Good Neighbors Ch. 122

With my suit and her dress at the dry cleaners, I was headed back to the house when Matt called. Luckily, my car can feed the phone through the center console so I can drive safely.

"What's up, Bro?"

"I have a wonderful idea that you are going to shoot down," Matt said.

"I dunno. You've been batting a thousand so far."

"This one is going to be rejected because it is going to do something you are totally uncomfortable with."

"Bro, I told you I am not into guys."

I could hear him laugh at the other end.

"Good one. Okay, what if we threw a New Year's Eve party here at the office."

He was right. It is definitely out of my comfort zone.

"I dunno, man. Are you sure we could accept the liability for it?"

"Hear me out. We have the party at the office, and everyone gets rooms at the hotel next door if they do too much so they could sleep it off."

I really hate the fact he knows me so well sometimes.

"Okay, it's a thought. Do you think you could put it all together by then?"

"I do except for one more thing."

"No strippers."

"No, I think you should invite your neighbor's family to it, especially her brothers. They were instrumental in getting that account from that guy from Dallas."

"That would require her help, especially since both are married with kids. I can have her check it out though."

"Great, I'll check in with you later."

I was not ready to talk to my neighbor about Christmas, let alone New Year's. It would be the first holiday season for both of us without our significant others. Yet we had each other. I was hoping she wouldn't be mad.

"New year's, huh? Sounds interesting. So, Matt will put us up in the hotel next door that night in case we get too wild also? There has to be a catch."

"Besides the fact I don't do well at social functions?"

She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me.

"You did pretty well at that football game."

"That's because I had you there with me."

"I'm going with you to this also."

"That's good because Matt wanted to invite your family also."

That is when she paused. There was silence for a few minutes it felt like. I felt like I overstepped.

"That sounds like a horrible idea. We got lucky when they were at the football game."

"I know."

"And now he wants them to be at your office with alcohol flowing freely?"

"I know."

"Is Matt an idiot or something?"

"Well, he did ask me about throwing a party and he seemed to have a plan."

She looked at me before she cracked up laughing. I started laughing with her before she squeezed me around my waist again.

"He was right about the football game though. Of course, the question is if the wives will let them loose. Maybe I should call them and talk to the wives about it."

"Baby, you're the greatest."

I kissed her cheek again before she pinched my butt. She then went into the dining room while I stayed in the living room. I started to open the boxes I brought in the day before with the prototype. There were two sets of lights to mount. It looked like they mounted on the wall using an adhesive, so it seemed to infer they were semi-permanent. It was when I was checking them out when she walked back in.

"Okay, the girls told me they would let me know after Christmas."

"That's far off."

"That's this weekend, Romeo."

I paused. Did I really lose track of time that badly? It was Tuesday. Christmas Eve was Friday. I would be off work that day and of course the weekend also. I started trying to come up with some ideas on what to do for the weekend before she came close and snuggled against me.

"Remember, I don't want anything for Christmas but you. So, no surprises, okay?"

I nodded my head. She then looked at the lights. She took them into her hand and walked to a light socket where she plugged them in. She started watching as they went from red to yellow to green to blue to purple and back to red. She looked over at me and smiled.

"I like these. They are cooler than the lights on the Christmas tree."

"And they are totally programmable. They can be linked to the music player making kind of a dance floor effect."

"Can we get it all hooked up so you could show me?"

"It'll take a bit."

"Think you can work on it while I work on tonight's dinner?"

I look at her and smile.

"Your wish is my command."

So, we each had our assignment. She worked on dinner, I worked on the light show. I couldn't wait to see the results.