‘Hey, son,’ she smiled breezily, kissing him on the cheek, then climbing on to the stool beside him.

  ‘How did the showing go?’ he asked, sensing that she seemed happy.

  ‘Great. Qualified buyer. All cash. He had a couple of other options, so I just have to wait and see. It would be the biggest sale of my career, so cross your fingers.’

  ‘Crossed,’ he told her, holding up his hand to prove it. ‘Can I get you a drink? We’ve got plenty of time before we have to head to security and there’s no queue. I just want to talk to you about something before we go through.’

  ‘Eh, sure,’ she replied hesitantly, with a definite edge of suspicion. ‘Gin and tonic, please.’

  The barman reached him right at that moment and put two coasters in front of them. ‘What can I get you folks?’

  ‘A gin and tonic and a beer, please.’

  The drinks were in front of them in a couple of minutes. His mum took a sip of hers first. ‘I needed this.’ She put the glass back down on the bar before she went on, ‘I’m so glad we’re doing this, but the curiosity is killing me. So spill. Where are we going and what do you want to talk to me about?’

  He wasn’t going to spoil the surprise about meeting Zara’s parents, but he did want to give her the heads-up about his dad coming. He’d debated whether to wait and tell her where they were going when his dad arrived, but decided against it. One shock at a time would be enough.

  ‘What would you say if I told you we were going to Vegas?’ he asked, full of enthusiasm and hoping she would have the same reaction.

  She didn’t.

  His job had taught him how to read people and right now he was reading a whole range of emotions on her face. Confusion. Disappointment. Deflation. And something else that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Maybe disapproval? Or alarm? But typical Mom, she didn’t vocalise any of that. Instead, she went for, ‘I’d say that I’ll have a good time anywhere because I’m getting the chance to hang out with you.’

  Okay. Not great, but he’d take it.

  ‘Have you been before? I’ve never heard you mention it.’

  Of course, after his conversations with Zara and Millie, he already knew the answer to that question, but he didn’t want to give that away and spoil his other surprise.

  ‘Once. A long time ago.’

  ‘Did you love it?’

  ‘It was… different.’

  Shit. She really wasn’t going for this idea. He felt himself beginning to experience a slight cold prickle of dread. Maybe he’d misjudged this whole situation. Maybe there was a reason she’d never mentioned that she’d been to Vegas or expressed any desire to return. Perhaps Trevon was right and this was a really bad move. And he still hadn’t told her his dad was coming. Tell her now. Tell her. Just say the words. Or… maybe just ease into it a little more with casual conversation and a slice of avoidance.

  ‘Different how?’

  She brushed off the question. ‘Oh, it was a million years ago. Back when I didn’t need to dye my hair to cover the grey. It was the first time I’d ever been to America, and it was only supposed to be for a holiday, but I never left.’

  ‘I’m pretty glad about that,’ he said. That information was new to him though, and for the first time, he realised that he had no idea why or exactly when his parents came to this country. All he knew was that they’d been in their early twenties, and he’d assumed that they’d come from Scotland for work because he remembered them telling him that back in Scotland his dad was a DJ and his mom had worked in a club. However, if they’d originally landed in Vegas, then how had they ended up in South Carolina? Why hadn’t they stayed in Vegas, where there were plenty of jobs in the hospitality and tourism industry for young people? Why had they remained in the USA, yet their friends, Zara’s parents, had gone home? And why had he never asked any of this before? He realised that these were all questions he should know the answer to, but now probably wasn’t the best time to drill down into his family history. Not when he was still working up to telling her about their travel companion. First things first. He had to make sure that she would get on the plane, before revealing the little nugget of turbulence that he was adding to the occasion.

  ‘So, are you good with this?’ he checked. ‘I’ve never been either, so I’m totally up for experiencing it for the first time with you.’

  She took a sip of her drink, then flashed a smile. ‘How could I possibly refuse you? Yep, I’m up for it. Let’s do it.’

