The Choir Director by Carl Weber Page B

have been packed to meet the new choir director. I know my face probably mirrored my first reaction—big letdown—so I forced a smile.
    “Well, hello, Mr. Mackie,” the first lady called out. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
    I know you have,
I thought.
I know you have.
Confidence was one thing I was never lacking when it came to me and the opposite sex.

Monique
10
    I watched Aaron Mackie stroll through the double doors of the practice room like he owned the place. There was no question in my mind that T. K. had made the right decision to bring him on board when I heard the collective sigh of the women who’d been patiently waiting to meet him. I hadn’t seen Aaron since T. K. and I dropped him off at his apartment two days ago. Lord forgive me for thinking it, but he sure did clean up nice. I mean, that man really was easy on the eyes, even more so now that he was dressed in a designer suit. The way he strutted into the room, I could tell he knew how good he looked. I wasn’t even sure he recognized me as he scanned the room, because his eyes were focused on hot-behind Porsche Moore, but I quickly made my presence known.
    “Well, hello, Mr. Mackie,” I called out. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
    He looked a little surprised to see me when I walked toward him, but he still smiled, offering me his hand. “Hello there, First Lady. I wasn’t expecting to see you again until Sunday service. Are you going to be joining our choir?”
    I smiled back and took his hand. The thought flashed through my mind that this was the hand that had rubbed up against my backside and squeezed my ass just two days before. Sure, he’d said it was an accident, and I had accepted his apology, but I didn’t believe him. The problem was that when I reflected on the incident now, I felt my heart rate increase a little bit. Certainly not the way a first lady was supposed to be reacting.
    “Um, no.” I shook my head. “Singing really isn’t my thing.”
    “So, what exactly is your thing?” He winked, giving me this devilish smirk that I really didn’t know how to interpret. Was he flirting with me?
    As wrong as it was, I could feel the blood rushing to my face as he held on to my hand, which was starting to perspire. I should have been upset, but a small part of me was flattered. Men never flirted with me like that anymore, at least not since I’d become first lady. In a way it made me feel good. Make no mistake—I loved my husband. It was just nice to have a little attention thrown my way by a handsome younger man.
    “My husband,” I replied. “My husband is my thing.”
    “I’m sure he is.” Aaron chuckled as if it were a game.
    Afraid that someone might misinterpret—or even worse, properly interpret—my blushing, I pulled my hand back, glancing away so that no one other than Tia could see my red face. Thankfully, Tia’s eyes were too preoccupied looking at Aaron’s ass to be concerned with me. Knowing her background, I didn’t think she was that type of girl, but her eyes were all up in his Kool-Aid. She wasn’t the only one either. You should have seen the reaction of the other women in the room. The way some of them were looking at him, you would have thought it was a bachelorette party and he was about to do a striptease.
    I cleared my throat. “Ah, Tia, everything check out down there?”
    “Mmm-hmm, everything checks out just—Oh my goodness.” Tia looked up from Aaron’s behind to see me peering over my glasses at her. At the same time, Aaron was glancing over his shoulder with a big grin on his face. Poor girl was so embarrassed she dropped her clipboard.
    “Oh, excuse me. I thought he had something on his pants.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh. It was time to get this meet and greet under way before anyone else got themselves into trouble behind this fine man. “Well, Mr. Mackie, why don’t we introduce you to your new choir?”
    “That sounds like a plan.”
    I led him toward the group that had