Page 105 of Happily Never After

Her phone beeped again. She pulled over and put on her hazard lights. This time it was an alert from her calendar—she needed to leave now if she was going to spy on Brad and his assistant at the ranch. Her hands hesitated on the wheel. Luke was already going to be upset if he found out that she left the house to go amateur sleuthing. But he would be furious if he found out she risked her safety to spy on a former client.

And yet, she had to know. Was her vision going to be destroyed, or was his receptionist secretly an event planning wizard? It was bound to be a disaster. And then what if he wanted Claire to come back? Her fingers twitched on the wheel.She counted the clicking of the flashers until she got to thirty. There was only one answer. She was going to that ranch.

Thirty harrowing minutes of honking horns and BMWs refusing to use their turn signals later, she rolled into the parking lot and kicked up a cloud of dust. There was Brad’s obnoxious Ferrari parked as close as he could get to the front of the lot. She glanced around, but the rest of the lot was empty.

Claire slid on a pair of tennis shoes and locked the car behind her. She would only watch for a few minutes—just long enough to make sure everything was falling apart without her—and then she would head straight home and pick the dogs up from daycare. Maybe she’d even make Luke a guilt dinner. He loved her stepdad’s empanadas.

Gravel crunched behind her. She whirled around and immediately plunged her hand into her purse as her heart hammered in her throat. A stun gun nestled in her hand, she scanned the parking lot. What had she heard? Was it a human? ESA?

A mama deer and two fawns stepped out from behind her car. Their doe eyes stared blankly at her. Claire blew out a long, slow breath. Apparently East Coast and West Coast deer both enjoyed popping up at the worst possible time. Electrified venison was not on the menu this evening. She sheathed her stun gun and began the quarter-mile hike to the ranch.

Brad’s voice hit her like nails on a chalkboard as she slunk up the hill. She darted off the path and hid behind a bush. Concealed by shrubbery, she peered through the branches.

Brad’s assistant, who had added rainbow bangs since Claire had last seen her, clutched a clipboard.

“What do you mean you didn’t bring the pictures?” He stared down at her.

“I thought you wanted to wait until we got the ivory frames in—you said the off-white wasn’t right.”

Ha. So Brad was still micromanaging every minute aspect of the project. For once, it was nice that it wasn’t her problem.

He wiped a hand over his face and stared up at the midday sun. “Goldie, how do you expect me to visualize everything if we don’t bring the necessary materials? I expect better from you.”

Goldie straightened up. “Mr. Windsor, I’m not an event planner. This is not in my job description.” She pointed at a horse who was taking a dump.

“It’s called ‘all other duties as needed,’ kiddo,” he said grimly. “I know you can do it. You do a great job with my schedule.”

“Whatever. I’ll put it on the list. What else?”

Claire listened for another twenty minutes while Brad’s requests grew increasingly absurd. A sheen of sweat had appeared over Goldie’s brow. The first item on her To Do list was obtaining a new saddle for Karen. There was no way they’d get it done in time. Brad was going to have to buy the existing one from Happily Ever Afters. Ha.

Her watch beeped. Shit. It was time to head home so she could beat Luke back. After one last look at the stressed-out receptionist, she slunk back around the corner and stole down the hill. Her heart was lighter than it had been since she had been fired. A breeze lifted the ends of her hair as she half-skipped down the narrow gravel road. It was a beautiful, sunny day. For once, someone who had wronged her was facing the consequences of their actions. It wouldn’t be long before Brad realized Goldie couldn’t cut it. He would probably call at any minute. Maybe she should turn her phone on silent, make him sweat for a few hours.

“See?” she said to a chipmunk that darted across the path. “I went on a whole outing by myself and didn’t get abducted.” ESA had better things to do than mess with her in the middle of the day on a Thursday. Most of them were probably either frat boys or grown-up frat boys who were now chronically constipatedmiddle managers with nine-to-five jobs. They couldn’t keep tabs on her all the time. There was no reason for Luke to forbid her from going out alone.

Luke’s protectiveness had once been hot. Lately it was just irritating. She stretched her arms out at her sides and lifted her face to the sunshine. God, it was good to be free. No overbearing boyfriend probing every corner, no FBI dad checking her flip-flops for tracking devices. Even though LA traffic was unbearable, she was grateful for the crush of people that allowed her to be, for once, anonymous.

Something on the dirt road caught her foot, and she nearly fell ass-over-end to the parking lot.

“Son of a bitch.” She kicked a rock and sent it flying into a thicket of trees. Somewhere in the dense clump of vegetation, a twig snapped.

Her sneakers halted on the dusty trail. Was it her imagination, or did a shadow just dart behind that tree? Goosebumps spread up and down her arms. She expelled a long, slow breath, but nothing stopped her galloping heartbeat.

Would they really try the same thing twice? Another abduction attempt at the ranch? There was no way. They wouldn’t even know she was here unless they had followed her all day. She was being paranoid.

Her eyes probed the space between the trees. The branches swayed, but they could have been moving for any number of reasons. A light breeze, a small earthquake. Maybe a really energetic group rain dance.

She resumed her walk and slid her sunglasses down onto her nose, peering fervently out of the corner of her eye on her way to the car. The keys clinked as she withdrew them from the cavern of her purse and threaded them through her knuckles.

There wasn’t any sign of movement from the thicket. She was almost to the car. Even if there was someone hiding back there,they wouldn’t be able to stop her once she got to her vehicle. She quickened her pace and breathed a sigh of relief when she touched the warm metal of her door handle. The leather seats burned her legs as she slid into the driver’s seat and buckled her seatbelt.

Shit. She hadn’t checked the undercarriage. Jack would be furious. But he didn’t have to know. She turned the car on and threw it into reverse. Whatever may or may not have been hiding in the trees was about to eat her dust.

As she reversed out of her parking spot, she cocked her head. Was the car suddenly leaning? And what was that sound? She shifted into drive.Thump thump thump. The speed of the thumping increased.

Son of a bitch. Of all the times to get a flat. Was it a coincidence, or was it ESA?

She threw the car into park. Casting a cursory glance around the still empty parking lot, she stepped out of the car. Yep, there it was. A huge nail protruded from her now flat tire.

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