Page 133 of Happily Never After

The jeweled comb in her hair sparkled as they danced. It was almost too perfect. Luke picked up his tripod and circled the gardens slowly. Karen seemed to notice, and Brad must have said something reassuring, because Karen giggled and waved at the camera.

Claire ducked behind the foliage and raced up the walkway. It was time to head to the ranch. The ending was so close she could almost taste it.

“Let’s go,” she hissed at Mindy and Heather. Heather dabbed a tissue under her eyes. Mindy sniffed, and she handed her one too.

The three of them exited the Getty as quickly as they had arrived. They needed to beat the couple to the ranch to make sure everything was perfect, and this would be their longest stretch of travel yet. If someone in their path called in another aimless bomb threat or plowed their car through an In-N-Out, she was going to set something on fire.

A tense thirty minutes passed as Claire checked traffic cams and Heather described points of interest along their route. She was an expert at de-escalating tension. Finally, they pulled into the same parking lot where Claire had been abducted just over a week before. Dread settled on her like a stifling blanket, but there was no time to fixate on her trauma. She dug a little white tablet out of the prescription bottle in her purse. Dr. Goulding said she could take an extra dose of meds on extra stressful days. Surely this counted.

A line of expensive-looking cars were parked next to them, presumably belonging to Karen and Brad’s family and friends. Her phone dinged, and she glanced at it.

“Letters are in position! Oooh, I’m so excited.” She danced on the spot even though her anxiety flared like a wildfire. The magic moment was so close. Every painful aspect of this proposal would be worth it when Karen entered the clearing.

“I can’t believe you actually changed the Hollywood sign,” Heather said. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“With Happily Ever Afters, anything is possible,” Mindy parroted from their website.

“I didn’t realize how literally you meant it,” Heather replied.

“Let’s go, we have to get in position.” Claire half-jogged up the dusty dirt road leading to the ranch, fighting the urge to look behind her every step of the way.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

To Do:

- Thank you cards for vendors

- Check on Bri, Mom, and Charlie. Air tags?

- Buy new meat thermometer

“It’s so much betterwith the fairy lights,” Claire commented as she bounced on the horse’s back behind Mindy.

“It was a good call. The landscape is so dreary out here.” Mindy gestured at the dusty path. “Oh, I love that one.”

A picture of Brad and Karen waving from the bow of a ship was strung on a tree and surrounded by a halo of string lights.

“Isn’t it great? They’re such a photogenic couple,” Claire said. They were almost to the finish line. The happy ending was in sight. It would be perfect. It had to be.

The horse walked into the clearing, and Claire’s heart soared. White linen tablecloths were laid over the candlelit picnic tables. A pair of uniformed butlers stood at attention next to the serving tent. The tantalizing smell of roasted duck and sweet potatoes—Karen’s favorite—permeated the air. A dozen family members crowded around the tables, laughing and telling stories while clutching glasses of wine. Even Brad’s grandchildren, a three-year-old pair of twins in adorable matching dresses, were glued to their tablets and behaving.

The Hollywood sign was now covered by a row of identical letters that read “Marry Me?” They rose dramatically up the slope behind the picnic tables, thrown into sharp relief against the pink-streaked sky. The noise of the city was left behind. Assuming the couple arrived in the next five minutes as scheduled, the view would be nothing short of spectacular.

A ranch hand took their horses and helped them dismount. Claire ran over to inspect the proposal spot. An arbor covered in an explosion of blush and red peonies was propped against the hillside. A half-circle of string lights surrounded it, exactly as Brad had wanted. It was a miracle—the letters were in place, nothing was on fire, everything looked perfect. He may have been an unrelenting nuisance for the entire duration of their business relationship, but the man had taste.

Mindy and Heather went to speak to the caterers, checklists in hand. They chattered about serving times over the headset. Luke was in position to film the couple’s arrival. Nicole crouched in a patch of weeds, seemingly trying to get a perfect angle with the arbor and the sign in the background.

The clip-clop of horses announced the couple’s impending arrival. Claire’s heart fluttered. The HEA team scattered to their designated hiding spots. She slid partway down an embankment so she was mostly out of view. Leaning against a tree for support, she pulled her binoculars back out.

Brad and Karen rounded a corner and came to the clearing. Karen’s mouth dropped open, and she clutched a hand to her heart. “Oh, Brad. It’s so beautiful. Oh my gosh!”

Their family members waved merrily from the picnic tables. The ranch hand helped Karen down first and put her horse in the stable with the others. Brad dismounted next. He glanced at the sunset and then at the spot where he knew Claire was hiding. He flashed her a thumbs up. She breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently he had forgiven her for the detour earlier.

Karen started to head for her family, but Brad took her hand and guided her to the arbor.

Claire pursed her lips. She generally preferred to keep rings safe for her clients until the moment of the proposal. Brad, however, had insisted on carrying his ring. He had sworn up and down that he would remember it, but there was no guarantee.

Brad kneeled in a circle of lights, and tears formed in Karen’s eyes. Nicole got in position and clicked away. Another photographer circled, taking shots from different angles. Luke and the second cameraman filmed from separate vantage points.

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