Page 83 of Say Yes to the Death

and her hands shook.

Nope. It was some other douche in a black sedan with tinted windows. For all she knew, it could be her stalker.

“Good luck snatching me with fifty thousand protective men in my wake,” she muttered to the sedan. It was true—between Luke, Kyle, Sawyer, and Officer Shiccitano, no one stood a chance of kidnapping her today. Of course, the last time she had been abducted, she had been twenty feet from a room full of seventy-five people. But this was different.

Finally. There was Nicole. She was bent at the waist, setting up a series of orange cones on the football practice field.

“Do you need help?” Claire called as she approached.

“Nah, I have pretty much everything we need,” Nicole said, kicking a tote at her feet. Brightly colored flag football belts, a coiled rope, and a Frisbee were visible.

Claire looped Rosie’s lead around a nearby tree and secured it with enough slack to allow her beloved furry friend to lay in the sunshine. She pulled a bowl out of her purse and filled it from her water bottle.

“Are you okay?” Nicole asked in a quieter voice. “He’s not here yet.”

Claire shrugged and occupied herself by bending forward, curling her fingers underneath her toes until she felt the tug in her hamstrings. A hot yoga and core crusher class this week had left her primed and ready to kick some ass.

It was weird that Luke wasn’t here yet. A stickler for punctuality, he had been known to berate anyone who was less than ten minutes early. With any luck, his flight would have been cancelled. But luck hadn’t been on her side in some time.

“I’m fine. I’ll have to see him again eventually. I’m just not sure what I’ll say to him. Where’s Mindy?”

“Under that tree,” Nicole said, gesturing to a prone figure in a shady patch of grass.

“Hangover?”

Nicole nodded.

“I hope she’s not on our team.” Claire bent over and reached into her tote bag, digging until she found some ibuprofen, a packet of sugar-free blue Kool-Aid, and a bottle of water. She walked over to the shady spot and plopped down beside Mindy. “Good morning, sunshine.”

Mindy groaned. Her long, wavy black hair was gathered into a messy ponytail,

looped through the snap back of her navy baseball cap. Heavily mirrored sunglasses shielded her eyes.

“Thank you. Why do we have to do this?”

“Because we love Nicole and want her wedding day and every wedding-related event building up to it to be exactly as she imagined,” Claire said, deadpan. She handed the bottle to Mindy, who sat up to guzzle it before returning to the ground, groaning.

“So many shots. Why am I dating a college boy again?”

“Because you like him, and he’s a suspiciously good baker. I’ll see you when it’s time for the first event,” Claire said, patting her on the knee before standing back up.

She hesitated as she crossed the empty stretch of field. Was the ground shaking? An earthquake would be a great excuse to miss this cursed field day. Damn, those safety tips she had looked up while entertaining the idea of a visit to California only covered what to do indoors. Maybe the ground would be merciful and swallow her up before she saw Luke’s stupid face.

A shadow crossed her visual field. Her heart leapt into her throat. Was that a fist swinging out of nowhere? The kickboxing lessons she had taken with her mom in high school came flooding back.

She ducked and spun like a dancer, almost graceful (for once) as she faced her attacker. Her hands automatically came up, one clenched in a fist protecting her jaw, and the other in an attack-ready stance. It was a good thing she had read all those articles on personal safety tips in preparation for her next class with Sawyer. No one would get the jump on her today. An abduction would really put a damper on Nicole’s day.

Sawyer’s massive silhouette blocked out the sunlight. He clapped slowly.

“Excellent work. You were paying attention to your surroundings, and I didn’t even manage to get a hand on you. You’re learning.”

She reached over and slapped him lightly on the arm. “I almost punched you in the face.”

He shrugged. “Generally your attackers aren’t going to send a courtesy note letting you know when they’ll be attacking. You responded well today, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

She checked her watch. Field Day officially started in ten minutes. She cast another glance at the parking lot. No Luke. Maybe a distraction would take the edge off. “Want to go over a couple of things while we wait?”

“That’s a good idea. Okay, so when you were attacked the night of the abduction?—”

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