  He saw her shoulders drop, as if she was relaxing, and he knew it was going to be okay. At least until she went on…

  ‘It’ll be cool for me to experience it properly too. Last time I was there I was with your dad, and not to speak ill of fools, but you know… I’m glad I’ll be in better company this time.’

  Oh crap. He had to tell her, and it had to be now because when his dad arrived he was going to have to do some explaining to him too. Best to tackle them one at a time, and do it now. He could wait until they were through security for this little reveal, but that was way too shady. If they both agreed to come after they found out all the facts, it had to be of their own free will and with the best intentions – not because federal law restricted their right to backtrack through security to the freedom of the outside world.

  ‘Actually, Mom, that was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. You see, I had this crazy idea that—’

  ‘Aiden?’ A booming voice from behind him cut him off and two things happened at once. His dad thumped his back in greeting and his mum visibly paled.

  ‘What the…?’ was all she got out, before his dad’s gaze went to Aiden’s right and he realised that the blonde sitting next to his son was his ex-wife.

  Now he had two parents, frozen in time, staring at each other, then slowly, ominously, both moving their steely gaze to settle squarely on him.

  ‘Aiden…?’ his mum started, but obviously too slowly for his father, who cut her off with, ‘Do you want to tell us what the fuck is going on?’

  12

  EILEEN

  For once, she was on the same side as her ex-husband and that wasn’t a place she ever wanted to be. Eileen couldn’t remember being this pissed off with her son since the day that he had wrecked her car as a teenager. Even then, he had the excuse of youth and immaturity. What was his bloody excuse now?

  ‘Okay, bear with me and let me explain,’ he said, two hands held up in surrender.

  ‘Did you know about this?’ she demanded of Gary the Gob, who, in fairness, was uncharacteristically short on words and giving a good impression of someone who had absolutely no idea what was going on.

  ‘Not at all,’ he said, his Scottish accent the one of their early years together, before he’d become Gary Transatlantic and adopted an American twang and several thirty-something girlfriends. He wasn’t exactly in Leonardo DiCaprio territory, but he was close.

  Eileen believed him and turned her steely gaze back to Aiden.

  ‘This had better be good, son,’ she warned, in a voice that she hadn’t used with him since somewhere between puberty and graduation.

  ‘It is, I promise,’ he countered, then took a slug of his beer for fortification. ‘Right, here it is. At my wedding… by the way, am I too late to play the sympathy card? You know, the jilted at the altar, life left in ruins, one?’

  ‘Way too late,’ Eileen told him, unwavering in her demand for some kind of reasonable excuse for putting her in this position.

  ‘Thought so. All right, so at my wedding, before the whole desertion-broken-heart bit, I was bugged by the fact that you two don’t get along.’

  ‘There are good reasons for that,’ Eileen heard herself say and she wasn’t proud, but it was the truth.

  Still, Gary the Gob was keeping that gob shut. And was it just her, or had it suddenly got really hot in here? If she had a heart attack brought on by unexpected exposure to an ex-husband, she was going to be even more raging than she was now. She had just about managed to stomach that they were going to Vegas and that she’d be setting foot in that city thirty years after she last went there, but to be going with her bloody lump of an ex in tow? No. No way. She loved her son, but this was too much.

  ‘I don’t doubt that, Mom. I know you both have your reasons. But the thing is, they’re nothing to do with me…’

  ‘Exactly!’ she agreed, then realised that he wasn’t finished.

  ‘Yet I’m the one who always has to deal with it.’

  Oh.

  He was on a roll now.

  ‘It’s a nightmare. My wedding was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, until, you know… the bit where she didn’t show. And all I was worried about was whether you two were going to get in a fight, or ignore each other all day, or just generally hate every minute of it because you were both in the same place at the same time. It’s an impossible situation to be in.’

