Chapter 50
CHAPTER FIFTY
To Do:
- Drink a five gallon bucket of Gatorade
- Murder whoever set that bomb threat
- Pray that Brad doesn’t have a pig farm to feed me to
With the rickshaw secured to a bike rack, Claire hustled down the pier as efficiently as she could on legs made of meat jelly. She ducked into Pacific Park and dashed through the rides. The pain in her side was finally subsiding as she bobbed and weaved around screaming toddlers, harried-looking parents, and mountains of cotton candy. Casting a glance behind her, she found that Brad and Karen had stopped to stand on the pier. Karen pointed at something on the horizon. Was she going to have to scoop them back up on the rickshaw and hand-deliver them to the wheel? The timeline was already skewed.
Squaring her shoulders and counting to ten, she turned her back to them and approached the wheel. There was the bucket truck, cordoned off by a set of cones. The a cappella quartet sat in the shade of a French fry stand, tugging at their collars and fanning themselves.
Claire ran to the ride operator and pulled up a picture of the couple on her phone. He acknowledged with a curt nod. The smell of hot oil coated her nostrils as she ran to the fry stand.
“They’re here. Get ready,” Claire said as she approached the group. Carlos, the cameraman, was already pointed toward the couple. Tabitha, the second photographer, appeared to be getting a close-up of a seagull. And Gisele, their drone operator who would be capturing the footage from the top of the wheel, was smoking.
“Are you okay?” one of the singers asked. There were armpit stains under his seersucker button-down. Hopefully Tabitha could edit them out.
“I just biked eight miles while carrying two people. I’ve had better days.” Claire drew her emergency deodorant out of her purse and reapplied. At least she wouldn’t have to do any more cardio tonight. She unscrewed the cap from her metal water bottle and guzzled from it. “Oh, here they come. Places, everyone!”
Claire ducked behind a “this tall to ride” sign. Brad and Karen stepped up to the ticket taker and climbed aboard one of the cars. A second later, the wheel started to rotate. Thank god. They were behind schedule, but at least now they were on the right track.
She pulled her phone out and dialed Mindy. “Hey, where are you guys? Have you heard from the limo driver?”
“We’re pulling up to Santa Monica now. Heather showed me a back route and suggested the same thing to the limo so hopefully it won’t be long. Did you make it?”
Claire breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god Heather had come along today. If she went to work for another company after all this, it wouldn’t be easy to replace her.
“Yes. I can’t breathe and I’m dying, but we made it. I’m going to check with Luke and make sure he made it to the Getty. We should finish up at the wheel here in ten to fifteen minutes. Do you have any ibuprofen in your purse? I left mine in the car.”
“I have ibuprofen and Gatorade. I got you.”
“Thanks. Love you,” Claire said and hung up the phone. She dialed Luke next.
“What?” he said gruffly.
“Luke, it’s a proposal day. Please try to be a professional.”
He cleared his throat. “Hello, Miss Hartley. How can I assuage your concerns today?”
She rolled her eyes. “I was just checking to see if you made it to the Getty. Dick.”
“What was it you were saying about being professional? Yes, I’m here.” There was a shuffling sound on the other end of the line. “Just setting up now. Ice cream guy is here. The cones look good.”
“Thank you for checking. They’re on the wheel now. I’ll text you when we leave. I’m just waiting on the limo.”
“Claire?”
“Yeah?”
“Just breathe. It’s going to be okay.”
Easy to say for someone who hadn’t just biked a million miles while hauling a good three hundred pounds behind them. “Whatever you say. See you soon.” She hung up without waiting for a response.
“Here,” a familiar voice said. A bottle of Gatorade and an ibuprofen appeared at her side.
“You’re a lifesaver.” Claire hugged Mindy. She had never been so glad to be reunited with her team. “Heather, thanks so much for navigating. I promise things aren’t usually quite this crazy on proposal day.”
Heather smiled. She looked cool and unbothered, hair drawn back into a ponytail. “It’s hard to control things in a city of this size. You never know when someone is going to threaten to bomb the beach for no apparent reason.”
A mechanical groaning came from behind them. Claire turned. One singer’s straw hat poked another in the eye as they jostled for position in the cramped quarters, but it was perfect. Exactly as Brad had requested, down to the last pinstriped bowtie.
The sun glared from overhead, another cloudless California day. As the a cappella group rose, a melodic hum surrounded them. They launched into their first song as they reached the peak. In spite of the gallon of sweat in her underwear and the various aches and pains in her body, Claire’s romantic heart grew in her chest. It really was beautiful.
Then she snapped back to reality and made a note on her time sheet. A drone buzzed by her and zipped to the top of the wheel. She pulled a pair of binoculars from her bag and pressed them to her face. It was hard to tell from this angle, but the couple looked happy. Karen said something excitedly and shoved Brad.
“I’m going to call the limo driver and see where he’s at.” She tucked the binoculars away.
“Don’t bother.” Mindy pointed over Claire’s shoulder. “He just pulled in.”
“Good.” Claire laid a hand over her heart.
Maybe the universe had punished them enough for one day with the bomb threat. Maybe from now on it would be smooth sailing. Unless ESA had something to do with their misfortunes. There was no proof, of course. But why wouldn’t they try to retaliate after Claire had thwarted an abduction attempt? And what better way to retaliate than destroy the biggest proposal of her career? For all she knew, this could have all been another elaborate training exercise like the ones orchestrated by the East Coast ESA.
The a cappella group launched into their third and final song. A small crowd had gathered around the base of the truck. Onlookers smiled and filmed the spectacle.
She tapped Mindy on the shoulder. “Can I have the car keys? I would really love to sit in the air conditioning for a couple minutes while I touch base with the Getty and the ranch.”
