My Husband's Smart House Only Listens to Her novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Take a Bow

Brogan's POV

Lia opened the loading dock door herself, at six that evening, and didn't look at me.

"Black shirt," she said, and put a folded one in my arms. "Lanyard's in the pocket. You're a stagehand."

"Which one?"

"There are forty. Nobody checks."

I pulled the shirt over my head in the shadow of a road case, and the lanyard clipped onto my belt.

It said CREW in white block letters, and I had never been so glad of four plain letters.

"Sound desk is at the back of the room," Lia said. "Center, behind the last row. The sound tech is twenty-three and he doesn't care about anything but his fader levels."

"Good."

"Brogan." She finally turned her head. "If he sees you, he'll stop the whole show."

"He won't see me."

"He sees everything. It's the one thing he's good at."

"Then I'll make sure he's looking at something else."

She almost smiled.

The ballroom held four hundred chairs in sloped rows.

At the front was a stage the width of a basketball court, with the model living room in the middle.

I knew every inch of it.

The grey sofa, the oak side table, the white front door in a white frame, set into a fake wall.

It was Neil's house, scaled down, and lit.

At seven the room started to fill.

I stood at the back, in the dark, with a headset around my neck.

Investors in good coats drifted to their seats with champagne.

Reporters held their phones up.

I saw the department chair, a tall woman with a silver ponytail, take a seat on the aisle.

She unfolded a program with a suspicious face.

At seven-forty my mother came in on the arm of a man I didn't know.

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