Mike was standing in line to check in at the Bellagio, and the lobby was a zoo. There were ten clerks checking people in, and the lines were long. He was a pretty patient guy, but he was surprised the lines were this long on a Thursday.
His trade show didn't start until Monday, but he decided to fly out to Vegas early. The last six months had not exactly been a happy time, and he needed some fun. When his youngest daughter left for college, he and his wife decided to stop pretending like they were still in love. Mike found a nice apartment in the city, but living by himself after 24 years of marriage took some adjustments. Plus, with both of his daughters off at college, he rarely saw them. It had been a lonely six months.
It was finally his turn to check in, and the clerk was very efficient. After showing his driver's license and offering a credit card, he was quickly given two key cards and was on his way to his room. The room was nice. It had a king-size bed, a couch, and a large desk. The bathroom had both a soaker tub and a walk-in shower. After unpacking, Mike washed his face, brushed his teeth, and decided it was time to start the fun part of the trip. So he headed down to one of the many bars in the hotel.
He was sitting at the bar enjoying the first sip of his martini as he started scanning the room. His eyes stopped when he saw a table with three women. Two of them were young and very attractive; the third had her back to him, so he couldn't see her face. But she had beautiful, straight red hair. One of the other women also had red hair, and for some reason she looked vaguely familiar. The third woman had curly, light brown hair, bright red lipstick, perfect makeup, and huge, blue eyes; she was gorgeous. Mike was looking at the two girls when the brunette looked directly at him and gave him a huge smile. He smiled and then looked away, not wanting to appear too creepy. But his eyes kept returning to the table, partially because the brunette was so beautiful and had smiled at him, but even more because he was trying to figure out why the redhead looked familiar. Unfortunately, the brunette caught him staring a second time. She smiled back and then started talking to the other two, obviously talking about him. He was afraid she was telling them they should leave to avoid the creep, but he figured he was safe when they stayed.
Eventually Mike had to head to the bathroom. As he came walking back, he took a quick glance at the table, now from the other side. He could only see the backs of the women he had been staring at, but now he had a clear view of the third woman. He broke into a huge smile and headed for the table. As he got close, the third woman looked up and also broke into a huge smile.
"Mike! What the hell are you doing here?" She jumped up and gave him a big, very warm hug.
"Hi, Kaitlyn. How are you doing? I'm here for a trade show that starts on Monday. I thought I'd check out Vegas over the weekend. I haven't been here in years."
The brunette at the table jumped up and said, "Wait! You know my mystery man? This is the guy that was checking us out. Hi, I'm Melissa." Then, much to Mike's surprise, she threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug.
"Um, hi there. I'm Mike."
Kaitlyn laughed at Melissa's forwardness, pointed to the other redhead, and said, "This is my sister Megan, and apparently you already know her best friend Melissa." Mike shook Megan's hand. "My sister turns 21 tomorrow, so I brought them out here for her birthday present."
Mike laughed as he said, "Well THAT explains it. I kept looking at Megan trying to figure out why she looked familiar. You two can't deny you're sisters. Almost twins."
"Ha. Except for the twelve years between us! I'm the oldest of six, and Megan is the youngest." Kaitlyn then looked at the other girls and said, "I taught piano to Mike's kids for over ten years. Alana only stopped, what, about a year or two ago?"
"Yeah, that sounds about right. But they both continued playing. I used to love listening to her and Wendy play. You taught them well."
Melissa looked all pouty as she said, "So you were ONLY looking at us because Megan looked familiar?"
"Gee,", Mike said, seeing Melissa's disappointment, "I guess I should go with your explanation. Then I won't seem like a creepy old guy. But truth be told, it was pretty hard to ignore two beautiful women, especially when one of them kept flashing me huge, sexy smiles. Plus, there was the mystery redhead, whose face I couldn't see."
Melissa perked up and put that same huge, adorable smile on her face. "Okay, good!" she said.
Kaitlyn chuckled to herself at Mike's smooth explanation so as to not disappoint Melissa. But she wasn't surprised Mike was nice. She liked him from the first time she met him. Mike wasn't home when she was giving her first lesson to Wendy, and Alana was sitting in the living room waiting for her turn. When the door to the garage opened and Mike walked in, Alana ran to him. He picked her up and they gave each other hugs and kisses. It was clear he had a wonderful relationship with his girls. The more she got to know him, the more she liked him. Besides being a good father, he was a really nice guy. Also, funny. And not bad looking. Finally, she asked, "Are you here alone?"
"Yeah - my associates aren't coming until Sunday night."
"Well, you can't be alone in Las Vegas! Sit here," as she pulled out the fourth chair at the table.
Now that he was sitting at the same table, Mike had an opportunity to study the women more closely. Megan really did look like a slightly younger version of Kaitlyn. She was shorter and had smaller breasts, but they were perfect for her body. She was wearing a simple beige blouse, buttoned all the way up, and a black skirt. Melissa had on a very sexy little black dress. It was a little shorter than it should have been, and fit loosely at the top. Whenever she leaned forward, which she apparently liked to do, Mike couldn't avoid getting a peak at her semi-sheer pink bra and the top of her areolas. And Kaitlyn was wearing a tight, silver, stretchy dress with one shoulder strap. Mike thought it made her breasts look perfect. They were large, but not outrageously huge.
Mike's kids and Kaitlyn were Facebook friends, so she knew the major stuff that was going on in their lives, like where they were at school and what sororities they joined. At one point she looked at Mike, put her hand on his, and said, "I'm sorry about you and Diane."
Mike let out a deep sigh. "Thanks. The last year or so wasn't fun for either of us. Although we never officially talked about it, we did the 'stay together for the kids' thing until they were both out of high school. I don't know if it was smart or not, but we don't have to worry about it anymore. Hopefully we can finalize everything without getting into shouting matches."
"Sorry to bring it up. Just wanted you to know I felt bad for you when I heard. You were very kind to me when I went through my divorce, always offering a sympathetic ear. I really appreciated that."
They moved on to happier topics, and then Mike asked about their plans for the weekend. She said they were seeing shows the next three nights, had dinner reservations at some great restaurants Friday and Saturday, and were going to see the Hoover Dam tomorrow. When Mike asked about their plans for tonight, Melissa grunted, "NOTHING! It's a wasted night!"