Page 58 of Happily Never After

“No way. We can do this. Just imagine what we can do with almost three full weeks. We will absolutely kill Brad’s proposal, we’ll make a crapload of money, hire someone amazing to handle things on the West Coast, and save the shelter. Oh, and pay back our gigantic business loan.”

Claire tightened her seatbelt as Mindy careened onto the freeway. Everything was riding on Brad’s proposal. They had no choice but to succeed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

To Do:

- Buy highlighters

- Check in with a capella group

- Don’t stalk Olivia

“So the horsesare going to be white, right?” Brad Lux pressed the tips of his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. The sleek leather of his high-backed office chair towered above him, shining in the morning sun. His mahogany desk gleamed with three computer monitors arranged across its surface. A golden nameplate sat on the desk. Even the trashcan was fancy.

Mindy and Claire exchanged a glance. Claire’s cheeks ached from the effort of smiling, and her head was full of cotton. The under-eye concealer she had applied this morning had barely made a dent in the bruised half-moons beneath her eyes.

The stress from ESA, the move, and the biggest project of her career was more than enough to send her on a sleepwalkingspree. The fear of stumbling unconscious into an ESA trap had kept her tossing and turning for days. And now Brad had spent the entire meeting nitpicking and micromanaging every aspect of the proposal. This was the sixth change he had requested today, and they had two-and-a-half weeks to pull everything together.

Not to mention the fact that they had to conduct interviews and find someone suitable to represent Happily Ever Afters. That alone would have been a monumental task. Interviewing while catering to Brad 24/7 was one of the worst ideas she had ever had. And then there was the fact that Luke had proposed to the neighborhood cake-making hussy but had never so much as broached the subject of marriage with her?—

Mindy raised her eyebrows at Claire. It had probably been a full fifteen seconds since Brad had asked his question.Get it together, Claire.

Claire straightened her shoulders and made eye contact. “We can request them from the ranch, but I can’t promise they’ll have two white ones available.”

“Even if there’s just one.” Brad leaned forward and drummed his fingers on his desk, then glanced at his watch. He certainly was fidgety. Barney had been fidgety too. Was he hiding something?

“We’ll do our best.” Mindy offered him a warm smile.

Brad stopped drumming and leaned forward. His brown eyes burned into Claire’s. “It’s the least you can do after losing her priceless childhood saddle in your warehouse fire.”

Claire’s smile slid off her face like toppings falling off a street taco. “And again, I am so sorry about that, Brad. The replica should be done by the end of the week.”

“I don’t appreciate slip-ups, Claire. And this was a pretty big one.” He tapped one thick finger on his desk blotter.

Heat flamed her cheeks. Something inside her that had been strained the entire meeting snapped. “You know we didn’t set the fire, right?”

Mindy inhaled sharply and nudged her.

Claire blinked. Her body went numb. What had just come out of her sleep-deprived mouth? Had she justsassedtheir biggest client ever? She gripped the arms of her chair and waited.

Brad looked startled, then laughed. He leaned back in his chair. “You’re right. Shit happens. I’ll expect an email update as soon as the saddle’s done. I want to look it over to make sure it matches the pictures.”

“It will,” Claire said firmly. “Was there a particular reason why you wanted white horses?”

“Karen had a white horse growing up. Her name was Sadie. I think she’d really like it.”

Her heart softened, just a little bit. She made a mental note to talk to the stable. “We’ll do everything we can. Was there anything else?” She held her breath. If there was, she was going to leap across the desk and administer a lobotomy.

Brad seemed to debate for a moment, then shook his head. “Let me know what the helicopter company says. I don’t love the extra cost, but Luke’s right, the traffic downtown can be a real bitch. We don’t wanna get stuck.”

Claire nodded. Maybe she needed to step it up a little bit since she had just sassed him. “I’ll email you as soon as I hear. Thanks for meeting with us today. Your ideas have been very thoughtful and just the right amount of splashy.” Understatement of the century. Changing the Hollywood sign was more than a little splashy. “Karen’s going to have an amazing day,” she added.

She and Mindy stood. Claire offered her hand to Brad and he shook it enthusiastically. “I hope so. Thanks, girls. We’ll check in on Thursday to see where we’re at. Same time.”

Girls.Ugh.

“Right,” Mindy said. “And Claire and I are going to scout the locations today, and then we’ll do a run-through a couple times this week to make sure the route is doable.”

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