Free Out of the Game3 by Kate Willoughby Page A

with cheese goo as a dipping sauce. As an afterthought, he had a salad too, remembering he needed to eat healthier. After the salad was gone, he still needed to kill more time—”I just need twenty more minutes” she texted—so he wandered into the Apple Store and left with an iPad, since he’d left his at home. He was at a table back in the food court, looking at accommodations in Springdale, where the entrance to the Zion Park was located, when Claire finally returned, loaded with at least a dozen bags. She seemed to have picked up a little sidekick, a woman in her early twenties who, judging from the bags she held, had done quite a bit of shopping of her own.
    The woman looked Alex over then nodded approvingly. “Is this him?” she asked Claire. “Oh my God, he’s gorgeous. Hi, I’m Megan.”
    He shook the proffered hand. “Alex.”
    “Do you have any brothers? Just kidding. I have a boyfriend,” she said with a squeak in her voice. “Oh, and there he is!”
    A man in his forties—shorts and a designer polo—approached. He tapped a very expensive watch. “Time to go, Megs.”
    “Corey, come meet Alex and Claire. This is Corey, my boyfriend.”
    “You ladies finished buying out the stores?” Corey asked.
    “For today, anyway,” Megan said, laughing. “Look, Claire and I got matching shoes.” She pawed through the bags but couldn’t locate the right one. Alex didn’t blame her. It looked like she had at least four with shoe boxes in them.
    As Claire tried to help Megan, Corey leaned toward Alex. “Shit,” he said in a low voice. “You’ve got it worse than I do. A word of advice from a man who’s been in the trenches twice. Get a prenup.”
    Alex shook his head. “I appreciate the advice, but we’re not that serious.”
    “Smart man. Keep it that way.” Corey slapped him on the shoulder then said to Megan, “Come on, Megs. Let’s get a move on. You can show me your shit back at the hotel.”
    The other couple left and Alex took the bulk of Claire’s bags. There were a lot. She must have spent a couple thousand bucks. “Did you get everything you needed? Because none of these bags seems heavy enough for a kitchen sink.”
    “Very funny,” she said as he guffawed. “But I got rid of a lot of my clothes, remember? Not all of this is for the trip.”
    “I’m just teasing you. Wanna make a pit stop before we hit the road?”
    “No, I’m fine.”
    But she didn’t sound fine. In his experience, women usually went through a post-shopping buzz during which they liked to conduct a verbal inventory of everything they’d purchased. Case in point, Megan had started in before she’d even left the mall.
    Yet Claire said nothing. Until they got into the car.
    He was pulling out of the mall parking lot when she said, “So, um, what did that guy say back there?”
    “Who, the boyfriend?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “I didn’t like the look he gave me when he was talking to you, that’s all.”
    “He told me I should get a prenup.”
    She gasped. “What a jerk. I
knew
it had to be something like that. He had such a condescending smirk on his face, I almost chirped him. Did you say anything back?”
    “Yes. I told him we weren’t getting married.” He glanced at her. “I hope that’s not news to you.”
    She recoiled. “Oh, no. Not at all.” She scoffed. “Us married? That’s completely insane.”
    “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Glad we’re on the same page.”
    She laughed, but the vibe was still off. Something was bugging her. He hoped it wasn’t the kitchen-sink comment, because if she couldn’t take a joke, it was going to be a long fucking trip.

Chapter Nine
    Heading northeast, they passed through the Vegas suburbs. Alex hadn’t said much since they left the mall ten minutes ago and Claire was fidgeting, worried. It was stupid and silly. It didn’t really matter if he thought she was a gold digger or not. She wasn’t. End of story.
    But it did matter. There was