Page 44 of Say Yes to the Death

“Maybe she can come with us.” Claire buried her face in Rosie’s wiggling body. How could she go three days without seeing Rosie? What if something happened to her?

“Put the dog down, Claire,” Mindy instructed, picking up the spray bottle again and shaking it. Rosie backed away, ears drawn back.

“Dogs come on airplanes all the time,” Claire said, reaching for her retreating dog.

“Rosie hates flying. They’ll put her in a crate all by herself under the plane,” Mindy said tactfully.

Claire straightened up. “They wouldn’t dare.”

“Come on. We’ll miss our flight.” Luke gripped Claire’s elbow.

Claire stood and began rifling through her purse. “No. I could get her registered as an emotional support animal. What’ll that take, ten minutes at the courthouse? I’ll just call my doctor real quick and?—”

Suddenly, the world was upside down. Claire dangled over Luke’s shoulder like a rag doll.

“Help with the bags, Min?” Luke said nonchalantly, carrying Claire to the side door.

Rosie barked and jumped at Luke’s legs, and Claire stretched out a hand.

“Roro, who wants a treat?” Mindy crinkled a treat bag.

Rosie about-faced in a millisecond and sprinted to the conference table. Mindy handed her a small bone, and Rosie retreated to her dog bed in the corner, crunching noisily.

“Traitor!” Claire called out as Luke pushed open the door. It snapped shut behind them.

“We can’t go,” Claire said, still upside down. “Those flower beds are atrocious. Someone needs to weed them.”

“The weeds will be here when we get back.”

“What if the press starts an exposé on the business and airs footage of the flower beds?”

Luke set her down by the passenger door without comment. Claire crossed her arms and frowned at him, but he ignored her and opened the trunk for Mindy, who was struggling out with Claire’s bags. The morning sun was creeping up in the sky even as heavy clouds rolled in.

“I want a picture every hour,” Claire said as Luke hefted the suitcase into the car.

Mindy wrapped Claire in one of her signature suffocating hugs. “I’ll send two. Don’t worry about a thing, okay? I know that’s impossible for you, but try. Everything will be fine.”

“And you’ll be safe?” Claire almost whispered.

“Always,” Mindy said, smiling soothingly at her.

“Love you,” Claire said as she opened her car door and got in.

“Love you more.” Mindy slammed the door.

Claire instinctively reached into the back seat to buckle Rosie into her seatbelt. But Rosie wasn’t coming. A pang of regret hit. She had rarely spent more than a night away from Rosie since she had rescued her after her breakup with Jason.

The car lurched into reverse, startling her from her reverie. Now she was going on a trip to an undisclosed location with someone she was barely speaking to. Awesome.

Rain pummeled the windshield as they drove. The car jerked when they splashed into one of West Haven’s famous potholes. Luke’s stormy eyes flashed to the rearview mirror every couple of seconds.

“So,” Claire said as they began to leave the city behind. “What did your mother have to say for herself? You said she texted this morning as I was leaving.”

He had miraculously remained unconscious while she was on her midnight jaunt through the woods. She even had time to clean the marinara stains off the wall and door before crawling back into bed.

Luke’s grip tightened on the wheel. “She said she was just doing her job.”

“Ah, yes. When I’m doing my job, I, too, like to accuse my family’s significant others of being lying, violent alcoholics. She knew who I was.” Claire shook her head.

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