Page 22 of Happily Never After

Luke tapped at his phone until a live traffic map of LA appeared on the flatscreen TV he had insisted on buying for reviewing his proposal videos. Red lines crawled across the screen like spider webs. “LA traffic is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. You’re going to have to split up and have one of you in the hills and one of you handling all the downtown stuff. And you’ll have to budget for at least one more cameraman. Frankly, this proposal is a huge risk. I’d give you an estimated success rate of twenty-five percent.”

Claire threw her hands up. “He’s your friend! This is what he wanted.”

Luke stabbed a finger at the TV. “Your job as the proposal planner is to tell him what’s possible.Thisis not possible. Did you at least get a private helicopter company for backup?”

She crossed her arms. “I’m still waiting to hear back from them.”

He sighed. “Give me their contact information. I’ll take care of it.”

Grumbling, she thrust one of the six proposal binders splayed out in front of her at him. On second thought, maybe she should have beaten him with it. “You know I brought you here to consult on the videography, not to shoot holes in the whole proposal.”

“Do you want the truth, or do you want warm fuzzies about the likelihood of finding eternal love in a second marriage?”

Claire’s mouth dropped open. Mindy threw a marker across the conference table and hit Luke square in the forehead. “Brad and Karen scored a ninety on the compatibility test, they’vedated for eight years and lived together for six of those, and neither one of them is a serial killer.”

The toilet in the restroom flushed, and Nicole walked out looking green. Claire crossed to the small kitchenette and handed her a steaming mug of ginger tea and a packet of saltines.

“Did I miss anything?” Nicole collapsed into one of the swiveling conference chairs.

“Not really. We’re going to need another videographer—two more, after I murder Luke—and we’ll probably have to split up to make sure we cover all the bases in case of a transportation issue.”

Luke might have been a pompous douchebag, but he knew LA better than they did.

Nicole groaned. “I better be vomiting less by the time the proposal comes around. This kid is trying to kill me.” She splayed one hand over her still-flat belly.

Claire patted her back. “If you’re not up to the trip, we can find someone else.” It would compromise the artistic integrity of the entire proposal, but her nauseated friend didn’t need to know that. There were more important things than business.

Nicole fervently shook her head. “I can handle it.”

Luke glanced at his watch. “I have to go. I have a conference in half an hour.” He bent over and kissed Claire on the cheek. “I’ll take Winston and Rosie and let you know when the helicopter’s taken care of.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled like a disgruntled child. She didn’t need his help, but it wasn’t worth the fight. She would figure out transportation alternatives for the crew. Plus the universe owed her. Surely it wouldn’t smite the biggest proposal of her career.

“So he didn’t kill you for bringing home a blind pug?” Mindy said as soon as the warehouse door swung closed.

“Surprisingly, no. He was more annoyed about us not asking him for the money. I probably could have adopted every animal in the shelter and filled the house to the rafters with cross-eyed cats and three-legged dogs. He seems really distracted with the documentary. I put on a French maid costume and walked around feather dusting his office for twenty-five minutes last night before he even noticed.”

“What are you going to do about the shelter? Not that it’s your job to save it, because it isn’t. But I assume you have a plan?” Nicole munched on a cracker. Her color was returning to normal.

“I’m glad you asked. Who’s up for a little pro bono work?” Claire pulled yet another binder from the bookcase behind them. She hit the stopwatch she was using to keep track of billable hours for Brad’s proposal and added another hour to his total.

A flutter stirred her belly, and her heart rate inched up. There was so much to do, and now she was going to have to figure out alternative transportation for everyone. Was there enough time? Were they headed for failure, as Luke had suggested? She didn’t need his negativity in her creative space.

Nicole set down her crackers and pulled out a notebook. Mindy tapped on her tablet.

“What do you need from us?” Nicole’s pen was poised above the paper.

“Okay, so. The thing is…the gala is only nine days away.”

Mindy choked on a sip of water. Nicole hammered her on the back and raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure we have enough time?”

Claire shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m going to try. I can’t just do nothing. Nicole, would you be willing to take some pictures of the shelter animals? Like this weekend? I’m thinking about making a calendar, but we have to put it together ASAP. Do people still buy wall calendars?”

“Sure they do,” she said, scribbling some notes. “All three of us have one. Will there be costumes?”

“I think there has to be if we want people to buy them. And maybe we could tie in some local businesses and some tourism features of West Haven to get the Visitors Bureau interested. And make them pay for ad space.”

“Genius.” Mindy sputtered and walked over to the whiteboard. “Places first, then we can make the costume fit the location. What do we got?”

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