Love on Lexington Avenue - Lauren Layne Page 0,68

she was talking to you.”

“No, by all means,” Claire murmured. “I think you two knew him as well as I did. Better, probably.”

“Not me,” Naomi said, lifting two glasses off the tray and handing one to Claire. “He and I mostly just boned.”

“Naomi!” Audrey sounded appalled.

“No, it’s all right,” Claire said. “Keep all this stuff coming. I think it’ll make the whole process easier. I can’t tell you how grateful I am not to have to go through this alone.”

“Anytime,” Naomi said. “Though can I ask what prompted it?”

Claire’s stomach dropped as she remembered yesterday’s epic showdown with Scott. She’d said plenty she regretted, suspected that he had, too, but he’d been right about one thing. It was long past time she got rid of Brayden’s stuff. The moral support from her girlfriends helped. As did the cocktail at . . . she checked her watch . . . 3:30 p.m.

“Scott’s starting on the upstairs in a few days. All this needs to be gone before then.”

Naomi gave her a sharp look at the mention of Scott’s name, but Claire avoided her friend’s prying eyes. She still hadn’t told Naomi that she’d slept with him, and she wasn’t about to now knowing how right her friend had been. Naomi had been worried Scott would hurt Claire. She’d been right.

“Where is Scott?” Audrey asked Claire carefully.

“Took a day off. Had something to take care of.”

It was a twist on the truth. Claire was the one who had something to take care of—this. She’d texted him earlier in the morning saying she needed a day’s break from the renovation chaos.

They hadn’t had any more contact following his terse OK response.

“Hey,” Audrey said. “Someone grab my drink so I can ditch the tray.”

“Where’d you even get the tray?” Naomi asked, picking up the third cocktail glass so Audrey could put the tray on Claire’s hallway table.

“I found it in the kitchen.”

“You went in,” Claire said, whirling around. “How does it look?”

“Still messy, but oh my gosh, I can tell it’s going to be fabulous. You haven’t seen it?”

“Scott’s being rigid and weird about it. It was the biggest overhaul, and he doesn’t want me to see it before it’s done. Apparently clients freak out.”

“And you listened?” Naomi was incredulous. “I would have been creeping under that big sheet thing so quickly . . .”

“Don’t,” Audrey instructed. “I think Scott’s right about this. You’re better off seeing it when it’s done. It’s sort of war zone–ish right now.”

“I won’t hate it though, will I?” Claire took a sip of her drink.

“Nope. The guy is good. You were smart to hire him.”

“Hey, where’s my credit?” Naomi said. “I suggested him.”

Audrey gave her a look. “You or your lover?”

“Well, okay. It was Oliver’s idea initially. But I pushed for it. Although, had I known she was going to be kissing the guy . . .”

Audrey opened her mouth, then shut it, giving Claire a curious look, clearly wondering why Claire hadn’t yet told Naomi things had gone much further than a kiss.

Claire sighed, realizing it wasn’t fair to leave Naomi in the dark, or to ask Audrey to keep it a secret. “I slept with Scott.”

“What?” Naomi scowled dramatically at Claire. “What’s the point of having a pact to protect each other if we don’t listen to each other! I thought we agreed it was a bad idea!”

“Naomi,” Audrey scolded.

“What! I’m right on this. We agreed to be each other’s lookout, to pinpoint the guys who have bad news written all over them. And Scott, as far as relationships go, is one of those guys. Claire agreed!”

“I did agree. And turns out we were right,” Claire said. “It was an awful idea. And by the way, Naomi, I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours berating myself, so your lecture would be superfluous.”

“What happened?” Audrey asked gently, as Naomi’s expression transitioned from scolding to concern.

Claire looked down at the olives in her cocktail and swallowed. “I’m not ready to talk about it. I don’t know that I can deal with that and this,” she said, nodding toward the mess of her guest bedroom.

“Okay, we’ll handle one guy problem at a time,” Naomi said. “Brayden first.”

Audrey squeezed Claire’s arm, but then followed Naomi’s lead and changed the subject. “Okay, so I actually think this will be sort of easy. When my grandma passed a couple of years ago, we hired this service that came and cleaned out her place. All we have to do . . .” She reached