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“You’re littler than I thought,” Bruce said loudly as Allen arrived a few minutes later with a draft for both Shane and me.
“To Diana!” Mike yelled and held up his drink.
Shane looked confused, but we all drank to the toast.
“Are they the Fellowship?” Shane whispered in my ear. “Are you, like, Gandalf or something?”
I sighed. “No, I’m Frodo.”
“But you’re not—”
“Keep your logic to yourself.”
“I knew it!” Mike yelled, watching us. “I told you, Ana, true love finds a way.”
I wanted to hide in the rush of embarrassment that hit me. Clearly, they’d gotten here a bit early and weren’t on their first round.
“You better be good to our esteemed leader,” Allen said to Shane. Then he hiccupped. “We like her, even if I miss the cliff-diving version sometimes.”
“I see quite a bit has changed since we last talked,” Shane murmured.
“You could say that,” I admitted. Shane and I sat with them, and wonderfully, the conversation was like catching up with old friends. Wetoasted a few more things, some serious, some silly, like Melvin’s gourmet pancakes, my near brush with death while landing a plane, and Evan’s idea of getting the truth in the open so we could be a real team. Before I knew it, most of my beer was gone.
We were talking excitedly about the interface, when Mike stood up, ready to make yet another toast. “I’ve been saving this news, but now that my work fam is all together, I wanted to tell you”—he paused dramatically—“Violet’s pregnant!”
“That’s amazing!” I cried. I jumped up to hug him, only to find Evan, Bruce, and Allen doing the same. We were all in a sort of squashed hug, slapping him on the back and spilling what was left of the beer. Shane waited until there was room, then shook Mike’s hand.
“I hope you don’t mind if we have a real doctor deliver the baby, Indiana,” Mike said.
I hugged him again, too happy to even swat him. “Fine, as long as you name the baby Indiana.”
Once we were all seated again, Bruce went on and on about the car he wanted to buy. Evan wanted to do a little gambling, but Allen was adamant that Evan should make good financial choices.
I sat back, trying to savor the moment. As much as it bothered me that the company had spent the money to send us here, it really was kind of cool to see everyone in this setting and feel a strong connection, which was so valuable to a creative team. My heart swelled. I wanted the best for these guys, and it was going to be so hard to leave them.
While we were talking, my phone buzzed, and when I looked down, I was shocked to see it was my dad. And he wasn’t just calling—he was FaceTiming. This couldn’t be good.
I clickedaccept, and his and Margaret’s faces appeared on the screen.
“Indiana!” Dad bellowed. He’d never learned you didn’t have to yell when you were on speaker or FaceTime.
“Dad? Are you okay?” I asked, trying to drown out the background noise so I could hear him better.
“I’m great!” he screamed. Margaret gave me a thumbs-up over his shoulder.
“Then why are you calling?” I asked. “You never do this.”
“Guess where we are?” he said excitedly.
“Uh, Aspen Skies?” I asked.
Shane leaned over, and I could tell the minute they both spotted him. Their eyes lit up. “Hello, young man!” Dad said.
“Hi, Mr. Aaron,” Shane answered. “And this is Margaret?”
“Where are you, Dad?” I broke in as Margaret nodded happily.
“We’re in Vegas!” they yelled together.