  Eileen felt a minor twinge of guilt. She could see what he was saying, and she hadn’t realised it had affected him quite as much as it clearly had. They’d divorced after he left for college, so he’d never actually lived with them as two single people, or – maybe more accurately – two warring factions. He’d just got on with his life and split his time, his birthdays, his Christmas, between the two of them and he’d done it all without complaint, so she’d had no idea that their aversion to each other bothered him.

  ‘And the thing is…’ He was still going and Eileen could see the cool, articulate professional lawyer coming out in him. No wonder he was so good at his job. ‘It made me think about the future and the fact that if we don’t change something, then it’s always going to be like this.’

  The bar was filling up now and she was embarrassingly aware that the couple at the next table were listening in on their conversation, riveted to the drama.

  ‘How’s that going to look? If I ever get someone to actually show up when they’re supposed to be marrying me…’

  Ouch, that stung.

  ‘And if we have kids, then what’s that going to be like? Every family event and occasion, are we going to have to deal with you two avoiding each other and throwing daggers across the room? Sorry, honey, you can’t have both Grandma and Grandad at your fifth birthday, because your friends might get in the way of their passive-aggressive disdain for each other? I’m not having it, so you two need to sort it out and get over it.’

  Eileen still resolutely stared straight ahead, but in her peripheral vision she could see Gary glance at her with an edge of uncertainty in that way too handsome face. If only he didn’t look like that, his life would have been very different. There was no way he’d have got the attention that followed him everywhere if he didn’t give off ‘older but still irresistibly attractive dad in a romcom’ vibes.

  That thought, however, was being pushed out of the way by her son’s very pertinent and beautifully articulated point. She felt a wave of guilt make her flush in a way that hadn’t happened since the menopause. Or perhaps she’d just downed her gin and tonic too quickly? No, it was definitely guilt. And a little bit of shame thrown in for good measure.

  ‘Do I need to keep going, because I was only at my imaginary kid’s fifth birthday. I have a whole load more birthdays, first days at school, proms and graduations still to pull out of the bag.’

  Eileen sighed. ‘Dear God, no, make it stop. We hear you. And I don’t know about your father…’

  Aiden gestured to his dad. ‘He’s right there – you can include him in the conversation.’

  ‘Baby steps, son. Don’t push it,’ she cautioned him. He might have a point, but she wasn’t going to back down completely just yet. ‘I was going to say, I don’t know about your father, but for my part in this, I apologise. I suppose I hadn’t really thought about it from your perspective because you were already an adult when we split, and you’ve never shown that it bothered you before now.’

  Eileen had a small suspicion that he was slightly milking it, but at the end of the day, he was right. Also, it was more than a little embarrassing that he was, in effect, pointing out that the only adult in this conversation was the one she’d given birth to.

  ‘But I can see what you’re saying. Much as it pains me. Although there might have been better ways to handle this. You know, maybe a coffee in a random Starbucks. Or a walk in the park.’ She wasn’t letting him off too easy. ‘Five days in Vegas could be construed by some as being a tad excessive.’

  ‘We’re going to Vegas? Shit, if you’d told me that I’d have brought better suits,’ was her ex-husband’s intellectual, erudite response.

  ‘If it helps, we’re staying at the Bellagio. And yes, I realise I’m trying to sway you with that.’

  It wasn’t working. Eileen really needed another gin and tonic. Vegas. This was all kinds of wrong. Their history with that place. Everything that had happened there. The effects that it had had on their relationship and on…

  Nope. Not going back there. What mattered was that it was probably the worst place on earth that Aiden could have chosen to reunite his parents. Especially as one of them would undoubtedly run wild and spend the whole five days in casinos and clubs, trying to recapture his youth with women who’d yet to experience the joys of a hot flush or a stretch mark. Yep, even in her head that sounded toe-curlingly bitter. Time for an internal pep talk. Come on, Eileen, you’re better than this.

  ‘Okay,’ she said.

  The couple at the next table gave away their serial eavesdropping when her agreement elicited simultaneous air punches and a silently mouthed, ‘Yes!’ She chose to ignore it.

