Page 21 of Happily Never After

“I just needed this to be separate from us,” she said hurriedly. “My own thing. Does that make sense?”

He drummed his fingers on the countertop. Winston panted happily on his lap. “How much did you borrow?”

Claire slid the full glass down the bar to him. “A hundred thousand dollars.” She mumbled as softly and quickly as the words would escape her lips.

“How much?”

Damn it. “A hundred thousand dollars,” she repeated. Her shoulders tensed, bracing for an explosion.

There was silence for another minute. Luke took a sip of wine. Claire took a sip of wine. Rosie whined. Was that the sound of blood rushing through her veins?

Luke cleared his throat. “I think it’s a good idea. I’ve told you before you should think about expanding. But you should have asked me first.”

Her grip on the wineglass tightened. “I don’t need your permission to borrow money for my business.”

He held up one hand. His posture was relaxed, not at all like he was going to throw a suitcase at her and send her packing. “Not like that. I just mean I could have helped. Fewer stipulations than a bank. Zero percent APR if you make Roy’s empanadas recipe this week.”

“Mindy said the same thing, only she suggested blowjobs as leverage.”

“Mindy might be a business genius,” Luke pondered.

Claire smiled. If he could joke about her stepfather’s empanadas, surely he wasn’t that mad. Thank god. “Thank you for understanding. I’m sorry for not telling you about it before. I’m going to make a conscious effort to be a better communicator.” Dr. Goulding had been on her about it, anyway.

“How was your day?” she asked. “You seem grumpier than usual.”

He sighed. “I really need to get out to LA. I had a conference with Streamster today and they’re full steam ahead with setting up animators and someone to do the score. Someone’s coming out here for photography at the end of the week.”

“Holy crap.” She pulled the containers of Chinese food out and arranged them on the bar. “How do you feel about having all these other hands in the pot?”

He leaned back and his eyebrows scrunched together. “I don’t like other people having a say in how I do things. Every frame ofSuburban Hustlewas mine. And the stakes are so much higher with this doc. I’m worried they’re going to try to push for more Barney and less of the victims.”

Claire crossed the kitchen and laid a hand on his arm. “Don’t let them. You’re the boss. This is your baby. And if you need me to scare them, you know I will.”

“Are you going to pull an Alice and show up with a purse full of voodoo dolls and tarot cards?”

Claire’s mother was a self-proclaimed psychic with her own television show and had been known to dabble in all elements of the psychic realm.

“You can’t deny it’s an effective tactic.” She popped containers open and shoved her fork into some General Tso’s.

They ate in silence, shoulders hunched and stewing in the mire of the day. Ready or not, Claire and Luke would both be in California in two weeks facing the biggest projects of their careers. Would this proposal propel her business to new heights, or would it be a disaster that would destroy everything she’d built in the last five years?

CHAPTER EIGHT

To Do:

- Research support for blind dogs

- Venues for gala

- Write statement!

“This is insane,”Luke said, cradling Winston in his lap. Winston yipped, the sound reverberating in the warehouse.

Claire gave Luke the stink eye. This was why she didn’t like to mix business and boyfriends. But alas, he was the best cameraman on the market. And Brad insisted on having the best.

“Sure, you thought about transportation for the couple,” Luke continued, setting Winston down. Winston sniffed his way across the concrete floor and curled up next to Rosie in her dog bed. “But how are you going to ensure you’ll be at the ranch in time? And the rest of the crew?” Luke leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. His eyebrows rose.

Claire and Mindy glanced at each other. Then they glanced at the whiteboard. Public transportation? It was one of the biggest cities in the country—there had to be systems in place to move those people around.

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