Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 561

"Mr. Ford. Miss Adams." He had a microphone in one hand and a card in the other, and he was grinning the way men grin when they have been paid very well to be charming. "If I could steal the two of you for a moment. The guests have been asking."

Celeste looked at me. I looked at her. She shrugged one shoulder, and I took her hand and let him lead us to the middle of the floor.

The orchestra stopped. The room turned. Hundreds of faces arranged themselves around us in a loose ring, and the cameras that had been following us all evening slid in closer.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the MC said, "the happy couple."

There was applause, and some cheering, and somebody near the bar let out a whistle.

The MC turned to me. "Mr. Ford, I am going to ask you a few questions, and you are going to answer them honestly, because your bride is standing right there and she will know if you lie."

"Then I had better be honest."

"Good man. First question. When did you first meet Miss Adams, and where?" The room went quiet. I looked at Celeste. She was watching me with one eyebrow up, waiting to hear which version I would give.

"The first time I saw her," I said, "she was in a bar, sitting with her friends. I was across the room. And then she turned around and looked at me. That was it. She took my breath away."

The gasp that went through the room was almost a sound effect. Somebody near the front said ohhh. Two women by the window actually moaned. Then the laughter started, the good kind, the kind that comes when a room full of people all feel the same thing at once, and the MC raised both hands like a man holding back a tide. "Ladies, please. Composure. There is cake."

The laughter got louder.

"All right," he said, "second question. Which of you approached the other first?"

Celeste did not hesitate. "I did."

The room turned to her.

"I remember it exactly," she said. "I was standing in a room, staring at him, and I asked him one question. And now here we are."

"I knew the moment I kissed her," I replied. "When you're in love with someone, the first kiss should be enough to let you know. Because the feeling you experience at that moment, is out of this world.

This time the gasp was louder, and it turned into clapping, and then into cheering, and somebody at the back shouted for a repeat kiss. The MC caught it and ran with it, and the chant started low and built, and Celeste looked up at me and rolled her eyes, and I kissed her anyway, and the room roared.

"Fourth question," the MC said when it had died down, "and this one is for Miss Adams. What is the one thing about Mr. Ford that nobody in this room knows?"

Celeste thought about it. She took her time.

"He hums," she said. "In the mornings. He does not know he does it. He hums while he is making coffee, and it is always the same three notes, and he is always slightly off."

The room dissolved. I could feel the heat climb up the back of my neck.

"I do not hum."