Page 61 of Say Yes to the Death

“Airport, airport,” she said over and over. Eventually the cab driver seemed to get the idea and headed off in the right direction.

As they passed through the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Claire laid her head against the window and closed her eyes.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

To Do:

- Burn Luke’s house down

- Screen new applicants

“Un-fucking-believable.” Claire stared at herself in the dingy airport bathroom mirror. A man spoke over the loudspeaker in French. She tossed the bandage saturated with river water into the trashcan and inspected her wound. It didn’t look infected, at least. Which was good, because her first aid kit was back at the hotel with the lying, selfish, soul-sucking demon. A small bottle of rubbing alcohol and box of bandages from the airport drug store sat on the counter next to her.

She pulled paper towels out of the dispenser and splashed the alcohol onto them. She pressed the mass to her skin.

“Mother fu—” It might as well have been a poultice made out of murder hornets. A woman came out of one of the stalls and shot a panicked look at Claire, leaving without even washing her hands. Great, now she was scaring people away from practicing basic hygiene.

How had it come to this? A few weeks ago, she was on top of the world. She had pulled off the biggest proposal of her career and had a blossoming new romance with a sexy filmmaker. Today she was sitting alone in a dirty airport bathroom waiting six more hours to board her flight back to the United States. Betrayed by the first man she had opened her heart to after Jason had cheated on her. Kidnapped and stabbed by a client. And now, stalked by a new, faceless enemy.

What had she done to deserve this vicious retaliation from the universe? Her entire job revolved around making people happy. She rescued animals, donated to charities. Sure, she had had some unkind thoughts about people in the past—Wendy and Jason in particular. But why was she being punished?

And why wasn’t Luke being punished? He had openly admitted to wanting to exploit her for his new project. Maybe she should sue him so she could afford to pay for Wendy’s lawsuit. Surely a judge would be sympathetic to a betrayal of this magnitude. One thing was for sure, though. Luke Islestorm was dead to her.

Claire was startled out of her reverie by the sudden vibration of her phone. Alice was calling. She answered the video call and propped the phone on the sink while she peeled open a new bandage. Hopefully, the airport Wi-Fi would be enough to hold the conversation. She could really use some sage wisdom from her mom.

“Hey, Mom. Did I tell you I’m in Paris?” Claire said sheepishly.

Alice sniffled. Claire glanced at the screen. Her eyes and nose were red. Uh-oh. This was not good.

“What’s wrong?” She slapped a new bandage on and picked up the phone.

Alice took a deep breath, then sighed. “Claire. Why didn’t you tell me what happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“About the break-in and the note.” Alice ticked them off on her fingers like she had a long-running list of grievances against her. She turned her watery blue eyes back to the camera. “I had to find out from your sister that you’re in mortal peril. Again. And that you fled the country. You didn’t think your own mother should be aware?”

Dammit, Charlie. Her stomach sank like a bag of bricks. “I’m really sorry, Mom. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to worry you. We don’t know that it was anything sinister. It could have just been a bored teenager who lives in my building.”

There weren’t any teenagers in Claire’s building as far as she knew, but Alice didn’t need to know that.

“Wouldn’t you have wanted to know if something like this happened to me?” Alice asked quietly. “Wouldn’t you be furious if I didn’t tell you and you had to find out from someone else?” She took a deep breath, like she was preparing to drop a bombshell. “I’m disappointed in you, Claire.”

The words were like getting slapped in the face with a hand covered in tacky costume jewelry. Claire’s mouth fell open, and she gaped at her phone like a goldfish. Alice had been her personal cheerleader for her entire life. Not once had her mother ever said those words to her. Not when she got a B on a term paper, not when she punched a girl in the mouth for bullying her friend in kindergarten. Claire’s penchant for withholding information in order to protect her mother had dramatically backfired. Shame crept in, hot and suffocating.

“I—I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have told you.”

“I hope you get home safely,” Alice said coolly. “I expect you to tell me if anything else happens. Good night, Claire.” She hung up before Claire could respond.

Claire collapsed with her back to a stall. She slid down it until she was puddled on the floor. She buried her face in her hands.

Disappointed. The word still stung. Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back. Just when she thought things couldn’t possibly get worse. Now she had pissed off Alice, the only person on the planet who was supposed to love her unconditionally. Was this even deeper than rock bottom? Because it sure felt like it.

She hadn’t told her mother about the Paris flowers. To be fair, Alice hadn’t really given her a chance to tell her. But she should probably send a text to the group message just in case. She stared at the empty message bubble.

Claire: Hi, I’m coming home from Paris early. Luke and I broke up and also I got more creepy stalker flowers. Hope the weather’s nice at home.

She started to erase the message, then sent it anyway. Messages full of exclamations from Charlie poured in. Alice’s contact showed three blinking dots, but then they disappeared. Her own mother was so disappointed in her that she couldn’t even react to a personal safety crisis.

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