Chapter Nineteen
The first thing Chase did once he realized Emma had fallen asleep in their room was head out to the butler's stand for their floor with some cash in hand.
"Hey, Mr. Warwick! What can I do for you?"
"So we're supposed to be having dinner with my friend's parents tonight."
The butler gave him a big customer service smile. "Oh, of course. We can totally set something up."
"Well, actually, we don't want to go. But I told her mom to stop by the concierge stand downstairs to pick up the plans for tonight."
The butler didn't seem phased as all, as if this wasn't the first time he had to run interference for someone.
"That's not a problem. We can tell them something came up and you weren't able to make it work with your schedule.
Would you like me to get them a complimentary dinner at the restaurant instead? Just two, I'm assuming."
"Sure, yeah. That sounds fine. And can you charge that to my room?"
The butler gave him a perplexed look. "I can comp the dinners, Mr. Warwick."
"I know. But I would prefer if you charged them to our room."
"Of course, Mr. Warwick."
Chase put his hand out for the butler to shake, deftly sliding the cash into his palm, and headed back to the room.
Based on his short interaction with Emma's mom, she would probably be too thrilled by free dinner at the Bellagio to wonder if her daughter was really ditching them.
And while Chase had eaten plenty of comped dinners over the years in Vegas, charging them to the room would get Emma one step closer to meeting Nana's challenge.
Chase quietly slipped back in and headed for the windows.
There was nothing quite like the view of this room out on the Strip and to the wide open desert beyond it.
It didn't take much to realize how surrounded this spot was by open sand when you were on a high floor looking out beyond the Strip to the vast empty land in the distance.
He wondered where Emma's parents were right now.
Were they out on the street walking around or still tucked away in this hotel somewhere?
Were they even staying here or somewhere else?
Maybe he could ask the hotel and see if they would confirm if Emma's parents were here or not.
It would at least help them be alert to avoid them again.
When it came to his parents, Chase would feel bad about ditching them and he always loved treating them when he could.
His parents were the down-to-earth Midwest types that weren't always impressed with the trappings of Chase's lifestyle, but he also knew how proud they were of him.
They always showed up to his school plays and encouraged him to go out to Los Angeles to see if he could find any success.
In exchange, he would share special treats with them when he could.
Last year, he somehow landed an invite to one of those big Oscars parties and took his mom.
She was so excited to tell everyone her son was Chase Warwick.
Chase suspected Emma's parents would never be like that.
He always suspected as much from his first interaction with them as he listened to her dad on the phone when Nana's will was read.
And sure, he only met her mom for a few minutes, but everything about that woman rubbed him the wrong way.
She was so superficial and only really seemed to be interested in Emma when she realized her daughter was standing next to Chase.
It was awkward and maybe even a little gross.
He didn't like it.
He only agreed to the dinner thing to get her to move along and maybe because Emma might have wanted to do it. He wasn't going to just close the door on the idea if Emma had wanted to go. But he had to admit it was a relief when she seemed like the idea of eating with her parents was awful.
Chase sat down on the sofa for a bit, checking his phone, trying his best not to disturb Emma from her sleep. He hated this. He hated feeling like he was walking on eggshells because Emma's life had be thrown sideways by the encounter with her mom this afternoon.
He wished it wasn't like this. He wished he could just fix all of it. But he also knew this was more deep and emotional for Emma than just something a Hollywood smile could fix.
It was also something that had been festering for awhile. Her grandmother, the one person who really saw Emma for who she was and loved her for it, was gone. And then the whole thing with the will and having to hang out with Chase. It was a lot.
He wasn't sure when Emma finally got up, but he heard the door open and looked up to find her silhouette in the doorway.
"Hi," he tried to say cheerfully. "Did you get a good nap?"
"Yeah, I guess."
She walked over and flipped on the lights on the wall, illuminating the room with a harsh brightness. But it didn't change the gloomy look on her face as she wandered over and dropped down on the other couch in the living room.
"We're skipping out on dinner with my parents, right?"
