Page 42 of Happily Never After

“See you later?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’ll be there around five. I’m helping the shelter with transport. Mindy’s going to be there with you, right?”

“Yes, Mindy and a dozen other workers from the country club. Don’t worry. I’m not in any danger.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Well, no more than usual. Thanks for going along with my crazy schemes,” she called as she closed the front door behind her. It was go time. She had some disabled pets to save.

Two hours later, Claire and Mindy were hanging a banner above the stage in the country club ballroom.

“Did you check the presales?” Mindy asked as she gripped her corner of the banner. A stapler was clamped between her teeth.

“No,” Claire admitted. “I was too afraid.”

“Two hundred.” Mindy’s voice was muffled by the stapler.

Claire’s stomach clenched. The country club had set up tables to accommodate 500. Despite all their canvassing, all the flyers and radio spots and social media harassment, it wasn’t enough. They were going to be completely humiliated if the room was barely more than a third full. Not to mention the sheer amount of food that would go to waste.

“It’s not so bad,” Mindy said as she stapled the banner in place. “That’s still more than enough to break even without accounting for the auction.”

“This is a disaster,” Claire muttered. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. “We’re not here to break even. We’re here to save the rescue. We can’t save it with two hundred people.”

“Marnie did a TV spot this morning, and I’d bet we’ll still have some walk-ins who pay the door price.” She tossed the stapler to Claire.

Claire stapled her end of the banner with more force than was necessary and stepped off the ladder. The banner mocked her. Differently Abled Pet Talent Show, it read in bold crimson letters. Maybe if some of the animals were adopted tonight, the money from the gala would stretch a little further.

Bang.A door in the corner opened, and Claire screamed and threw the stapler. Was ESA storming the country club?

“Whoopsie,” said Stephanie, the head chef for the country club. She sidestepped the stapler and walked over with a plate of hors d’oeuvres. “Care to try?”

Why did everyone in West Haven open doors so violently? Claire popped a crab puff in her mouth. She would never admit it, but Yuffie, the Russian caterer with an attitude problem,made better puffs. Still, if everyone drank enough booze, they would more than suffice.

“Delicious,” she said over a mouthful of flaky pastry. “The guests will love them.”

Stephanie beamed and left the room.

“Truth?” Mindy asked.

Claire wiggled her hand back and forth, lips pressed into a grim smile. This was not the glitzy, glamorous event she had hoped for. Sure, she only had a week and a half to throw it together. But this was nowhere near the gold standard she had set for Happily Ever Afters.

Mindy nodded. “It’ll be okay. Let me make sure the bars are well-stocked,” she said in a whisper. “If we liquor these people up enough, they’ll be generous with their checkbooks no matter what the apps taste like.”

“Good plan.” As usual, booze was their only hope. Maybe they should have a drinking game during the talent show. She jotted the idea down on her clipboard and took a surreptitious glance around the ballroom. Mindy had disappeared, and Stephanie the lackluster chef had taken her crab puffs back to the kitchen.

Claire hustled over to her purse and pushed aside a ziplock bag full of alfalfa. Against her better judgment, she had consulted with her stepmother about prosperity magic. Tanya, a practicing Wiccan, had left her laden with herbs.

A dried basil leaf stuck out of her wallet. Though it was supposed to attract money, the only thing it had successfully attracted so far was an overwhelming craving for lasagna. A spray bottle tumbled into her hand. The label read “tincture of alfalfa and chamomile—spray over doorways.”

She sighed and bit her lip. Spraying the doorways with this mist wasn’t going to make the event more prosperous. If anything, it was probably just going to set off people’s allergies.

But it was too late to turn back. The smell of old lady tea crept into the room as she hosed the doorways down with the mist. She sprayed the blackjack, poker, and roulette tables for good measure.

What was next? Another plastic bag crinkled as she removed it. “Aloe—put above doorways.” She turned back to the doors. Luckily, the ledge was wide enough to accommodate a few aloe leaves. She sprinkled them and then tossed the bags in the trash.

Now that she had littered the ballroom with hokey magic that would, if anything, probably backfire, it was time to decorate. Glitz and glam with pops of red and black to fit the casino theme. A garment bag slung over a chair caught her eye. Inside was an outfit so outrageous that she would need half a bottle of wine just to put it on.

Several hours later, Claire was hot gluing a scarlet bow on a rather stubborn centerpiece—luckily, it was the last one—when Mindy burst through the doors at the back of the ballroom.

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