Page 56 of Happily Never After

“Remember the last time you assaulted a woman?” It had led to a months-long lawsuit that only ended because Claire had saved Wendy’s life.

Claire crossed her arms and pressed her ear toward the hallway again.

“Right,” Luke said. “And I’m sure the timing of this realization has nothing to do with the fact that I was nominated for an Emmy and I’m about to launch the biggest documentary of my career.”

“How dare you?” Olivia sounded indignant, but it felt fake even to Claire. “I came here to apologize. I even made your favorite cake.”

Claire straightened again. Luke didn’t like cake. It was one of the first things he had told her on their first date after her kidnapping. That was why she had served mini pies at his birthday. Either this bitch didn’t know him at all, or she had permanently poisoned him against an entire classification of dessert.

“You’re too late, Olivia,” he said. “I was an idiot when we dated, end of story. You can take your cake and get out.”

“Luke, come on,” she said in a sultry voice. “Don’t pretend like you can’t feel this.”

Rosie barked her full-on danger bark, and Olivia screamed.

“Good girl,” Luke said. “Seriously, you need to leave.”

There was a huff, and the front door slammed. Mindy and Claire rushed deeper into the living room and sat on the couch. Claire picked up her emergency binder and flipped through it to a random page while Mindy grabbed her tablet.

A cabinet door opened in the kitchen, and something heavy landed on the counter. Claire crept down the hallway and peeked around the corner. Luke had a screwdriver in his hand, and he was frowning at one of the cabinets.

“Everything okay?” Claire asked at a barely audible volume. She cringed, bracing for the fallout.

“Can we move the meeting to tonight?” he half growled. “I’m going to fix this and then head in to the studio.”

Oof. Luke hadn’t angry-fixed anything since Thanksgiving when his semi-estranged brother had followed him around, critiquing all of the legal hazards on Luke’s property.

“Of course.” As much as she was dying for more details, she wouldn’t poke Luke with a ten-foot pole right now.

In the living room, she tossed one of Brad’s binders in her purse and left the emergency preparedness one on the coffee table. Luke needed space, that much was clear. There would be time for earthquake safety training later. She had to get ready fortheir first in-person meeting with Brad anyway. Hopefully there weren’t any natural disasters before the end of the day because they hadn’t even agreed on a secondary meetup location in case the house was compromised.

She ducked back into the living room and gave Mindy a very knowing look. “Min, you want to head out early and see if we can find some coffee before the meeting?”

Even though it was a ruse, she did desperately need the coffee. Every sound the house made had shaken her out of sleep the night before. Thankfully, it had prevented her from sleepwalking. But she definitely wasn’t on her A game this morning, and she needed to be for Brad.

“Sure.” Mindy closed her tablet and picked up her purse. “Let me just grab my shoes.”

Claire hesitantly approached the kitchen again. “You sure you’re okay with us taking the spare car?”

“Yep,” Luke said flatly, not even bothering to turn around.

“Okay, thank you.” She backed out of the room. Yikes. Olivia had really rattled him. Was it cause for concern? She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and focused on the day ahead.

“Bye, babies,” Claire said, bending down to kiss Rosie and Winston on the nose. “Mommy will be back later, and we’ll take a nice walk in our new neighborhood, okay?” And if they happened to find Olivia on their walk, they would chase her into the Pacific Ocean.

Oh, the ocean! They had been in LA for half a day and she still hadn’t put her toes in the sand. That needed to be remedied. If Brad left them any spare time, anyway.

Outside the front door, Claire danced three times on the porch to make sure she had locked it.

“I thought you didn’t do that anymore.” Mindy lowered her sunglasses to stare at her.

“What, the dance?” Claire said, pausing in the middle of a disco point. “I don’t. Well, I haven’t been. But I think the move and the warehouse and all the stress from work is…making things flare up again.”

“Are you sleepwalking again?” Her green eyes burned into Claire’s as they stepped down the concrete steps to the short walkway.

“Only a little,” Claire said. Those two times Luke caught barely even counted. She hadn’t even made it off the property.

“So you are,” Mindy said. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows wrinkled.

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