“That’s not… that’s not,” Gail stammers, waving the clicker at the screen.
The door opens on Noah carrying me through the threshold. My voice comes out, totally sultry. “There’s too much happening!” I’m licking my bottom lip, my hand on Noah’s chest, looking totally turned on by my husband.
“There’s not enough happening,” on-screen Noah answers as he kicks the door shut.
I widen my eyes, wondering who took this and where this stops. It can’t be the vacuum robots—we didn’t have them at the time this was recorded. Thankfully, the shot doesn’t follow us to the bedroom.
The screen crackles again and another shot appears. This time it’s Noah carrying a piping hot cup of coffee to our bedroom. His voice comes out clear when he mumbles, “Never thought one of the best parts of married life would be to bring her coffee in bed every morning.”
A few whistles sound through town hall. Meanwhile, I’m just… flabbergasted as to who took these videos and how.
Gail seems to be with me on this, because her voice gets louder and louder. “Stop it! Who’s doing this?”
“Just take out the USB!” Owen shouts.
Gail waves a small object in the air. “I did! Stop that thing!” she yells at the high schoolers.
“We can’t!” they say as they look at the screen, where a third clip is now playing.
I’m coming down the staircase, wrapped in a robe, sex hair and puffy lips. The shot is taken from above… Ohmygod. It’sthem. How is that even possible?
I don’t have time to think on that because on the screen, Noah comes into view, holding a takeout bag from Chloe’s Nook. He puts the bag down and… oh no they didn’t. I put a hand on mymouth, my eyes glued to the screen as Noah wraps me in his arms.
Thank god the angle doesn’t show my hand sliding down between us… but the shot is sensuous as hell, our kiss deepening as Noah bends to kiss my neck. Our speech comes out unclear this time, but there’s no mistaking the heat between us.
Lights flicker in town hall, then get brutally bright for a second before settling on their normal intensity.
My gaze locks on Ms. Angela. She’s beaming at Noah, then glances my way, and I blow her a kiss. This was so much better than I ever expected. I’m having trouble containing my nervous laughter.
“Thank you for your presentation, Mrs. Callaway,” Colton says, poker-faced. “Are there any questions?”
Gail snaps, “Someone tampered with my presentation!”
Owen comes to her rescue. “Who did you give the flash drive to?”
She spreads her hands. “No one!”
“Must be the ghosts, right, Gail?” Noah teases her.
“Seeing no questions,” Colton thunders, “meeting adjourned! Enjoy the food.” His gavel rap is nearly drowned out by the sound of exploding conversations, unrestrained laughter, chairs being moved around. Noah leaps out of his chair and lifts me in his arms, placing a kiss on my lips, while Colton links his arm around Kiara, looking at us with a big smile.
Griff and Beck take advantage of the commotion to rush outside unnoticed, while Lane stays inside, arms wrapped around her.
“Free first round of drinks on me!” Justin says in the mic. “Let’s bring this party to Lazy’s.”
Twenty people dutifully volunteer to straighten out the room. The rest grab the dishes, and a happy procession forms fromTown Hall to Lazy’s. We share food, drink a little too much, and then my husband shouts across the room, “Karaoke!”
Everyone cheers and claps, Justin takes out his karaoke machine, four big guys move the furniture around and set up the small stage, and before I know it Noah says, “My wife deserves to open!”
I take an ultimate gulp of liquid courage and grab the mic. “You asked for this, Callaway. I don’t think there’s a karaoke version of this, so this’ll be a capella.”
A few whistles sound. “Here we go.”
And I start belting “More” by Phish. Whistles and friendly catcalls die down.
Halfway through the first verse, someone connects the instrumental to the sound system, and Noah joins me on stage.
We fumble some of the lyrics, but mostly we sound awesome, if my tipsy self may say so.