  ‘Okay?’ Aiden asked uncertainly.

  ‘Okay. I’ll come, and I’ll make an effort, because you’re right. Life is long, we’re a family and it’s not your fault that your dad is a tit.’

  Her son shook his head, but she could see he was trying to contain a smile. Gary, not so much.

  ‘And it’s not his fault that his mother is a smart-mouthed, unreasonable git either,’ her ex threw in for good measure.

  Aiden resorted to more beer. ‘It was going well for about five seconds there,’ he chided them. His exasperation was clear, so she stepped in with a conciliatory gesture.

  ‘I’m sorry. Please apologise to my future imaginary grandchildren for that momentary lapse. I’ll try not to let it happen again. Like I said, I’ll come to Vegas and I’ll make an effort. And so will your father. Won’t you, Gary?’

  For the first time since they’d arrived, she let her gaze sit on her ex-husband and read his face and, to her surprise, she saw what looked like genuine happiness there. Although, that was probably the Vegas thing. He was easily swayed by hedonistic endeavours.

  ‘Yeah, I’ll go with it. We’ll make it work.’ He met her eyes and they came to an unspoken agreement. This wasn’t about them – this was about their son and his happiness, so it was time to put all the bullshit to one side, let bygones be bygones and sort their issues out, at least on the surface. Gary held out his hand. ‘Deal?’

  The gesture threw her, and she hesitated. The first time she’d touched this man, she’d felt an irresistible pull that that been almost visceral, an electricity that had set every cell in her body on fire. The last time she’d touched him, she’d felt nothing but pain and disgust as she’d punched him square in the face for breaking her heart.

  Realising this was a ‘put up or shut up’ moment, and her son was watching, she forced herself to respond and shook his hand. This time she felt… confused. Angry. Cornered. But something else too. Hopeful? Relieved? It had been so long since she’d dipped into any kind of emotional place with her ex, that she was wasn’t quite sure.

  ‘Is it wrong that I want to order champagne and celebrate this moment?’ Aiden joked, but Eileen could hear the relief in his voice and she was glad. He'd obviously put a lot of thought into this and his intentions undoubtedly came from a good place and a need to make this situation better for all of them, so she wasn’t going to spoil it.

  ‘I’ll have some of that, but let’s go check in first before I change my mind,’ she said, grinning. She needed to walk, to think, to come to terms with this moment and shore up her inner resources to deal with it. She’d spent the last ten years hating Gary, and that had been a comfortable place for her. It had allowed her to shut down her emotions, to close off any part of herself that could be vulnerable. Now Aiden was asking her to take the lock off the door and let his father in, just a little bit. Problem was, she wasn’t sure how to do that or how far the door should open.

  They picked up their bags and climbed off their chairs, and to her surprise, just like countless trips before this one, Gary automatically reached for her suitcase and began to pull it.

  ‘Hey!’ She put her hand out and stopped him. ‘I can get my own case.’ As soon as it was out, she heard how churlish that sounded, so she immediately followed it up with a more conciliatory, ‘But you can buy the champagne when we get through security.’ She accessorised that one with a smile and heard a sigh of relief from Aiden.

  As they walked towards the check-in desk, Eileen pulling her own case, she nudged Aiden with her shoulder.

  ‘Well played, son. But just promise me something…’

  He threw his arm round her shoulder. ‘Anything, Maw.’

  ‘Promise me there’s no more surprises.’

  ‘Only good ones, Maw. Only good ones.’

  She had no idea why, but she had an eerie feeling that might not be true.

  13

  ZARA

  Las Vegas. Sin City. Zara had spent the whole, chaotic, horn-beeping, music-blaring, traffic-crunching, incredibly slow, thirty-minute ride from the airport with her eyes wide, taking in the sights and sounds of a city that was like nothing she’d ever seen. It was like an out-of-body experience and, right now, that body was on the set of Ocean’s Eleven and delighted to be there.