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Lady Luck was definitely on my side when the pharmacy got us in and out with a brand new pack of birth control. I laughed at how quickly my doctor was willing to write me another prescription when she heard that I was on vacation and had forgotten to pack mine. I had been seeing her for years and had never taken a trip that she knew of, despite her constantly telling me that I needed to get out and see the world.
By the time we had finished, it was already after six, and we were starting to get hungry. John and I agreed that it would be too chaotic on the strip and that we didn’t want to wait for an hour or more for a table which ruled out everything around our hotel. Luckily, we spotted a cute little restaurant on the backside of the strip that was relatively busy but didn’t have a line out the door. Twenty minutes later, we were seated at a booth in the back, watching an older couple belt out their rendition of I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton-John. We had picked a lively place for karaoke, which was fine by us.
We placed our order and watched as a group of young girls- slightly older than Lily, went up to sing as a group. It was hard to make out what song it was supposed to be through the giggling and whispering about how nervous they were. Next up was a group of guys who looked like they belonged on Jersey Shore, who tried to serenade the group of girls that were sitting at the table beside us, part of a bachelorette party.
I smiled at the waitress as she brought our drinks and set them on the table. My stomach growled, wanting food as another server passed by carrying a plate of nachos.
Lily picked up a stack of papers from the middle of the table and looked at them.
“What are those?” I asked, wondering what had her attention as she focused intently on them.
John looked over her shoulder and smiled.
“Signup sheets for the karaoke,” he confirmed, taking a drink of his iced tea.
I turned my attention back to the DJ, who was looking through the stack of papers on the table next to him.
“Alright, folks, we’re going to take a quick break, and then we’ll be back for more,” he announced before turning the microphone off and setting it beside him. He pressed a few buttons, and a Justin Bieber song started playing through the speakers behind us as he walked away.
I could feel the excitement building as the waitress made her way over to our table, carrying a tray with sandwiches that almost toppled over. I covered my mouth with my hands as I stared at them in disbelief. I guess the sign outside wasn’t lying when they said they had the biggest sandwiches on the strip.
She set our plates in front of us and dropped off a handful of napkins before checking to see if we needed anything else. Aside from an extra stomach, I couldn’t think of what could possibly be missing from this massive sandwich. Now I wished I had offered to split one with John or Emma as there was no way that I could eat all of this.
I studied the mighty club, with its layers of bread, meats, and bacon, trying to figure out the best angle to dive in. Finally realizing that there wasn’t one, I gave in and smashed it down the best that I could, the toast crumbling around my plate. I opened my mouth as wide as it would go and tried to take a bite. I heard giggling from the other side and lowered my hand to see Lily laughing at my attempt.
“There’s no other way to eat it,” I complained, lowering it back to my plate. I looked over at John, who sat there with a smug look on his face, trying to contain his laughter, as he pulled the toothpick out and separated it into four very manageable-sized sandwiches.
“Oh,” I said quietly, feeling a little silly and embarrassed. “I guess there is another way after all.”
John and Lily laughed, much to my expense, as I pulled the toothpicks out and copied John. The waitress came by again, refilling drinks. She stopped by Lily’s side of the table and bent down as she whispered something in her ear. I didn’t know what she was up to, but the waitress nodded and gave her a light pat on the shoulder before she walked away.
I finished separating my sandwich and popped a sweet potato fry into my mouth, desperate to finally eat. John was already through half of his food by the time I took my first bite. It wasn’t like we were in a rush, but I still felt silly for attempting to eat the whole thing in one bite.
Lily dipped her french fries in ketchup and bounced excitedly in her seat when the DJ came back and sat down. The waitress went over and gave him a handful of papers that had been collected while he was gone.
“Alright, let’s get this competition started! It’s officially seven o’clock, which means that it’s time for the Sing for Bling contest. Only, I don’t have any bling to give you, so the winner will walk out with one hundred dollars! How this works is each contestant comes up to sing, and whoever gets the crowd going the loudest wins. Easy peasy.” He looked around, making sure everyone was paying attention and listening.
I lifted my pickle spear to my mouth and took a bite. The place was busier now than it had been when we first got here, and I wondered how many people had come for the contest. By the looks of it, that’s what the majority of them were here for as they eagerly watched him as he shuffled through the papers in front of him.
“Alright, first up we have, Emma and John! Come on up!”
It was at that moment that I choked on my pickle, causing a scene as John leaped forward to see if I was okay. I beat my fist against my chest, trying to stop the coughing as I prayed the pickle would set itself free. I took a drink of water, followed by another one before it finally dislodged and slid the rest of the way down my throat.
