Page 64 of Flake It Til You Make It

“Oh shit,” Taylor murmured. “I should—”

“Yes,” Rocco said. “Go up there.Now.”

The mayor also had the same idea, because she was climbing back on the stage, watching with trepidation as Steve tried to wrestle the microphone out of his wife’s hands.

She segued into an off-key, off-melody version of Carly Simon’s, “You’re So Vain,” which was a transition that Rocco hadn’t seen coming, but one he could at least get behind.

“Mrs. Mills,” the mayor said loudly, “it’s time to stop. You shouldn’t even be up yet. The signup is first come, first serve, and youjustshowed up.” She glared at the guy running the karaoke machine, and sure enough, he looked guilty.

Had Steve slipped him some money to make sure his wife went first? Or had she done that?

It was hard to say, but the whole thing was playing out publicly, and in a town like Christmas Falls, where the gossip mill was incredibly active, the retellings of this evening were going to spread like wildfire.

Rocco watched as Taylor approached the stage. The mayor leaned down and whispered something in his ear. He nodded.

Finally, Steve successfully yanked the microphone from his wife and said into it, apparently unaware of how microphones worked, “Goddamn it, you made us look bad.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You do that well enough on your own.”

“I was doing just fine without your ‘assistance,’” he retorted.

“Let me give youbothsome assistance,” Taylor said, intervening by stepping between them and neatly plucking the microphone from Steve’s hand. “You’re both done. Time to get off the stage.”

Steve made a face, turning him ugly, and he lunged for the microphone, but Taylor just stared at him. Not engaging, but clearly not permitting him to continue. It was a perfect line to walk, and there were a few cheers from the audience.

“Time to go,” Mona repeated firmly.

“We should getall the turnsif we want them,” Steve retorted. “We’re practically Christmas Falls royalty!”

Mona shot him a venomous stare. “Thereisno such thing as Christmas Falls royalty. That’s what you don’t get, Steve. That’s not what this town is. It’s not what it’s ever been. We don’t stand for that kind of superior attitude here, even if your family’s lived here forever.”

Taylor looked between the mayor and Steve. “Ma’am,” he said, so polite, so perfectly Midwestern that Rocco wanted to cry with it, “should I take out the trash?”

Mona chuckled. “Yes, please. Let’s go.”

Wrapping a hand around Steve’s arm, Taylor tugged him off the stage, as Mona escorted Laura off.

“And uh, now up,” the karaoke guy said, stammering, his voice nearly drowned out by the cat calls and the applause, “is Mrs. Lil singing ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.’”

Mrs. Lil took the stage to an absoluteroarof approval, and a moment later, Taylor slid back into the booth next to Rocco, wearing a shit-eating grin and a lightness around him that Rocco loved to see.

“Well,” Taylor said, “I guess that’s that.”

Rocco reached over and gave his arm a squeeze. “You were brilliant, baby.”

“Was I?”

“You know you were. You just let him have enough rope to hang himself. And Mrs. Gucci Boots, too.”

“I guess we did,” Taylor said, but his smile said it all. By tomorrow, this story would be on everyone’s lips and Rocco would be surprised if the council even considered Steve Mills’ application, once the truth of his feelings came out.

“She’s actually pretty good,” Rocco said a moment later, listening to Mrs. Lil in the background. “And here I thought she wasn’t going to actually participate. She told me we were going to listen as everyone made fools of themselves.”

“She always sings this and only this,” Taylor said. “And Mrs. Lil is incapable of making a fool of herself.”

Rocco smiled, nodding. He understood it now. She hadn’t included herself in that assessment because she knew she had the pipes to sing this song.

Taylor lifted his beer and tapped it against Rocco’s glass. “Cheers to a great evening in Christmas Falls,” he said.

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