“Because,” Audrey muttered, “you’re about to meet her. Clarke’s mother invited his ex-girlfriend to my engagement party.”

Chapter Five

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18

Where is your wayward groom?” Claire asked as the three of them stepped into the NoMad Hotel, just around the corner from their drinks location. “If you guys are going to sell this togetherness thing, shouldn’t you walk in… together?”

“He’ll be here,” Audrey said, putting a palm against her stomach, surprised to feel the fluttering of nervous butterflies at the night ahead. Talking about wedding planning on Instagram was one thing. Walking into a room full of people who actually thought there would be a wedding was another. At least half of them were probably watching with an eagle eye to see if all the rumors about Audrey’s bad luck with men were true.

She answered Claire distractedly. “He had a business trip to Miami. Or maybe Palm Beach?”

“Orlando, actually.”

All three women turned to see Clarke just behind them.

Audrey’s butterflies immediately vanished. Yes, she’d be walking into a room full of people as a fake bride-to-be, but she wouldn’t be alone.

She looked down in puzzlement when she realized he was wheeling a suitcase behind him and had a garment bag over his shoulder. To say nothing of the fact that Clarke could pull off just about any look, she was definitely looking at rumpled Clarke right now. The hair was a little crazy, he needed a shave, and the jeans and wrinkled, untucked dress shirt were better suited for stumbling out of the club at 3 a.m. than they were for a formal cocktail party. Hosted by his mother.

“Is this just-woke-up look your newest way of pissing off Linda?” Audrey asked curiously.

He laughed and ran a hand over his face, which she belatedly realized showed all the classic signs of exhaustion. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, his smile less easy than usual.

“I just got into JFK an hour ago,” he said by way of explanation. “And traffic was, you know, standard Manhattan fair.”

“So, awful?” Naomi said sympathetically.

He gave her a fleeting smile, then apparently belatedly realizing he hadn’t greeted his friends, pulled both Claire and Naomi in for a hug. “I haven’t seen you beauties in forever.”

“Rumor has it you’ve been busy and congratulations are in order?” Claire asked teasingly.

His smile was more genuine this time. “Hell of a game Dree and I have going on, huh?”

“Definitely,” Naomi agreed. “Although, if I can be blunt—”

“Aren’t you always?” he asked.

“Exactly. Which is why I’ll tell you, you look like hell, and nobody is going to believe Audrey would marry a guy who shows up to his own engagement party looking like this.”

“Try telling that to the family patriarch,” he muttered.

Audrey frowned. “What did your dad do?”