by Jae
The woman’s smile became an all-out laugh.
Something about the way she looked when she laughed seemed strangely familiar. Had they met before? Lana didn’t want to ask, because it might come across as if she were flirting. Not that she was opposed to flirting with this beautiful stranger, but she was supposed to be Claire’s doting girlfriend.
Nope. If there were any flirting tonight, it would be with Claire. Just for show, of course.
When the woman stopped laughing, she offered her elegant hand. “Abigail Gardner.”
“Lana Hen—” She froze with her hand halfway extended. Abigail…Abby! Holy hell! That’s why the woman had looked so familiar. She’d been talking…nearly flirting…with Claire’s ex!
Claire had tried to make a beeline from the restroom back to Lana’s side, but her friend Darlene had intercepted her before she had taken even three steps in that direction.
Immediately, Darlene started to go on and on about her work and that of the other artists being showcased tonight. She swept her arm in a broad arc as she explained her use of layers in one of her paintings.
Had gallery openings always been so boring? Claire listened politely to Darlene’s explanations while secretly peeking at her watch.
Now that she’d talked to Darlene and shown her support by making an appearance, maybe she and Lana could get out of here. Traffic shouldn’t be too bad at this time of the evening, so perhaps it would still be early enough to watch It Happened One Night once they got home. Maybe she’d even be daring tonight and allow herself a handful of popcorn.
“I saw you looking at Triumph of Nature.” Darlene waved toward the center of the room, where the red painting with the green and brown splashes hung. “What did you think?” Then, not waiting for Claire’s verdict, she added, “It’s amazing, if I say so myself.”
Oops. That was one of Darlene’s? Somehow, Claire managed to keep a straight face. “It certainly is. Even Lana commented on it.”
A pleased smile spread over Darlene’s face before it gave way to a frown. “Lana?”
“My girlfriend.” Claire was proud of how natural that sounded, as if she had referred to Lana that way a thousand times already. “You’ve probably seen her. She stood next to me when I looked at Triumph of Nature. She’s still standing in front of your painting, in fact. Couldn’t tear herself away.” From the stuffed mushrooms.
Darlene’s eyes widened. She tugged on her pearl choker as if it were suddenly restricting her breathing. “That’s your girlfriend?” she got out in a squeak.
“I know some people might think it’s too soon to already be in a new relationship.” In fact, she advised against it in her own book. Thankfully Darlene didn’t know that. “But I met Lana, and she just…she swept me off my feet.”
“Well, that’s…um, wonderful.”
“It is.” Claire beamed like a smitten fool. “If you give me a minute, I’ll get her and introduce the two of you. I’m sure she’d love to discuss Triumph of Nature with you,” she surprised herself by saying.
Who knew she had such an evil streak? She hadn’t expected to relax enough to have fun and tease Lana tonight.
“Sure,” Darlene said but didn’t look overly enthusiastic.
“If you’re too busy tonight…”
“Oh, no, no, that’s not it. It’s just…” Darlene grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter’s tray and took a long sip. “I’m just a bit surprised. Excuse me for saying so, but she doesn’t seem like your usual type.”
Her tone made Claire bristle. Darlene hadn’t even met her yet, so clearly, she judged her solely on her colorful tattoo, her scars, or maybe the fact that she was the only woman in the room who didn’t avoid the canapés because she was on a perpetual diet.
Claire plastered on a smile. “Oh, I didn’t know you already met her.”
“I didn’t. I just meant… I’m sure she’s a lovely person, but I had the impression that you prefer women who aren’t quite so…well…”
Claire frowned at her. Darlene was the second person to comment on her type. Was she really that much of a snob that she wouldn’t have considered Lana dating material in the past?
She looked around the room, searching out Lana, and found her, as expected, next to the tray with the stuffed mushrooms.
But she wasn’t alone. Some blonde who had her back to Claire was chatting her up, if her body language was any indication.
Claire stiffened. Not because she was jealous, of course, just because appearances were important to her. If her new girlfriend was seen flirting with another woman, people would instantly judge it as another doomed relationship.
Poor Claire, they would say, can’t keep a woman. Guess the old saying is true: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. She could almost hear their mocking laughter.
“I prefer Lana,” she said firmly. “If you’ll excuse me now…”
Darlene paled. “I didn’t mean anything by what I said. It was just an observation.”
Sure. Just be glad I’m not sharing the observation Lana made about your painting, Triumph of Cat Vomit. “Oh, don’t worry. I knew you didn’t mean anything by it. You don’t even know Lana, so why would you form an opinion?”
“Um, I didn’t.”
“I’ll see you later. Thanks for giving me a heads-up about Abby possibly being here, even if she ended up not showing.”
Just when Claire wanted to walk away, Darlene said, “Oh, she’s here. Didn’t you see her? I thought you were the one who introduced them.”
She’s here! Waves of hot and cold rushed through her. She’d known she’d likely run into Abby here, but now she felt entirely unprepared. Good thing she had Lana to cling to. If words failed her once she faced Abby, she knew Lana would jump in.
