The next day, we flew to Las Vegas. Derek lived a couple of hours from the Portland airport. Since Noelle was going, too, she hopped a ride with us and we all traveled together. It was a quiet trip, at first. I was exhausted from the day before and my relatively sleepless night. Every once in a while, Derek would look at me, squeeze my hand and smile. I knew he was worried about me, but I was just tired.
The flight was uneventful and the cab ride to the hotel took less than twenty minutes. While we were in the cab, Derek handed me a couple of sticky clear discs that looked to be made out of silicone. "Put these in your ears," he murmured, "It will help with the casino noise."
I raised an eyebrow at him. I'd been to Las Vegas a couple of times. The noise in the casino had never been overl
