Epilogue
Three Months Later
The day of the catfight was my last day waitressing – and not because I said yes a thousand times over. Lawton was my dream guy, and he was really mine. My heart said yes, and my mouth followed – no overthinking, no hesitation, and no more pretending.
As far as waitressing, I didn't quit. I was fired spectacularly amid ketchup splatters and pancake goo. Officially, it was for inciting a riot in the dining area. Unofficially, I'm pretty sure it was for calling Keith a pompous dipshit when he told me that I'd be the one paying for all catfight-related damages.
As for Grandma, she quit her fake mailing job the very next week. In her handwritten letter of resignation, she mentioned a new job, one that pays ten times better. She's still doing mailings, but instead of kittens and cooking supplies, these new flyers feature punching bags, sparring gloves, and other martial arts fitness gear.
Her favorite so far? Nun-chucks. She bought a pair the very next week and uses them for cleaning her rugs.
Coincidentally, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, Loretta had been fired from her job too, not that she'd told anyone. The rumor? Her colleagues found her impossible to work with. Go figure.
Fortunately for everyone, she found a new job to replace her old one, something that's enabled her to keep the house and Grandma's cottage, but also keeps her travelling all over the country. She's now the official food critic for an obscure publication dedicated to exotic cuisine.
The pay is good, but from what Josh says, it's not turning out quite the way Loretta hoped. Her editor, a mysterious recluse named John Livingston, chooses all the featured food. And his tastes are, well, let's just say, a bit on the eccentric side.
So far, Loretta has tasted fried rat, bat soup, maggot cheese, and my personal favorite, codfish sperm – not that I'd ever try such a thing. But hey, at least it's not oyster gravy, right?
I finally learned how Keith was able to tamper with my phone. According to Josie, a random building inspection turned up two hidden cameras – one in the restaurant's locker area and one in Keith's office.
The way it looked, it was the first camera that gave Keith a sneak peek at my locker combination, but it was the second camera that gave him a whole lot of grief. The first camera he knew about, but the second was a mystery to everyone, including the restaurant's owners. No one will say specifically what kind of footage it captured, but let's just say I wasn't the only person fired that month.
These days, Keith is working as the midnight manager at Sal's Shrimp Shack in the seedier part of town, where the only thing more fishy than the food are the late-night patrons. As for Brittney, she's gone to Hollywood, hoping to capitalize on her instant fame, resulting from a certain catfight video that went totally viral, just like Shaggy predicted.
And that wasn't the only video that went viral. Shaggy's footage of Lawton's proposal gave Shaggy over a million hits in the first month alone, and made him a small fortune when he sold the video stills to tabloids worldwide. He now has his own cell phone, his own internet channel, and his own locksmith – just in case Jen decides to change the locks again.
Just as Lawton predicted, Bishop is growing on me. But that didn't stop me from giving him just a little payback for all the hassle he'd given me in those hectic weeks leading up to the engagement.
Call me a sap, but I did agree to let Amber stand in the wedding after all. I simply couldn't resist, and not because she wouldn't take no for an answer. Mostly, it was because the idea of Amber chasing Bishop from one side of the reception to the other was just a little too hard to resist.
True, they didn't actually stand up together, with Bishop as Lawton's best man, and Erika as my maid of honor. Still, Amber gave Bishop one heck of a chase – not that it did any good. Turns out, he's a one-girl kind of guy, and his one girl couldn't be more different than Amber in every way.
As far as the Parkers, they're still missing in action. Maybe they'll show up. Maybe they won't. But one thing's for sure, they'd be smart to look over their shoulders.
The word on the street is that some very unhappy people are out looking for them, and not just to collect some money. Apparently, those certain people don't take too kindly to delinquent deadbeats beating up on their unique breed of collection personnel.
As for me, I've never been happier. I've got the man I love, who loves me right back. And as far as my career, it's on a definite upswing. These days, I'm using my accounting degree nonstop. As it turns out, managing a billion-dollar business is no small task, especially when you're never quite sure who you can trust.
But Lawton trusts me, and I trust him. And we have no more secrets, including the fact that my hunch was correct about his oath to give karma a helping hand. So together, we watch each other's backs, along with all those other more interesting parts. The way I see it – and a certain little dog would agree – a girl couldn't ask for more.
The End
Coming in Late July 2014
Illegal Fortunes
The Only Thing More Dangerous than the Bad Boy You Left Behind is the Man He's Become…
If she was such a good fortune-teller, she should've seen it coming. But part-time Tarot-reader Selena Moon is as surprised as anyone when Jim Bishop, the bad boy she left behind, returns from who-knows-where to reclaim the one girl he could never forget.
Torn between her new life in the South and family obligations in the North, Selena has no time for love, romance, or any other complication. And who can blame her? The first guy to claim her heart, along with her innocence, spoiled her for the safer, easier guys who came after.
Armed, dangerous, and still smarting from Selena's teary rejection years earlier, Bishop vowed never to return to the city of his youth, where he excelled at two things – getting into trouble and making a mess of things, particularly his relationship the only girl he ever loved.
She's fearful of repeating the past. He's never been afraid of anything – until now. Because with murder and mayhem surrounding Selena, fate, along with an unwelcome rival, might steal her away before he finally has the chance to win her back for now and always.
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From the Author
Thanks so much for reading. Also, thanks in advance to those special readers who take the time to leave a review. I read and appreciate every one. Romance readers truly are the best!
? Copyright 2014 by Sabrina Stark. All rights reserved. This book and any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.