He tried to give her a reassuring smile. "I already took care of it. The hotel concierge is going to hook them up with a complimentary dinner to make them feel better that we couldn't make it. Well, not totally free. I asked them to charge dinner to the room. Gets you closer to your goal."
"Thank you." Emma shook her head and looked out the huge windows. "They'll probably be flattered that you got them free food while ditching them."
"I thought the same thing," he said with a bit of a laugh. "Anyway, what would you like to do now?"
"How expensive do you think room service is?"
Chase smiled and stood up, grabbing the room service menu from the desk nearby and walking over to meet Emma on the couch. "How expensive do you want it to be?"
"I was checking my calculations when I woke up."
Chase bristled but tried to hide it. He was really getting sick of this stupid challenge and turning his relationship with Emma into just transactions and nothing else.
It had become so much more than dollars for Chase, but he still had to remember that the money wouldn't be much for him but would mean everything for Emma.
He would go along with this as long as necessary.
"So what kind of damage do we need to do?" he tried to ask flippantly.
"Around five hundred dollars just makes it over the line, but that includes the flight tomorrow."
"And don't forget your parents' dinner. But that's still a bit close."
She shrugged. "I was going to toss a bunch on the roulette table tonight, but I don't feel like doing that now."
"Gotcha." He flipped open the room service menu and started looking at their options. "We could easily blow through that last bit of money if you want to really clear it. Maybe a nice bottle of wine."
"Wine is good." She turned and gave him a sad smile. "It's going to be so disappointing when I go back to drinking fifteen-dollar bottles from the grocery store after this."
"I promise I'll still buy you the good bottles sometimes."
She simply turned to the menu without giving Chase a response.
He knew he was probably being a little heavy-handed with his remark trying to imply that they would be together after this.
But she didn't really give him the reaction he was hoping for.
It was like he was hoping she saw a future for them, but that hope was only one-sided.
But then there was a little laugh from her, and he turned to see her smiling down at the menu.
"See something you like?"
"There's a two-hundred-dollar Wagyu burger." She scoffed. "Amateurs."
Chase couldn't help but smile, thinking back to that first date by the beach with her princess dress and super expensive hamburger with the gold-leaf bun. It had only been a month but still felt like ages ago. Back before they had been consumed by this challenge from Nana.
Back before he had been consumed by her.
"I'm going to get one of those I guess," she said wistfully. "For old time's sake."
Chase laughed as best he could, but it still got stuck in his throat. "Me too. For old time's sake."
"Get an order of the truffle fries. They're more expensive than the regular ones."
"Because they're better than the regular ones," Chase replied. "Appetizers or desserts?"
"Both."
"Of course."
Chase turned the page to the wine list and sure enough, there were plenty of expensive bottles. He chose a five-hundred-dollar red wine, figuring it would match well with their burgers.
After a call to the butler's desk, he walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Emma.
She seemed a little less stressed than before, but there was still something about her that made it feel like he couldn't really get to her.
The quietness took over again, but it wasn't like the easy quiet that he had with her only a few hours ago.
It was a messy quiet that said so much even though they were saying nothing.
Dinner arrived and they small-talked through it.
Casual conversation over wine and expensive burgers without saying anything he really wanted to say to her.
Without saying anything real. They ate and finished half the bottle of wine before putting a cork in it.
Emma asked if they could drink it on the plane tomorrow, and Chase said he would take care of it.
She quietly brushed her teeth and climbed into bed, not really saying good night. Just lying there looking out the window past their bed.
He finally turned off the light, giving in to an early bedtime in Vegas.
That wasn't normal for him, but nothing about this Vegas trip was normal for him.
He had never been here with a woman like Emma and he had certainly never been here in such a complicated situation.
Spending money in Vegas was easy, but spending it with Emma to finally finish Nana's wish was tougher than he ever imagined.
Chase moved a little closer to her in bed, gently putting his hand on her hip on top of her t-shirt, holding himself back from sliding it under to feel the soft warmth of her skin.
Emma didn't reach for his hand, didn't pull it closer, didn't even acknowledge it.
That's when Chase realized that he had lost her, and there was probably nothing he could do to bring her back.