“About beingdead?” Her voice rose.
“No, about pretending to be dead.” He placed his hands on her stiff shoulders and slowly massaged her. “I was thinking that if the shooter thought I was dead then he’d think he had won, and he’d leave.”
She shook her head. “If he works with Joe, he’ll know you’re not dead.”
“Actually,” Joe said, “I’ll give my workers a two-week vacation. Didn’t you say that was how long until the trial?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then I’ll tell them I don’t need them for two weeks.” Joe gave a decisive nod.
“What about Gladys and Karen?”
“They can take a vacation, too.” Joe chuckled and winked at her. “Just because I hired them to cook, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to cook.”
She relaxed a bit and chuckled. “I know.”
“And,” Zack said, sliding an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer as he peered toward Joe, “this will be a great time to teach Whitney how to cook. You should see how she makes chicken noodle soup.” He shook his head.
She tossed him a glare. “I know how to cook.”
Zack arched an eyebrow. “I’m not talking about boxed meals or cans of soup.”
Huffing, she pushed him away. “You’re not funny, Zack Greyson.”
Joe laughed. “Actually, I thought he was hilarious.”
She rolled her eyes. “Moving on...” She met Zack’s gaze again. “When Joe gives everyone a vacation, how will they know that you are dead?”
“We’ll figure something out.” Zack grinned. “And it’ll be a doozey.”
“No. I don’t like doozies. I don’t like drama.”
“Whitney, love,” he cupped her face with both of his hands, “we’ll make it believable.”
“And,” Joe added, “I’ll call my employees to tell them the bad news.” He shrugged. “We could even have a gravesite service for you.”
Zack released Whitney and swung toward Joe. “That’s a great idea.”
Her head started to pound, and she rubbed her temples, sitting back in the chair. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” She met Zack’s stare. “Haven’t you noticed that things don’t go smoothly in my life?”
He knelt in front of her and took her hands in his. The pads of his thumbs lightly stroked her knuckles. “That’s because I’ve not been in your life until now. Consider me your good-luck charm.”
Her heart flipped, but she tamed the excitement trying to rise inside of her. The question was – how much longer did shereallyhave him in her life?
