My gaze moved from the girl to the interrupting voice. Noah was frozen still, staring at a very confused Adam and a woman I guessed was Victoria.
I turned back to Emily. “It was very nice meeting you two. When you go back to the museum, ask to speak to Charlie and tell him I said you could have a VIP ticket.”
“For real?”
I chuckled. “For real.”
I drew a business card from my wallet and gave it to Emily’s mom. They thanked me and left.
“What’s going on, Noah?” Adam asked. “What is Lior doing here?”
Noah stared him down with a defiant look. “You said I could bring a plus one. He’s my plus one.”
Adam’s gaze shifted from Noah to me.
“Why did you say you’re his husband?” Victoria asked, her voice definitely too loud for a hotel lobby.
“That’s because I am. Lior and I got married a month ago in Vegas.”
“Noah James Spencer.”
Noah groaned and said between his teeth, “Time to meet the parents.” He took the proverbial pin off the grenade andsaid, “Lior, this is my mom, Carla, my dad, Jack, and my grandmother, Jacinta. Mãe, Pai, Avó, I’d like you to meet Lior Van Stern…my husband.”
I held my breath when suddenly, an explosion of words broke out, with everyone talking over each other in Portuguese with some English mixed in.
Lying,husband,scandal,joking,andinsanewere just a few of the words I picked out.
They talked over each other like air was a commodity rather than a necessity. I wanted to interrupt them and ask them to take this somewhere private. A few people slowed their pace as they walked past us to watch what was going down.
“I can’t believe you’d do this, Noah,” Victoria shouted. “I know you don’t like me, but to do this to your family and me is disrespectful. This is all everyone’s going to be talking about.” Tears ran down her face as she ran off with Adam at her heel.
“We all have to calm down,” Jack said.
“Calm down? Don’t tell me to calm down,” Carla said. “Your son got married without telling his own family. Who are we? The people that raised him and loved them, or nobodies?”
His grandmother stared at me like she wished she could whip out a machete from under her skirt and slice me into pieces.
“Noah, I suggest you speak to your brothers and sort this mess out. Then come to our suite with a reasonable explanation for your actions,” Jack said before he practically dragged his wife and mother-in-law toward the elevators.
Noah’s eyes were red-rimmed. He was on the verge of breaking down, and it was all my fault. Why had I accepted his ridiculous proposal?
I couldn’t think of a way in which this could have gone any worse.
“Hey.” I tucked my hand under Noah’s chin to make him look at me. “What do you need? We can go. We can stay. Hell, I don’t want to leave you on your own, but if it’s what you need, I’ll go.”
“We’re staying,” he said, steeling himself.
“Are you sure?”
He opened his bag and took out his washbag, opening the little pouch where he’d kept our rings. He slid his band on and grabbed my hand, sliding mine in place.
“I’m not hiding my husband.”
Noah
“Iam not hiding my husband,” I repeated. My fists clenched against Lior’s chest. “I can understand their hurt over being lied to, but it doesn’t excuse some of the things they said or what they thought but didn’t say.”
“Tell me what to do, Noah. I hate seeing you like this.”
