Linda Morris

“Something tells me there’s more than one shaman in Vegas who performs weddings. I think we’re better off intercepting them at the fight.”“But they could be getting married right now!” Ivy protested, falling into a double-time step to keep up with his pace.“Lucky we’re in Vegas, then. They have quickie divorces to go with their quickie weddings.”

“So, how’d you get the tattoo?” she said.“Drunken frat boys don’t say no to things their drunken frat brothers are telling them to do.”“That almost sounds like an admission of weakness from the invulnerable Andrew Sheffield.”“Not weakness. Stupidity, maybe. That, I’ll cop to.”“I can’t believe the man behind such a successful business is stupid.”“You’d be surprised. Just as there are different kinds of intelligence, there are different kinds of stupid.”

“Hey, I’m an art lover,” protested Ramirez. “I love Thomas Kinkade. Painter of Light, you know what I’m sayin’?”Beverly’s smile froze. “Yes, quite.”

“But there’s more. When I was on my way to the event today, Carolyn texted me and told me that Steve and Eve got married over break. Six months after he broke up with me, and after he kept telling me he didn’t see marriage inhis future! And did I tell you that he broke up with me at the school, during the Fitness Fun-a-Thon fundraising eventwe worked at?” Her face grew reflective. “I was handing out bottled water when he asked me to go behind the hydration station so he could talk to me privately. The whole time, Eve kept staring at us from the finish line of the three-legged race.She knew I was getting dumped before I did.”

“The parasail's winch turned, winding up the line, pulling Ally and Serena lower and closer to him in a steady pull. A funny feeling seized him as he watched her. Logically, he knew she kept getting closer, but he suddenly knew she’d never arrive. She’d be suspended out on the end of that line for eternity, seemingly within reach, yet somehow distant. His breath stopped.”

“No relationship comes with a guarantee, but I’d rather fail with you than succeed with anyone else.”

“He returned in a moment with a phone, a high-end model that probably cost way more than hers. His cell phone wallpaper was an abstract artwork with lots of colorful circles and blots—Kandinsky, maybe, or Miro? She always got thosetwo confused. She gave him points for not having a picture of some scantily-clad woman thrusting her boobs at the camera, like Steve had on his phone. Tacky. Nude-woman wallpapers were the cell phone equivalent of silver naked-lady mud flaps, in her opinion.”

“The bathroom’s down the hall if you want to take off your tights. I can throw ‘em in the dryer for you if you want. Or, you can hang them on the shower curtain rod.” He turned. “It’sbeen a long time since I’ve had a woman’s tights draped over my rod.” A quick wink and he was gone before she could do anything more than gape.”

“You have got to do the shiatsu. I had one back home a month ago. Fantastic.”Marisa Finley frowned under her carrot-ginger-turmeric facial mask.“What’s a shiatsu?” It sounded like an unusual breed of dog."I’m taking my shiatsu to the groomers this week to have it shampooed and blow-dried.And possibly beribboned.”

“He’s been fighting a lot on the Midwest circuit, but Vegas is the big-time. If he ever wants to get anywhere, he has to fight here. And since we’re here, we thought we’d get married, since Vegas is so romantic.”Ivy could think of a dozen cities more romantic than Vegas—Akron, Ohio came to mind—but she didn’t argue.”

“She had left her legs bare, and if he wasn’t mistaken, they had a slight sheen. He realized she’d caught him staring when she cleared her throat.“Are your legs...sparkly?” he managed to ask, feeling the need to explain since he’d been caught leering.“My body lotion has a little bit of glitter in it,” she said with a trace of diffidence.She seemed apologetic. For what, he had no idea.”