to work three doubles, and sell off her precious weekend to Jersey Janice to get time off for this little trip. Dude, she hated Janice.
Almost as much as she hated her job. It was a tossup, truly.
No, all her worry was at home, in her tiny apartment, with her almost two-year-old son. She pulled out her phone again.
Jinx flipped her braid over her shoulder. “If you FaceTime with the kid again, I’m going to steal your phone.”
She stuffed her phone back into her hoodie pocket, resisting the urge to pout. “There’s free Wi-Fi, it seems stupid not to use it.” And when they got to Vegas, who knew if her little prepaid phone would have a good signal. She’d paid extra for data and minutes for this trip just so she’d be available at all times.
“He’s having grandpa time. He’s fine.”
Her father had cleaned up his act a lot since she’d gotten pregnant. Then when Snake had died, he’d really stepped up. She was still waiting for him to backslide even two years later. It wasn’t like he didn’t watch Axl when she was working. She split up the babysitting between her father and her next door neighbor with a little girl the same age. And sometimes with Nick and Lila Crandall.
God, the weirdness there.
But her son loved Nick. Sometimes it felt like he loved Nick more than her on the difficult days. All he had to do was bring out his guitar, or hell, even play a pretend one, and Axl was instantly enthralled.
This was how weird her life had become. Her former fiancé’s bandmate was nearly a surrogate dad. She swallowed down the lump in her throat—hard. She hardly ever thought of Snake anymore—she’d been too busy being a mom, being a provider, being everything to a twenty-one-month-old little boy who was becoming a person more and more every day.
Axl would be fine.
Truly.
She would be fine. Everyone would be fine.
It was just a few nights away from him. She could totally do this. She used to know how to go out and have a good time. She was only twenty-three, not forty-three.
“He’ll be fine.” Maybe if she said it out loud.
“Damn right.” Jinx hummed under her breath as the plane bounced. “Fuck.”
“Relax.” Ivy clicked back her seat until she was nearly in her sister’s lap. “I’m trying to sleep here.”
“How can you sleep?” Jinx gritted her teeth and squeaked as the plane suddenly increased altitude. “God, how long do we have to be in this tin can?”
Ivy rolled onto her side. “Tin can?” She looked around. “Do you have eyes? This is a luxury jet liner with seats the size of tricked out leather movie recliners. You know, like the theater we go to when we splurge for a movie?” The light dinged over their heads. “Oops, my cue to sit up.” A humming sound came from Ivy’s chair as she raised it back to a more upright position.
Chloe shook her head and folded her hands over her stomach, holding her phone to her middle. Okay, that jolt was a little more than turbulence.
The stewardess came down the aisle. “Bear with us, folks. The pilot just pulled up into higher airspace to avoid a storm. We’ll level off in a few minutes.”
Jinx snapped her window shade shut. “Yeah, I can’t watch our fiery plummet.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Drama llama.”
“Shut up.” Jinx slammed her head back as they veered a bit to the left then leveled out.
“See, there we go. Nothing to worry about.”
“Miss,” Jinx called to the stewardess.
She came back down the aisle. “Yes?”
“Could I get an adult beverage? Preferably one that includes vodka?”
“Absolutely. We have a fully stocked bar.”
Jinx perked up. “How stocked?”
“Top shelf for everything. Is Grey Goose all right? Or would you prefer Kettle One?”
Her brown eyes bulged. “All right, now this I can get behind.”
“Easy, tiger,” Chloe muttered.
“Actually, I think we all need one. Time to get a little lubricated before we land. Vegas, here we come, baby.”
“No thanks, I don’t—”
“She needs one most of all,” Jinx interrupted.
“I concur,” Ivy said.
Chloe pressed her lips together. She needed to lighten up. They were in Vegas—well, currently over the Mojave if her watch was correct. It was only an hour flight.
She deserved to go and hang with her friends. Even if Nick had to practically drag her to the airport to get her to leave the house.
“You know what? Yes. I’d like a vodka tonic with lime, please.”
“That’s more like it.” Jinx clapped. “The same times