Page 72 of Paradise & Vodka

"Who are you calling old?" I chuckled.

He laughed. "Touché. I am older than you, though."

I locked my door. "Yeah, and you'll be forty before me."

"Forty ain't old," he countered as we walked toward his Land Rover. "Some of my friends are pushing forty."

"The ones who came to Fiji?"

He nodded and opened my door. I slid in. "Yeah. Well, notpushingforty, but most of them are in their thirties." Nick got in on his side.

"I remember when I thought thirty was old. Now that it's less than five years away, I don't think it's old at all."

"Same. I'm still going to be able to get drunk and fuck all night for my Dirty Thirty in less than three years."

"I don't doubt that." I chuckled. "Do you already have plans?"

He shook his head and pulled away from the curb. "Nah, but I can tell you this, I'm not going back to Fiji."

Just like any other time, the DMV was packed, but lucky for us, there was a kiosk to get replacement driver's licenses, and it didn't take long at all. It was the fastest I'd ever been in and out of a DMV.

When we had our paper copies, Nick drove us to the cell phone store. Thankfully, we had the same provider. While he was getting his phone, I was setting mine up so I could call Everleigh and see if she had an update before I bothered Joss.

"Hello?"

"It's Ash."

"Finally, I have your number."

"Yeah." I smiled as I looked over at Nick. He had a lot to do with my rekindled relationship with my sister. "We're good now. Any updates?"

"No, I haven't found out anything or heard from Doug."

"Nick is getting his phone now, and then he said he'd call Paul to see if he could find out for you."

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"What are you guys up to?"

"We're staying at Excalibur on The Strip, and we took the tram this morning to Luxor and Mandalay Bay, but Dad got tired, and now we're resting."

How did I not see that my father was sick? The entire time we were in Fiji, I knew he was being quiet, but I thought it had to do with the drama and choosing to stay out of it. Maybe he just wasn't feeling well but had to put on a show because his daughter was getting married. Apparently, everyone was putting on a show.

"I can have Nick drop me off. We haven't had lunch yet, and I'm starving if you guys want to grab a bite."

I heard her cover the phone with her hand, but I could still make out what she said. "Ash wants to know if we want to meet up for lunch?" She came back on the phone. "Yeah. Let me give you our room number."

She did, and then we hung up. Nick came over to me. "I talked to Everleigh. Can you drop me off at Excalibur? I’m going to have lunch with my family."

"Oh." He pulled his head back. "Right, I have shit to do too. Like, call my boss and whatever."

I frowned slightly. The plan was to do the DMV and get new cell phones. I didn't think he'd want to spend more time with me, especially since I wasn't paying him. "I mean—"

He smiled warmly. "No worries, baby. Go spend time with your family while they're here."

"Can you still see if Paul and Joss can find out anything about Douglas?"

"Sure thing. I'll text or call you if they find anything out."