A Beautiful Wedding

“There’s no way I was going back to sleep after that dream,” he said, stretching. “I’m not sure I want to sleep again.”


My fingers squeezed his. I hated to see him so shaken. He wouldn’t talk about his dream, but it didn’t take much to figure out where he was while he was sleeping. I wondered if anyone that had escaped from Keaton would be able to close their eyes without seeing the smoke and the panicked faces. The plane arrived at the gate, the SEAT BELT light dinged, and the cabin lights came on, signaling everyone to stand up and dig for their carry-on luggage. Everyone was in a hurry, even though no one was getting out of there before the people seated ahead of them.

I sat, feigning patience, watching Travis stand to pull out our luggage. His T-shirt rose when he reached up, revealing his abs shifting and then contracting when he pulled down the bags.

“You got a dress in here?”

I shook my head. “I thought I’d find one here.”

He nodded once. “Yeah, I bet they have plenty to choose from. A better selection for a Vegas wedding than home.”

“My line of thinking exactly.”

Travis held out his hand and helped me take the two steps to the aisle. “You’ll look great no matter what you put on.”

I kissed his cheek and took my bag just as the line began to move. We followed the other passengers down the gateway and into the terminal.

“Déjà vu,” Travis whispered.

I felt the same. The slot machines sung their siren’s song and flashed brightly colored lights, falsely promising luck and big money. The last time Travis and I were here, it was easy to pick out the couples who were getting married, and I wondered if we were just as obvious.

Travis took my hand as we passed baggage claim, and then followed the sign marked TAXIS. The automatic doors parted and we walked into the desert night air. It was still stifling hot, and dry. I breathed in the heat, letting Las Vegas saturate every part of me.

Marrying Travis would be the hardest easiest thing I’d ever done. I needed to awaken the parts of me that were molded in the darkest corners of this city to make my plan work. If Travis thought that I was doing this for any reason other than just wanting to commit to him, he would never let me go through with it, and Travis was not exactly gullible, and worse, he knew me better than anyone else; he knew what I was capable of. If I pulled the wedding off, and kept Travis out of prison without him knowing why, it would be my best bluff yet.

Even though we’d bypassed the crowd waiting for baggage, there was a long line for taxis. I sighed. We should have been getting married by now. It was still dark, but it had been over five hours since the fire. We couldn’t afford more lines.

“Pidge?” Travis squeezed my hand. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head and smiling. “Why?”

“You seem . . . a little tense.”

I took stock of my body; how I was standing, my facial expression, anything that might tip him off. My shoulders were so tight they were hanging up around my ears, so I forced them to relax. “I’m just ready.”

“To get it over with?” he asked, his eyebrows pulling in infinitesimally. Had I not known better, I would have never caught it.

“Trav,” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist. “This was my idea, remember?”

“So was the last time we went to Vegas. You remember how that turned out?”

I laughed, and then I felt terrible. The vertical line his eyebrow formed when he pushed them together deepened. This was so important to him. How much he loved me was overwhelming most of the time, but tonight was different. “I’m in a hurry, yes. Aren’t you?”

“Yes, but something’s off.”

“You’re just nervous. Stop worrying.”

His face smoothed, and he hugged me. “Okay. If you say you’re okay, then I believe you.”

Fifteen long minutes later, and we were at the front of the line. A taxi pulled to the curb and stopped. Travis opened the door for me, and I ducked into the backseat and slid over, waiting for him to get in.

The cabdriver looked over his shoulder. “Short trip?”

Travis situated our single carry-on bag in front of him on the floorboard. “We travel light.”

“Bellagio, please,” I said calmly, keeping the urgency out of my voice.

With lyrics I didn’t understand, a cheery, circuslike melody hummed through the speakers as we drove from the airport to the strip. The lights were visible miles before we reached the hotel.

When we arrived at the Strip, I noticed a river of people trekking up and down the sides of the road. Even in the wee hours of the morning, the sidewalks were packed with bachelors, women pushing strollers with sleeping babies, people in costumes taking pictures for tips, and businessmen—apparently looking to unwind.