affectionate smile at the happy couple.
“And she ended up winning the jackpot,” Reuben finished with a grin.
Zeke raised an eyebrow. “The jackpot?” he asked, lifting his drink to his lips.
“It was one of those progressive machines,” Angeline explained modestly. “Eleven million dollars.”
Zeke spewed out his drink, although he thankfully didn’t get any on anyone except himself. Manny helpfully pounded him on the back as he coughed, his eyes watering, while Alicia, Angeline and Simon-Simone scrambled for napkins to press into his hand.
He stared at Angeline, his dark eyes huge. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Everyone laughed, including Alicia, and Lionel said, “No, she’s definitely not fucking kidding you.”
Zeke coughed once more, then said, “Okay. Well. Well, then...that must have been exciting.” He congratulated himself on being the king of understatement.
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