Mindy handed them over, and Claire traipsed to the parking lot. Remembering Sawyer’s self-defense instructions, she pulled her hair out of its ponytail and scanned the parking lot. Getting abducted or stabbed again on the day of Brad’s proposal was not going to happen. Thankfully the parking lot was devoid of creeps, and there was no vehicle sabotage to be found.
She sank into the back seat and called her contacts.
By the time Mindy, Heather, Nicole, and Sawyer had hustled back to the car, Claire had confirmed final details with the remaining stops. The Getty had been apprised of their expected arrival time, the helicopter company was on standby to airlift the letters onto the hill, and the ranch was ready with two white horses.
“Everything go all right?” Claire asked. She emptied the Gatorade bottle and tossed it into her purse to recycle later.
“Perfect. The bucket truck didn’t get stuck. I know you were worried about that,” Mindy teased. “They’re getting in the limo now. I asked him to wait for five minutes so we could get there first and check on everything.”
“You’re a goddess.” Claire made a note on her time sheet.
Mindy pulled out of the parking lot and began the slow trek to the Getty. It was a tight squeeze with all five of them. Heather had heroically opted for the middle seat between Claire and Sawyer.
“I would take a left here and go through Brentwood instead.” Heather pointed at the approaching red light. “They’re bound to get stuck in some traffic on the freeway.”
Mindy obliged and followed Heather’s directions. To their great relief, Heather navigated them around the traffic snarl. They arrived at the Getty less than twenty-five minutes later, which Heather declared was a new Saturday record.
“Just the gardens and the ranch separate us from the start of Brad and Karen’s happily ever after,” Claire said to the girls as the four of them climbed out of the car. Now that the great transportation crisis had passed, the warm glow that came with proposals had crept back in.
“The gardens were a great choice,” Heather said as they walked through the arrival plaza and past a large fountain. People were crawling all over the place, but the staff had assured Claire that the gardens would be closed.
After spotting the manager, they were escorted through a door to the gardens. Mindy and Heather stayed at the entrance, hidden from view, so they could cue everyone outside. Sawyer crept around the perimeter, peaking beneath benches and sweeping the area. A bored-looking teenager in a Candy’s Creamery shirt stood a short distance away on the patio, a cooler dangling from his hand.
Claire barely had time to admire the bougainvillea arbor and zigzagging pathway before she found Luke. The sun was creeping lower in the sky, elongating the shadows. But there was still easily three hours to sunset. There was time, even if Brad dillydallied like he had at the pier.
Jeff, her private-security-guy-turned-concert-violinist, tuned his violin across the azalea maze. He paused to wave.
A breathtaking view of the city was visible beyond the gardens. Even the smog seemed to be cooperating. Proposal magic at its best.
She slunk down the path and stood next to Luke.
“All good?” She asked.
“Yeah.” He pulled back from the camera to look at her. “And you? Dragging two people eight miles can’t have been easy.”
Claire shrugged. “I’ll let you know tomorrow when my body is sure to be irrevocably broken.”
Luke smiled and turned back to his camera. His hand snaked out and pinched her butt. She swatted him and moved back toward the entrance.
A trio appeared suddenly on the patio. Mindy flashed a square of red construction paper. Nicole ducked her head behind her camera and crept through the zigzagging pathway.
“That’s the sign!” Claire announced as the bored teenager handed over two perfect ice cream cones.
Luke pressed his eye to the viewfinder. Jeff dragged his bow across the strings, sending sweet music sprawling across the gardens. Karen laughed at something Brad said. They ate their ice cream cones in a leisurely manner. Karen, an amateur horticulturist, pointed excitedly at the flowers.
Claire glanced at her watch. They were still on time, but all their cushion time had been used in the transportation snafu. How long did it take Brad to eat a damn ice cream cone?
Finally, the couple reached the azalea maze. Karen turned to Brad. He extended his hand, and she took it just as the violinist transitioned into a cover of a country song—soon to be their first dance at the wedding.
The jeweled comb in her hair sparkled as they danced. It was almost too perfect. Luke picked up his tripod and circled the gardens slowly. Karen seemed to notice, and Brad must have said something reassuring, because Karen giggled and waved at the camera.
Claire ducked behind the foliage and raced up the walkway. It was time to head to the ranch. The ending was so close she could almost taste it.
“Let’s go,” she hissed at Mindy and Heather. Heather dabbed a tissue under her eyes. Mindy sniffed, and she handed her one too.
The three of them exited the Getty as quickly as they had arrived. They needed to beat the couple to the ranch to make sure everything was perfect, and this would be their longest stretch of travel yet. If someone in their path called in another aimless bomb threat or plowed their car through an In-N-Out, she was going to set something on fire.
A tense thirty minutes passed as Claire checked traffic cams and Heather described points of interest along their route. She was an expert at de-escalating tension. Finally, they pulled into the same parking lot where Claire had been abducted just over a week before. Dread settled on her like a stifling blanket, but there was no time to fixate on her trauma. She dug a little white tablet out of the prescription bottle in her purse. Dr. Goulding said she could take an extra dose of meds on extra stressful days. Surely this counted.
A line of expensive-looking cars were parked next to them, presumably belonging to Karen and Brad’s family and friends. Her phone dinged, and she glanced at it.
“Letters are in position! Oooh, I’m so excited.” She danced on the spot even though her anxiety flared like a wildfire. The magic moment was so close. Every painful aspect of this proposal would be worth it when Karen entered the clearing.
“I can’t believe you actually changed the Hollywood sign,” Heather said. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”
“With Happily Ever Afters, anything is possible,” Mindy parroted from their website.
“I didn’t realize how literally you meant it,” Heather replied.
“Let’s go, we have to get in position.” Claire half-jogged up the dusty dirt road leading to the ranch, fighting the urge to look behind her every step of the way.