In Love Again by Megan Mulry Read Free Book Online

year.”
    “Well, for god’s sake, don’t say it like that! If anyone asks, you’re just thirty-eight. Free at last and all that.” She turned into a bright open studio space. Four large countertops were covered with fabric samples, carpet samples, paint samples, wallpaper samples, all being mixed and matched and pondered over by four designers. Two were already standing, and they stopped what they were doing to look at Boppy when she entered the room. The other two were sitting on tall work stools. One of them looked up from a piece of fabric; the other remained rapt in what she was doing.
    “Up, everyone. I’d like you to meet our new consultant, Claire Heyworth. I haven’t figured out exactly what she’ll be doing for me, so for a start, I’m going to throw her at everyone who’s been giving me a royal pain.” She smiled and turned to Claire. “No pun, darling.” She patted Claire’s upper arm. “This is Simon Connolly, Edwina Sneed, Celine Delaney, and Milt Rubenstein.”
    One of the women looked skeptical and set down the piece of fabric she’d been handling, then walked to where Claire stood. “I’m Celine. Nice to meet you. Good luck.” There was a hint of malice, or maybe exhaustion, but whatever it was, it wasn’t a hug. Edwina, Simon, and Milt introduced themselves in turn.
    “So who should we sic on her first?” Boppy asked, as if Claire weren’t even in the room.
    All four of them spoke in unison: “Pinckney.”
    They all started laughing. Claire was momentarily terrified. How bad could this client be?
    “That’s exactly what I thought.” Boppy smiled.
    “Dead in the water,” Edwina said as she returned to her worktable.
    “Totally unfinishable,” Simon concurred.
    “Come into my office and I’ll fill you in.” Boppy turned back to the hall and then into a lovely room that overlooked the garden where they’d had their coffee earlier. “Have a seat.”
    Boppy looked at her computer for a second then picked up her desk phone. “Please tell Mrs. Hamilton I’ll see her at the Colony at one o’clock Thursday. Confirm my Friday three o’clock with Mrs. McClintock and let Alice Pinckney know that my new top British consultant, Lady Claire Heyworth, will meet her in Litchfield for the next monthly visit.” She hung up the phone without a good-bye and moved around her office while she spoke. “So, I’m just going to assume that you are pretty much willing to work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for the foreseeable future.”
    “Yes, I am.” Claire didn’t hesitate.
    “Good. I need you to go to Connecticut for the day a week from Saturday. It’s a divorce situation, always a bit tricky, but it’s really been the wife’s design project all along. Everything’s in her name. Alice Pinckney. That’s who you’ll be meeting with. The husband never really took much of an interest, until recently. I mean, I’ve met him, of course.” Boppy did a pantomime of fanning herself. “I can tell you, if I were Alice, I would not be throwing that one back in the water anytime soon.”
    Claire smiled and left it at that.
    “They started the project about a year ago. I think Alice thought repairing a house might help repair their marriage—”
    Claire was taking notes with a small silver pen on the tiny notepad she always kept in her purse and a little scoff must have escaped her lips. “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh.”
    “Of course, it’s ludicrous. It’s like people who think maybe that elusive third child is really going to keep the marriage together…not!” Both women smiled, then Boppy continued. “Anyway, Alice is contractually obligated to finish the job, but neither one of us is too happy about it. I’ve abandoned a few projects in the past, and it’s always a disaster. My name is attached to it, and then it comes off half-baked. On the other hand, I think they’re eager to sell the property and split the proceeds and move on. I don’t blame