Then her panicked mind finally processed Darlene’s words. “Um, introduced whom?”
Darlene waved her hand at something behind Claire. “Abby and your new girlfriend. They’re over there, talking.”
Claire whirled around. The blonde… Of course! She should have known her anywhere, even from behind, but Abby had cut a good eight inches off her hair.
What the hell was she doing, talking to Lana? Without saying goodbye, Claire marched toward them.
Abby tilted her head in a way that reminded Lana of Claire. “Something wrong with my name? It’s usually only opposing counsel who react like that when I introduce myself.”
Opposing counsel? So Abby was a lawyer? Was that why Claire had told her colleagues she—Lana—was a lawyer too? Did she still compare every woman she met to her ex and find that no one could measure up, as Katrina had done?
“Your name’s fine, but…” Lana hesitated. But why not tell her? Claire would want her former fiancée to know she was with someone else. “Um, I think we have more in common than just a sense of humor about art.”
“Your name is Abby too?” Abby smiled. “Didn’t you say it’s Lana?”
Lana shook her head. “Not the name. Claire. That’s what—or who—we have in common.” She drew herself up to her full height, which still couldn’t match Abby’s, especially since Abby was wearing four-inch Gucci stilettos and Lana couldn’t wear high heels since her accident. “I’m Claire’s girlfriend.”
Abby stared, her blue eyes like the twin flames of a Bunsen burner. “I heard she had a new girlfriend, but I didn’t want to believe it,” she murmured as if talking to herself. “Maybe I should have. It’s typical Claire.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lana didn’t have to rely on her acting skills to sound defensive.
“Oh, just that we can’t have the big relationship expert show up at functions like this one all alone, can we? People might think she’s actually human if she showed up without a trophy girlfriend. If you really knew Claire, you’d know she would pay a lot of money to avoid any public humiliation.”
Damn. Is she on to us? Lana had to do something to convince Abby that their relationship was real. But what? She couldn’t very well leave Abby behind, march across the room, and lay a passionate kiss on Claire, could she?
The thought made her cheeks burn as she remembered the hot kiss at the office party, but she discarded it immediately. Even though it might have worked for Vanessa, she had a feeling with Abby, they’d need a little more subtlety.
“Do I look like a trophy girlfriend?” Lana gestured at her tattoo and the extra pounds around her middle. She wasn’t normally one to put herself down like that, but she knew it was exactly what people like Abby usually thought of her.
That seemed to trip Abby up for a moment. She sighed. “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she actually likes you. But let me give you a piece of advice from someone who’s been there. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that this honeymoon phase will last forever, no matter what the title of her book implies. She won’t be this attentive for long. You’ll spend most of your time in this relationship waiting for her to come home from work or to finally shut down that damn computer.”
Was that the reason why their relationship hadn’t worked out—because Claire had been too busy writing about relationships to actually have one?
“Thanks for your advice,” Lana said with the most sincere smile she could manage. “I’m sure you mean well, but I’ve got my ways to make her shut down the computer in two seconds flat.” She lowered her voice to a sensual rasp, the one that made casting directors shift in their chairs.
Someone stepped next to Lana, and Claire’s spring flower scent washed over her seconds before Claire’s warmth pressed against her side. Claire gave her a quick sidelong glance as if to ask what she and Abby had talked about. Something close to panic gleamed in her eyes.
When Lana gave her a tiny, reassuring nod, Claire turned toward her former fiancée. “Hello, Abby.”
“Hello, Claire.”
The two stared at each other, and the tension in the room seemed to ratchet up in leaps and bounds.
Did they hate each other’s guts after their breakup, or did they still feel something for each other? Lana couldn’t tell, but one thing was clear: there was a lot that remained unresolved between these two.
“You cut your hair,” Claire said when the silence was starting to become uncomfortable.
Abby trailed her hand through her shoulder-length mane. “I thought it was time for a change. Apparently, that’s true for you too.” She flicked her gaze in Lana’s direction.
Suddenly shoved into the spotlight, Lana shifted her weight in her uncomfortable shoes, wrapped her arm around Claire’s waist, and laid her other hand on Claire’s flat belly in a possessive gesture. That was what people would expect of someone who was meeting her girlfriend’s ex for the first time, wasn’t it?
The muscles beneath her fingers tightened as Claire sucked in a breath, either because she hadn’t expected such an intimate touch or because of her ticklishness.
Just when Lana considered withdrawing her hand, Claire relaxed and wrapped her arm around Lana too. She faced Abby with a challenging tilt of her chin. “Are you going to tell me that she isn’t my type, like everyone else did?”
“No.” Abby didn’t flinch away from Claire’s gaze. “I wasn’t even sure you still had a type, other than the women on your couch and the case interviews for your book.”
Again, Claire’s belly muscles tensed beneath Lana’s hand.
“She does,” Lana said softly before the situation could escalate. “She just had to rediscover it. Like she says in the manuscript: rediscover yourself to know what you need in a relationship.”
