Page 91 of The Backup Groom

“That’s the truth!” my dad said.

Amber browsed the books, pulling one from the shelf and reading the back cover. “You have a lot of books on meditation, mindfulness, and yoga.”

“It’s a passion of mine,” my mom said. “Speaking of that, I knew I forgot to tell you something. You won’t believe it, but we met another Ryan Scott! No relation, but what are the chances?”

Pretty darn good if your name was Amber Norris.

Amber dropped the book and quickly picked it up, sliding it back into its place on the shelf.

“Yeah?” I said, following everyone back over to the kitchen table and sitting back down. “Where did you meet him?”

Hopefully, they didn’t find out something we didn’t want them to know.

“We met him at naked yoga,” Dad said.

Amber choked on her wine.

In that moment, I knew she was visualizing the same character I was.

I pounded her on the back, making eye contact, and trying to keep a straight face.

“You okay, sweetie?” my mom asked.

“Yeah. It went down the wrong pipe,” she choked out, eyes watering.

“Anyway, someone told us about his class on Saturday mornings at Black’s Beach, and we knew we just had to go,” my dad said. “It’s very liberating. You should join us sometime!”

Now,Iwas the one choking on my wine.

There was no way in hell I was going to do naked yoga with my parents.

Dad glanced at Mom. “Show them the pictures we took, angel.”

She looked around the kitchen. “Where is my phone?”

“Please don’t,” I begged. “Maybe it would be better if we moved on to dessert.”

“Don’t act so shy,” Dad said, chuckling. “You never had a problem when we took you to nude beaches in the past. You were butt-naked all day long, strutting your stuff like you owned the beach. Don’t pretend like you don’t remember.”

“Oh boy, this I’ve got to hear,” Amber said, perking up.

“I was five years old!” I said, hoping to kill the topic before it killed me.

“And so confident at that age,” my mom said.

“Please, you must show me pictures of this,”Amber insisted giddily.

“Dream on,” I said, chuckling. “Can we please have dessert now? We can’t stay late because we have a full day of wedding planning tomorrow.”

“Do You Love Me?” from the Contours began to play on the sound system, and that’s when I knew dessert was going to have to wait a little longer.

It was another of my mom’s favorite songs.

Instead of naked yoga, Mom jumped up on the couch and began dancing. She pointed directly at Amber, beckoning her to join her. Amber didn’t even blink an eye before kicking off her sandals and jumping up with her.

“Dance like nobody’s watching!” Mom said, one of her favorite sayings.

In a split-second, Mom and Amber were doing the Mashed Potato, then moved into the Twist, followed by the Swim. They were having the time of their lives, practically challenging one another to strut their stuff.