Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Yes. Now, about that favor I need.”
“You blackmailing son of a bitch. You come into my home, and ask me to…to…”
I raised a brow.
“Wait, what’s the favor?”
Holding up the calendar, I smiled. “This.”
“Because I’m an executive assistant, you need me to mark something down in your calendar?”
“No. I need you to accompany me to a few places.”
She looked unsure as she asked, “What kind of places?”
When I didn’t answer, she took the calendar, opened it, and started flipping through the pages.
Her mouth slowly dropped open. “Oh my God. Is this your ex-girlfriend’s calendar?” Jerking her head up to look at me, she added, “How in the world did you get this?”
I shrugged. “Do you really want to know?”
Gasping, she said, “You broke into her house, didn’t you? Like you got into my apartment building. You are a stalker!”
“No, I didn’t break into her house. I ran into her this afternoon. She dropped the calendar on her way out of the pub she was having lunch at.”
“So you picked it up, and the first thing you thought of was how you could use it to your advantage?”
I pointed to her. “Yes! And you can help me!”
“You’re asking me to sabotage the woman’s wedding.”
Holding up my hand, I said, “First of all, you’re not sabotaging anyone’s wedding. You’d be playing a role, that’s it.”
“A role?”
“Yes, a role,” I said with a wide grin. “You pretend to be my girlfriend, and we’ll go to some of these places. Like that cooking class…that would be a great place to run into her. Or the play she’s planning on going to.”
Clare stated at me like I’d lost my mind.
“You’d just be pretending, that’s all.”
“Oh, because that makes it all the better. No, I’m not doing it, Wes.”
I dropped my leg and leaned forward. “Do you really want me to call Rory and upset her? I also heard the baby is teething, so she’s more on edge than normal.”
Clare screwed up her face. “You are a monster.”
With a dramatic sigh, I pulled out my phone.
“What are you doing?”
“You leave me no choice.” I hit Rory’s number and put it on speakerphone. When she answered, Karleigh was screaming in the background.
“This better be good, Wes. Or you better be dying.”
I smiled. “Rory, do you remember when someone got red wine on your wedding dress?”
The phone went silent, even the baby stopped crying.
“Yes. Do you know who did it? I’m going to kill them when I find out who it was.”
Clare started waving her hands like a crazy person. Then she mouthed, “Fine! Fine!”
“Yeah, I was thinking about that. If you want me to look into it, maybe I can look through the photos or something.”
“That’s why you called me? To give me false hope that you knew something about it…or that you want to take a shot at finding the dress killer?”
Dropping her head, Clare slowly shook it.
“I was thinking about it.”
Rory started to mumble words I couldn’t understand before finally saying, “Don’t call me with stupid shit, Wes! I have a teething baby, I haven’t slept a full night’s sleep in days. I don’t have time for this.” Then a silent pause, like the baby was also waiting to hear what she’d say next. “But, if you find them, let me know.”
The phone went dead, and I looked at Clare.
She stood. “If you really think that threat is enough to make me go along with this stupid plan of yours, you’re crazy.”
“You said fine.”
“I was just trying to get you to get off the phone. I’m not afraid of Rory. It’s just a dress.”
“Really?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at Clare. “And the film? What about that.”
Her eyes went wide with horror. “You know about the film?”
“Of course I do.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “You don’t know about the film.”
“If I didn’t know about it, Clare, why would I be mentioning it?”
Her hand came up to her mouth. “You know about the film.”
I nodded. “I also know what happened to that film that held my brother’s wedding on it that someone claimed was lost, but we know better don’t we, Rory?”
“How?” she softly whispered.
“I saw the whole thing play out. The videographer, you arguing with him, you grabbing the camera, and then said camera biting the dust.”
“That wasn’t my fault! He was coming on to me and I did what I had to do.”
“So you say, Clare, so you say. I guess it’s your word against no one’s since he’s not here to corroborate your side of the story. But somehow, I don’t know if my brother will buy into what you’re selling.”
“You are evil!” she said as she stood. “I cannot believe you are going this low in a sad attempt at breaking up a couple.”
“Oscar-award-winning performance, by the way, at the wedding. You know, when you claimed to have not known what happened to the dress, then the terrible misfortune of Rory and Finn’s wedding not being captured professionally on film.”