I was beet red, mortified as everyone stared at me.
“Emma and John, you guys ready?” he asked, looking directly at us as Lily so kindly pointed at her dad and me. Now I knew what she had been up to, and she was lucky that she was cute.
I narrowed my eyes at her and then looked at John. He just shrugged helplessly and got up, extending his hand out to help me.
“I’m gonna kill her,” I muttered under my breath, getting a chuckle from him.
We walked over to the makeshift stage area and stood behind the two microphone stands.
I looked at Lily, who was still bouncing excitedly in her seat, her dad’s phone in hand as she got ready to take pictures—or worse—video.
“Whenever you guys are ready,” the DJ said, waiting for us. It would be great to know what song it was, but John just nodded anyway, deciding we were ready.
A few seconds later, the music started playing, and I felt the nerves begin to wear off. I recognized the song immediately as one that John and I had done at karaoke more times than I could count. I was surprised that Lily remembered it and wondered if maybe John had been in on this without me knowing as well. I had been a little distracted by the nachos earlier, so it wouldn’t surprise me if I missed them planning this right under my nose.
I closed my eyes for a second as John started singing, the crowd going wild as he sang Kid Rock’s part in Picture. It was a song that we did well together, and John had an incredible voice. Mine wasn’t bad by any means, but John had the attention of every woman in the room, and I was waiting for the panties to start flying toward us at any moment.
He turned his head slightly and winked at me, watching as I did Sheryl Crow’s part. The crowd continued to cheer for us, likely impressed that I didn’t sound like cats that were being murdered. Maybe it was just because we were the first ones to go up, but the energy in the room was electrifying, and I found myself putting on a show for everyone as I sang to John like the wounded woman in the song.
Before I knew it, the song was over, and everyone was still cheering for us. We walked back to the table and sat down, feeling on top of the world. I turned my attention to Lily and shook my finger at her.
“You little troublemaker,” I pretended to scold.
She put her hands up in the air and looked shocked that I would say such a thing.
“I didn’t do it, I swear,” she insisted with a giggle.
“Then what were you whispering to the waitress about?”
She looked behind me and tucked her chin to her chest, looking overly guilty. I turned around just in time to see the waitress standing there with a birthday cake, covering the flame of the candle as the air conditioner threatened to blow it out. Several other servers joined around us as they sang happy birthday as loud as they could.
I waited for her to set the cake down in front of me before I blew out the candle. I thanked them and was relieved when they all scattered off to wait on their tables, leaving us alone. The DJ continued calling the next contestant up to the stage while I fished the candle out of the cake.
“It’s not my birthday,” I said gently, pulling in a deep breath. I had hoped that they forgot about it, but obviously, they hadn’t.
“I know, but if I didn’t tell them tonight, then we wouldn’t get to celebrate your birthday,” Lily complained, pouting with her arms over her chest.
“That’s not true,” I lied.
“Yes, it is,” John laughed. “You would insist that you didn’t feel well just so you could avoid going anywhere or doing anything, and you know it.”
I scrunched my face and thought about it. They were right. I hated celebrating my birthday, and this year it was even harder without Charlotte. Our birthdays were one week apart, and I had hoped that we would be on the road for mine. Instead, John confirmed that we were staying in Las Vegas until Sunday morning, which meant that I was celebrating another birthday in sin city on Saturday.
“Alright, alright, you’re right. But I know that you did the karaoke thing too. You can’t lie to me,” I teased, looking at her.
“Actually, that was me,” John admitted sheepishly.
“What?!” My jaw dropped. I would never have imagined him volunteering us to do karaoke. Maybe when we were younger because that’s what we used to do, but not now. We were way more serious than we used to be, and this wasn’t something that we would typically do anymore.
“Hey, we’re on vacation,” he laughed. “It sounded like fun, so I figured why not?”
I grinned as I studied him, not sure who he was anymore. I had to admit that I really liked this version of him, and I was glad that he was sharing it with Lily too.
We all shared the cake, and John ordered me a glass of wine while we watched the rest of the performers. Finally, they had reached the end, and I got nervous again while we waited for the results.
The DJ had each performer stand up and had the audience cheer for whoever they liked best, but this time he went in reverse order, so we were last. Some really great singers had gone after us, and I was sure they were going to win. When it got to us, we both stood up, and the entire room filled with clapping, whistles, and cheers, which decided that we were the winners.
We collected our prize money and were surprised when our meal was paid for by the restaurant for winning. We piled into the motorhome and made it back to our hotel, exhausted. John and Lily said goodnight, and I went to my room alone, plopping down on the bed, too tired to bother with changing into my pajamas.
