Phyllis shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I got it.”

“All right then. Let’s try it. Mr. Beeseman? Please pull Miss Bates into your arms.”

As Hannah watched, Herb pulled Phyllis into his arms, but he was careful to keep some space between them. It certainly didn’t look as if Herb were interested in Phyllis, and that made Hannah doubt that Lisa truly had anything to worry about with her husband. Of course it was always possible that Herb had spotted Lisa in the audience and his apparent disinterest could have been for show. Hannah just wasn’t sure.

“Proceed, Miss Bates,” Tory directed.

Hannah glanced over at Lisa again. Her hands were clenched in her lap. It was clear that Lisa didn’t trust Phyllis to follow the director’s instructions.

“Action!” Tory called out, and Phyllis put her hands on Herb’s face. Then, without waiting for him to turn, she began to kiss him.

Hannah gave a little gasp. This wasn’t a stage kiss. This was real! And Phyllis was kissing Lisa’s husband in a very passionate way. She reached out for Lisa, wanting to make sure that Lisa stayed in her seat and didn’t make a scene right then and there, but her hand encountered empty air. Lisa wasn’t there. Her seat was empty. Hannah swiveled around to locate Lisa and spotted her going out the door and into the lobby of the auditorium.

There was only one thing to do. Hannah got up quickly and hurried after Lisa, grabbing the box of Christmas gift bags from the table as she rushed past. The outside door was just closing, and Hannah raced after Lisa, almost slipping on the ice that had gathered on the sidewalk.

“Wait up, Lisa!” she called out, and Lisa stopped under the streetlight that illuminated the parking lot.

There were traces of tears on Lisa’s face. Hannah could see them glittering in the light as she approached. Lisa hadn’t been fooled for a moment by the stage kiss. And neither had anyone else.

“She kissed him! Like that! And she did it right in front of everyone!”

It was useless to deny the truth. Lisa was right. Phyllis had kissed Herb. “I know,” Hannah said, reaching out to pat Lisa’s shoulder. “But Lisa . . . Herb didn’t kiss her. He was expecting a stage kiss. And he wasn’t the one who kissed her. Phyllis kissed him. Just think about that for a moment. Herb was probably just as shocked as you were. He wasn’t expecting it. And there really wasn’t anything he could do about it.”

“He could have moved. Or he could have pushed her away. He didn’t do anything like that! He just stood there.”

“Maybe he was too shocked to move or push her away.”

“I really doubt that! They were an item in high school. And maybe, just maybe, Herb was enjoying it!”