Page 8 of An Inconvenient Plan
Just before she was about to close up shop for the day, she checked her email one last time. Eep! The prince replied! She clicked on it.
Dear Ms. Adams,
You may dispense with the formal greeting of your highness. That’s more my older brother’s style. I’m one of many spare heirs to the crown, second in line, which affords me a great deal more freedom than my brother’s stuffy duty-filled lifestyle. I will arrive at Ludbury House with my sister on Friday at five p.m. I look forward to meeting you.
Phillip
The Spare
She laughed. He had a sense of humor and sounded very down-to-earth for a prince. Oh, wow, now she really had to go thank Josh. If he hadn’t said such nice things about her, calling her Queen of the Happy-Ever-After, none of this would’ve happened.
She pulled the treat jar from her desk drawer and shook it. Rose came running, sat, and lifted both front paws in her beg position. She fed her a treat. “Good girl. Time for a walk.” She put on her tan spring coat and tied the belt. Then she put her pink doggie purse over her shoulder and settled Rose inside.
She practically floated down the sidewalk and across the street to Garner’s Sports Bar & Grill. This had turned out to be the most amazing day. And to think it happened the day after she’d hit an all-time low bawling her eyes out at her mom’s engagement party. Welp, there was nowhere to go but up when you hit rock bottom like she had. Now she might have an amazing new client. Why, if this went well, maybe she’d plan more weddings for the royal family. According to her brief online search, there were six royal siblings besides the princess, all of them single. How cool would that be?
She shook her head at herself. She never stopped dreaming. This wasn’t even a sure thing yet. She opened the front door of Garner’s and stepped inside, instantly warming in the familiar space. To the right was the restaurant area with several booths and tables, where a few young families were having dinner. Straight ahead was the long wraparound dark cherrywood bar, which was empty. Josh stood behind it, leaning against the bar and watching the news on one of the TVs perched over the bar.
“Hi, Josh!”
His head swiveled toward her. “You sound cheerful.”
“I am.” She closed the distance, and Rose set off a warning growl. Rose hated Josh. Hailey had no idea why. Josh had never even touched Rose. Maybe it was because he growled back at Rose. “Settle,” she told Rose. And she did. Hailey had gone through an intensive training program with Rose, who was now certified as a therapy dog.
“What’s up?” He wore a black T-shirt with ripped jeans that molded to his tall muscular frame. His stubble was back too, a five-o’clock shadow that always made him look a little dangerous, or maybe that was the edge to him hidden under a charming laid-back persona. He was a former soldier, cool and calculating. She’d seen the cool calculation in his eyes the first time they’d met, though as she got to know him over the years, his dark eyes reflected other things too, sometimes sharp intelligence, sometimes a deep soulfulness bordering on sadness, but mostly good humor at her expense.
She pulled out her phone, brought up the article, and showed him. “This.”
He took her phone and read theBride Specialarticle, brows drawn together in concentration. Yup, it was all there in black and white. Josh secretly respected her. She wasn’t just his personal entertainment system. She was so bowled over by what he’d done, calling her Queen of the Happy-Ever-After, and the subsequent outstanding turn of events, she blurted, “Why didn’t you say queen of the happy ending? I did start the Happy Endings Book Club to help single women find their happy endings.”
Josh’s dark eyes sparked with amusement, and he smirked. “Ah, princess, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you do know what a happy ending is, right? You see the double meaning that could maybe leave the wrong impression?”
She tensed. “Only in dirty minds like yours.”
“In everyone’s mind.”
She lifted her chin. “I’m reclaiming it to be a happy thing.”
He lifted one corner of his mouth in his smirkiest of smirks. “Sure, it can be real happy.”
She huffed. “The joy kind of happy.” Rose started growling again.
Josh growled back, and Rose barked ferociously. She shifted away from Josh and soothed Rose, rubbing her cheek against Rose’s muzzle. Rose gave her a doggie kiss and settled into her purse for a nap. Hailey took a seat at the bar and carefully tucked Rose by her feet, out of sight of Josh to keep the growling and barking to a minimum. She rarely did that in a crowd at the bar, in case someone accidentally kicked Rose, but the bar area was empty at this time on a Monday.
Josh set her phone on the bar. “I’ll ask the editor to run a correction. You can be Queen of the Happy Ending if you want.”
She tucked her phone away. “No, it’s fine. Just wanted to point that out. Your way is okay too.”
“Thanks, that’s big of you.”
“I actually thought the double entendre of happy ending was more clear than happy ever after.”
Josh smiled widely, a genuine smile that lit up his handsome face.No. You are immune. He respects you, but he does not reciprocate. Boundaries.“So you saw the double meaning this whole time?”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Of course. But isn’t it what everyone wants? The great sex and the forever love?”
He inclined his head. “Some people do.”
“Everyone.”