The next day, we got up early and had breakfast before waiting in line to ride the High Roller. It was the largest Ferris Wheel that I had ever seen. Lily and I were both bouncing around with excitement, while John seemed less than enthused.
“What’s the matter?” I asked when Lily turned her attention to watching the giant wheel stop as people got out and new passengers boarded. It was a different setup than any Ferris Wheel I had ever seen, mainly because it didn’t have the baskets that most of them had. Instead, it had cabins that you walked into that could hold up to ten people. I had looked up the information yesterday when I knew that we were coming.
The line slowly moved, and soon we were almost at the beginning.
“Nothing, I just don’t like heights,” he admitted quietly.
“Then why did you decide to do this?” I asked in shock, nodding at the giant beast beside us. “You could have gone on the one at the boardwalk instead—it was like half the size of this thing.”
“I wanted it to be special for Lily,” he said sheepishly, guiding me by my lower back as we walked forward to the man who was directing us to our cabin. Lily led the way, walking over and standing by the window. John and I joined her and waited for the other passengers to get in before we felt it move while they continued loading the rest of the cabins.
Finally, it started moving, and we had the perfect view of the strip from all angles. I glanced over at John, who was rigid as a board and slightly pale. I placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder, talking to her about the sights below while using my other hand to gently hold John’s. I didn’t want to draw attention to his fear, especially since he was doing this for her.
Thirty minutes later, John had survived, and we were waiting our turn for our cabin to reach the ground so we could exit. I checked on John a few times as we made our way over to Planet Hollywood. He assured me that he was fine and happy to be back on solid ground again.
Lily and I were excited to go shopping while John was content to sit in the room and wait for us. In the end, we dragged him along with us and laughed when he ended up buying more stuff than we did. I popped into a convenience store along the way and picked up a few bottles of nail polish and some supplies for my girl’s night with Lily. I hadn’t talked to John about it yet, but I couldn’t imagine that he would say no.
We stopped for lunch, and people watched for a while before walking the other half of the Miracle Mile. By the time we were done, our arms hurt from the bags that hung off them, and our feet had blisters from too much walking. We made it back to our hotel and decided on room service for dinner.
We sat in their room, eating and watching tv, when I decided to ask John about having Lily stay with me.
“Hey, I was thinking,” I said quietly, leaning closer to him while Lily watched her show on tv. “Can I have a girl’s night with Lily tonight?”
“Girl’s night? Like go out and have drinks and pick up boys?” He raised an eyebrow and took a bite out of his cheeseburger.
“Is that what you think girl’s night is?”
“I guess,” he shrugged. “Every time Charlotte had girl’s night, she always came home tipsy and flirted with everything, including the mailbox.”
I laughed and snorted, remembering when she told me about that night. She had been out with some moms from the PTA and had too much to drink. When she got home, she thought that the mailbox out front was John and had been hugging on it for a few minutes before he found her and had to pry her off of it.
“No, that’s not girl’s night,” I laughed. “Our night will consist of girly movies—which we’re going to rent, by the way. Junk food, manicures and pedicures, and maybe some soda if we get the wild hair for it.”
“No boys?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
“No boys,” I agreed.
“Good, I don’t need to worry about that with either of you,” he said quietly before taking another bite.
I wanted to ask him what that meant but thought better of it and ignored it instead.
“So, can she stay the night with me?” I asked. “I have the extra bed, and we are right next door if you need us.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go downstairs and gamble or something?” He set his food down and looked at me.
“I’m not a big gambler, and I think it would be fun for us to hang out. Plus, it’ll give you a break to go play poker if you want to.”
He used to play poker often before they had Lily, and he got his big promotion at work that tied up any free time he used to have. After that, he stopped going to the poker nights with his friends, and some of the joy that he used to have seemed to disappear as well.
“Okay, if you’re positive,” he said, reluctantly as if he was waiting for me to change my mind.
“I’m positive!”
Lily turned to look at us, confused by my outburst.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’re having a slumber party in my room tonight! Just you and me!” I squealed.
Her face lit up as she looked to John to make sure it was alright. He nodded yes and smiled at her.
We finished our dinner and cleaned up before packing stuff for Lily to take over to my room. It wasn’t like we couldn’t come back if she needed something, but I wanted to give John some space for the night without having to worry about us barging in.
He cleaned up and went downstairs for the night while Lily picked which movie she wanted to watch in my room. We spent the night painting our nails and eating junk food before crashing out in a food coma. I went to bed feeling happy and content for once as Lily slept beside me instead of in her own bed.