It was a wild guess, based on her mother’s audiotapes. Abby’s pinched brows made her think she’d guessed wrong and Claire had no such passage in her book. Oh shit. I messed up.
“She…she let you read her book?” Abby stammered, her composure crumbling.
“Of course.” Why was that so out of the ordinary? Surely Claire had requested lots of input while working on the first draft of her book, including feedback from her own partner, hadn’t she? She peeked over at Claire, whose lips had compressed into a thin line.
“I can’t believe it! She wouldn’t even let me touch one of her sacred pages.”
Lana hid her surprise. “What can I say?” She trailed the index finger of the hand resting on Claire’s belly across the smooth satin, only a few inches beneath her breasts, giving the motion a slow sensuality that Abby wouldn’t be able to miss. “Claire lets me touch everything.”
A breathless gasp whooshed from Claire’s lips.
Wow. That had sounded pretty convincing, nearly making Lana gasp along with her. Claire’s acting skills clearly had improved since they had started this ruse.
Abby’s bottom lip trembled.
For the first time, Lana wondered if they were doing the right thing. Lying to her sister and to Jill was bad enough, but this…
Then a mask slid over Abby’s face, and she looked at them with the haughty high-society gaze that Lana had encountered more than once tonight. “You’ll have to excuse me now. If I stand here any longer, Claire will start rumors about me begging her to take me back.”
Before Claire could say anything, Abby stomped away on her velvet Gucci stilettos.
The urge to hurry after Abby nearly overwhelmed Claire. But acting on impulse had never been her thing. Besides, this was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? For Abby to believe that she was happy with someone else.
Then why would that lump in her throat not dissolve?
Lana slid her hand from Claire’s belly and loosened her hold on her waist. “Did I overdo it? When I touched you…”
That touch had been a little much, but not the way Lana was thinking. Apparently, her very confused libido hadn’t gotten the message that this was all a pretense. Thinking about that slow slide of Lana’s finger across her middle made a new wave of goose bumps ripple over Claire’s skin.
She sighed. “I don’t know. I guess there’s no handbook for a situation like this.”
A hint of a smile danced around the corners of Lana’s mouth. “Maybe you should write one.”
“No, thanks,” Claire murmured. So low that she wasn’t even sure Lana could hear her, she added, “I’m starting to doubt that I have any business writing about relationships.”
Lana stared at her.
“Come on,” Claire said. “Let’s get out of here.”
While they waited for the valet to bring the car around, Lana said, “You know, I didn’t expect Abby to be like that.”
“Like what?” Claire asked.
“So…nice. Well, other than that little parting shot.”
“She was just hurt because she thought I’d let you read the manuscript.” Wait a second… Why was she defending her former fiancée?
Lana turned toward her and studied her. “You never let her read it?”
Claire shook her head.
“Why?”
“Renata and one of my other colleagues read it, and they provided me with so much feedback that I didn’t think it was necessary to let Abby read it. Having too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the broth, you know?” It sounded like a weak excuse, even to herself. Honestly, she had never really thought about why she hadn’t let Abby read it.
Then why don’t you think about it now?
That little voice in her head sounded very much like her own when she was talking to a client. Damn, Lana is right. That shrink voice is annoying.
Lana still looked at her, patiently waiting.
The valet arrived with the car, giving Claire a short reprieve.
She tipped him and opened the passenger’s side door for Lana. Funny how natural that gesture came, as if they were dating for real.
She steered them through the streets of downtown LA f
or a minute or two before saying, “Maybe on some level, I already sensed that there were cracks in our relationship, and I didn’t want Abby to start seeing them too once she read the book. Or maybe I wasn’t ready to share those parts of myself with her. A book is a pretty personal thing, you know?”
“You were ready to share the rest of your life with Abby, but not those parts of yourself?”
Claire grimaced. Phrased like that, it sounded pretty bad. “Now who’s sounding like a shrink?”
“Now who’s deflecting?”
Claire couldn’t help laughing, and at the same time, she marveled at Lana’s ability to make her laugh when she was feeling so down on herself. She stopped at a red light and sobered. “Maybe I should ask the publisher for more time to revise the book before resubmitting it. I’m clearly not as good at relationships as I thought I was.”
“Maybe what your readers need isn’t a know-it-all expert who has a perfect relationship,” Lana said. “Maybe they could learn much more from someone who’s made the same mistakes.”
It sounded almost reasonable.
The light turned green, and Claire softly accelerated across the intersection. “No,” she said after thinking about it for several seconds. “I’ve seen it in my practice. People want someone to give them guidance who knows what she’s doing. Otherwise, they could ask the next person on the street.”
She turned right onto the I-10 on-ramp.
Once she had merged into the lane, Lana asked, “Do you still love her?”
Claire tried to recall the exact emotion she had felt when she had seen Abby from across the room, standing there with Lana. Mostly, she had felt helpless and uncomfortable because there was no way for her to know or control what they were talking about. “I don’t know.”
If Lana suspected that she was deflecting again, she didn’t say so.
“What did she say to you before I joined you?” Claire asked.
“She warned me that your workaholic ways would break my heart.”