Page 69 of Say Yes to the Death

“Yeah. I woke up in the middle of the street last week, and once in the woods at Luke’s. Before he utterly betrayed me, anyway. Unconscious Claire usually brings a snack along, but I don’t see any spaghetti this time.”

“Maybe not, but I did witness you stuff an entire block of sharp cheddar down your pants before you went out the back door.”

So, that was what the lump on her left hip was. Nocturnal pants cheese.

“I’m so sorry.” She tripped on something tall and hard in the lake and stumbled forward. Could this weekend get any worse?

“It’s just cheese.” Sawyer laughed and steadied her.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I thought maybe you were working something out subconsciously. You walked half a mile barefoot with a knife in your hand before plunging into the lake.”

She groaned. This was not good. “Maybe I need to start zip-tying myself to the bed frame at night.”

“My mom has treated several sleepwalkers. A therapist can teach you some techniques to prevent it from happening.”

“Yeah, yeah.” A shiver racked her. She didn’t have time for a therapist. And the sleepwalking wasn’t a problem. It was just some unconscious exercise. Hitting her step goal early in the day. It was responsible, really.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mindy asked, glancing at Claire as she gripped the wheel exactly at ten o’clock and two o’clock. Rain pelted the windshield of her SUV.

Claire sighed. “I don’t know.” She sipped the raspberry mocha iced coffee Mindy had brought her as Sawyer’s house shrank into the distance. He hadn’t tried to murder her in her sleep. They had even nailed down a date for Claire to come in for a self-defense class that week. “I feel…violated. Used. Lied to. Take your pick.”

Mindy sighed. “I mean, of course he would want you for the documentary. Professionally speaking, he would be crazy not to. You are the only surviving victim. But I can’t believe that he actually crossed the line and asked. Especially after taking you to Paris and dropping your panties in an alleyway.”

Claire groaned. “Don’t remind me. I just want to rewind to six months ago when I didn’t know Luke existed.” And before she was hunted by a psychopath and sued by the Bride of Satan. And before she started taking nocturnal adventures. She wasn’t going to mention the sleepwalking to Mindy or Nicole. There was enough going on.

Claire gripped the armrest as Mindy rounded one of the many hairpin turns on Sawyer’s road. A mysterious aqua-colored scrap of fabric clung to the arm of her jacket. Claire flailed her arm until it dropped onto her lap. Yikes, a thong. She shrieked and promptly dropped it on the floor.

“Oops, sorry. I forgot those up here when Gavin and I were at the drive-in movies last weekend. There’s hand sanitizer in the glove box.”

Claire shuddered and pulled on the glove box handle. A United Kingdom guidebook fell out.

“Planning a trip?” she asked, holding up the guide.

“Maybe,” Mindy said. “Gavin’s been a bit distant lately, so I’ve been tapping into my inner anglophile.”

Claire leafed through the book. A couple of pages were dog-eared. “Do you think he’s homesick?”

“That’s what I thought. I tried to make him ‘bangers and mash,’ as he calls it, but I burned the sausages.”

Claire smiled. “Maybe he could use a night out. I haven’t seen him since trivia night at Ringers.”

“I have something in the works. Hopefully it helps.” Mindy drummed the steering wheel in time with the pop song on the radio.

“He probably misses his family. I’m surprised he didn’t go home for the summer.”

“He couldn’t with the internship. You know Pierogi Drive is basically the Wall Street of West Haven. Anyway, enough about my relationship trouble.”

Mindy put on her turn signal. They sat at the traffic light outside Claire’s apartment. There must have been more exciting breaking news in West Haven, because the news trucks were finally gone.

Claire frowned at the droopy, neglected plant in her fourth-floor window. “Thanks for picking me up, Min.”

“Any time. I’m sorry about what happened with Luke. We will fix it with drinks and dancing and a nice trip to Sephora. Want to do a run-through of Tyler’s proposal after you have a nap? I can’t believe it’s just four days away.”

“Let’s do it now. I don’t need sleep. I need to work.” Claire pulled her phone out of her purse, ignoring the eight missed calls from Luke and opening her notes on Tyler’s proposal. “Almost everything is done. We just need to pick up the fireworks tomorrow, make sure the handyman finished installing all those safety railings in the house, double-check the flower arrangement, and make sure her flight time hasn’t changed.”

“Perfect. I’ll verify that today. Oh, Claire, I almost forgot,” Mindy said as she pulled into a spot on the street. Her voice was gentler now, less businesslike. “Coli’s field day thing for the bridal party is this Saturday. And then the awards are the following Friday.”

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