Page 146 of Say Yes to the Death

There was time to worry about all that later. For the moment, she had a happily ever after to create. Even if it was in danger of catching on fire and/or collapsing into a pile of trash at any moment.

Nicole stood in the corner, remotely monitoring the cameras they had stashed in the escape room and snapping pictures at opportune moments.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” she whispered reassuringly to Claire.

Claire nudged a fire extinguisher behind the fake greenery. Every part of this proposal had been a chore. The venue had sprung a leak and sustained significant water damage the week before the proposal. The groom-to-be had gotten a black eye from a charity softball game. Mindy had tripped and knocked the Eiffel Tower over. They had superglued the two halves back together, but it was leaning precariously despite the fishing wire that Claire had secured it with.

And yet, despite all the aggravation and chaos, it was lovely. Easily one of the most creative proposals they had done to date. The puzzles were carefully thought out, every detail designed with the couple in mind.

She and Mindy had spied on the clients, Dr. Jerry Weaver and Sarah, while they had a date night at Dave and Busters. The couple was fun-loving, sweet to each other, and very clearly in love, if a bit over-competitive at Skee-Ball. As an added precaution, Claire had also called the state board of medicine. Luckily, Dr. Weaver didn’t have any open investigations into his license. She had done everything she could to make sure this couple was the real deal. And they were. She could feel it.

Behind the locked door, Dr. Weaver, an emergency department physician at a local hospital, was helping his soon-to-be fiancée crack open a safe.

“We only have four minutes left,” Sarah said from one of Nicole’s monitors, glancing anxiously at the clock in the corner of the room.

“Plenty of time. What were the numbers from the periscope again?”

“Four-eight-nineteen.”

“Wow, our anniversary date. What are the odds?”

The odds were very good indeed.

“Why don’t you try those on the safe?” Jerry asked.

“Good idea.” Sarah deftly twisted the lock back and forth with her long fingers. She was the first chair cellist for the West Haven Orchestra. “This is the best date night ever, by the way. I didn’t even know this place was here.”

“It’s new,” Jerry said as he paced behind Sarah. He had grown steadily paler over the last hour.

“It opened! We found the key!”

Sarah leapt into Jerry’s arms. He smiled.

“Let’s make sure it works.” He gently set her down and gave her the key.

Nicole sprang into position, crouching to the side to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, camera at the ready. Claire sat the ring box on top of a table and scuttled underneath it, hiding behind the tablecloth. Mindy joined her a second later, still clutching a candle.

When the door swung open and Sarah cried out in victory, Claire watched through a hole in the cloth as Jerry picked up the box and tucked it in his pants pocket. Mindy peered out a hole next to her. Unlike most of the proposals they had done this year, everything was perfectly intimate—no family, no friends, just the couple and their magical moment.

“Oh, man, that was crazy. What an adrenaline rush. We should do another—wait. Was all of this here when we came in? Is this like part two of the escape room?” Sarah asked, spinning around and walking back to the door they had just come out of. She walked as gracefully as she played, as though she were gliding on air.

“This is the only door. Miss?” Sarah called, clearly looking for Claire.

Sarah spun around and finally noticed Jerry kneeling under the Eiffel Tower.

Her hands flew to her mouth, and the look of surprise was unmistakable.

Claire’s gaze was glued to the Eiffel Tower. Surely it would hold. It had to. If it broke apart and concussed the couple, she could kiss whatever was left of her career goodbye.

“Sarah,” Jerry said simply, holding one hand out to her.

Sarah ran across the room. “Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes.”

She dropped to her knees and threw herself into his arms.

“But I didn’t even ask you yet,” Jerry laughed, glasses askew from the impact of his now-fiancée. “You have to let me ask.”

Sarah stood back up, wiping at the happy tears that had sprung up. “Okay, okay, fine.”

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