The Ex-Change novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: In Front of Everyone

Vanessa stabbed her thumb at the phone, trying to close the video, and pressed play instead.

The hallway came alive on forty feet of screen.

A woman in a cream blazer met a man in a navy suit, and he kissed her.

Eight hundred people watched in complete silence.

The time stamp burned in the corner of the screen, and I read it aloud.

"February fourteenth," I said, into the open microphone. "Eight forty-five at night."

The grandstand stirred.

"That was my fourth wedding anniversary," I said. "I was at home in Dayton with a roast in the oven."

On the screen, Vanessa's hand slid into Colton's back pocket.

"I bought him that jacket in Columbus," I said, and a sound went through the crowd like a dropped tray.

Colton had gone the color of paper.

"Cal," he said. "Cal, that's not."

"Not what?"

"It's an old clip. It's out of context. We were," he stopped, and tried the dimple, and it wouldn't come.

"You were on the executive floor," I said. "At the network. Where the show was pitched."

"It was a goodbye kiss!" Colton said.

"It was my anniversary," I said. "Nobody says goodbye like that."

Somewhere in the wings, the new producer, panicking, pressed a button.

The black grating in the middle of the deck slid open with a clank, and violins began to play.

A string quartet rose out of the floor on the lift, in white tuxedos, bowing a love song.

Beside them stood an armful of roses and a small velvet box, open on a stand.

Nobody on the stage looked at it.

"Twelve-oh-five," Jude said, mildly. "They're early."

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