Page 135 of Happily Never After

She plunged her hand into her purse. The next step was to throw things in its direction in the hopes of scaring it away. She tucked her water bottle away in case she needed to use it as a club and pulled out the first thing she touched—a tin of breath mints.

Claire wasn’t gifted in the hand-eye coordination department. She flung the tin like a Frisbee. It landed a foot away from the cat. He slunk back another step but didn’t leave. She clapped her hands and yelled again. The group was still singing. Only seconds had passed, but it felt like a lifetime.

Next she threw a hairbrush. It landed just inches from its feet, and it jumped back. Her stomach twisted and heaved. Her vision was starting to go dark at the edges. This was no time tohave a panic attack. It was fight or flight, and the only choice was to kick some furry ass.

A bottle of Tylenol joined the hairbrush. The cat barely flinched. She put one hand on the bejeweled binder cover. Brad’s proposal was over. It was okay to throw it. Just one of them. She hefted the binder out of her purse and threw it with all her might. It landed directly in front of the cat with a hugethump.

The animal hissed and turned. For one heart-stopping moment, it made direct eye contact with Claire over its broad shoulder. Then it ran away, down the trail toward the ranch.

Claire leaned against a tree to catch her breath. A hand fell on her shoulder, and she leapt what felt like thirty feet in the air.

Luke looked at her with concern in his eyes. “Easy. You okay?”

Claire frowned. “No.”

Luke scanned her from head to toe. A ranch hand went flying past them down the trail.

“Did it swipe at you?” He turned her around as if expecting to see a gaping wound somewhere.

“No. I don’t care about the cat.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “Then what’s wrong?”

“I missed the ‘yes.’”

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

To Do:

- Send congratulations card to B&K

- Google William Hickory one more time

- Touch base with Darius

“I am telling you,ESA sent that fricken mountain lion.” Claire heaved her purse into the foyer. It fell over, and a thick envelope spilled out.

It was after midnight. After several hours of picking up trail decorations and making sure every vendor had been tipped appropriately, she was beyond ready to throw her useless body into bed. But there was still work to be done.

“What’s that?” Luke let Rosie off her leash, and she scampered over to the envelope and sat on it.

Claire released Winston, and he sniffed his way across the floor. “Cash tip. Apparently Brad has forgiven me for the salsa dancing snafu.”

Luke grunted. “You’re sure it had a bow around its neck? The light wasn’t great, and cats are spotted in the hills regularly.”

“You think I hallucinated a mountain lion wearing a bow?” She cocked an eyebrow.

“That’s not what I’m saying. Bed?”

She scoffed. “We have so much work to do. The convention is tomorrow—today? I don’t know what time it is.”

“Haven’t we earned like a two-minute break?”

She gave him a serious look. “You can go to sleep. But I need to prepare. This is our best chance to catch them. To end this. To tear it down from the inside.”

He sighed and swiveled his backpack around to the front. His camera bag emerged from within. “Let me lock this up and I’ll sound the alert on a brunch Code Purple.”

She gripped his arm. “I have never loved you more.”

---