Chapter 2 Time to bite the poison apple
Leah and Gabe went to bed that night and barely left it until they had to on Monday morning. Leah contemplated calling in sick, but she loved her job and she was excited to wear her new ring out in the world.
“Should we meet for dinner after work?” Gabe asked after they commuted together on the subway, each reading their own book all the way to Wall Street.
Leah shook her head. “I have plans with Maya.” Maya, her closest friend since she had moved to New York. They met at a Chabad singles event and were probably the only match from that night that had lasted.
“Going to show off your new ring?” Gabe gleamed as he said it.
Leah nodded. “Showing it off to everyone!” She kissed him and turned toward her office building while he turned to his.
She rode the elevator up to the twelfth floor of the Diamond Media building where she now had a corner desk, rather than a small cubicle partitioned from other reporters.
“Good morning, Malcolm,” she said as she walked by the first desk on the floor.
“Morning,” he whispered back in his always quiet voice.
“Good morning,” she greeted the junior reporters who sat together in a cluster of cubicles where she had once sat across from her friends Mark and Alex. She missed her friends and their daily lunches when Mark would talk about his dating life, always in love with someone new, and Alex would test out his material for his second job and true passion as a standup comedian.
But those days were gone. Mark had moved on to The New York Times and Alex, well, Leah wasn’t sure where he was. He had been fired—as expected—a year back and while Leah cared deeply about their friendship, it had felt odd to try to sustain it without them being forced to see each other every day. Why odd? Because every time she looked at him, she remembered that once they had kissed—drunkenly, passionately, and secretly in the elevator of Diamond Media after the holiday party.
Leah would be lying if she’d said there hadn’t been tension throughout their friendship since that moment, but they never spoke about the moment, never acknowledged its existence, and simply continued to be the best kind of work friends until he was fired.
She sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. She was checking her email when she heard her name screamed across the floor.
“Rosenberg! Rosenberg!”
Leah rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing her notepad and a pen as she walked to her boss’s office.
“Good morning, Tony, what’s up?”
“That’s how you greet your mentor?” he replied. “What’s up?”
“How do you do?” Leah responded, gesturing with her hand as though greeting royalty.
“That’s more like it!” Tony responded. “What is that on your finger?”
Leah held her hand out for her boss to see. After working for him for most of the last three years, she almost saw him as sort of a father figure. The editor-in-chief of Club Business was known for his tendency to rant about the younger generation and for his loudness in the office, but he was also a great reporter and talented editor. When he wasn’t complaining about his children or “kids these days,” he was mentoring his reporters like Leah and helping them improve their craft. Leah had learned a lot from him. She’d learned how to write better leads for her articles and how to transition between topics in longer form journalism. She’d also learned so much about business that she was often asked if she had an MBA.
“My engagement ring,” she said, holding it out for her boss to see.
“Engaged! Congratulations, Rosenberg! Just don’t let wedding planning get to your head! No matter what, do not, I repeat, do not, take out loans to pay for your wedding! Be smart! Save your money for a down payment instead of on fancy napkins or place cards that no one who attends your wedding will remember the following day. Trust me!”
Leah smiled. “Great advice,” she said. “What’d you call me in here for?”
“And don’t give up your career! You are too smart and too talented to be one of those stay-at-home wives who keep everything tidy and drink tequila because they are so bored in the suburbs! Work hard and hire someone to keep tidy!”
“All right, Tony, don’t get ahead of yourself, I just got engaged,” Leah responded. “Now, let’s get back to business?”
“Right, what are you working on today?” Tony asked. “We need something sensational for column one today. Will you have something?”
Leah nodded. “I’m finishing up an article about Bitcoin predictions for Wall Street for the new year.”
“Gold!” Tony responded. “I knew you’d have the story. This is why you need to keep your head on straight! No bridezilla from you, OK?”
Leah nodded and went back to her desk. She worked on her article and sent it in for editing after fact checking and reviewing her lead a few extra times as she had learned to do after once making a mistake that had caused multiple readers to send angry messages to her.
When the article was published, she packed up her things and left the office. She was meeting Maya at a trendy new cocktail bar in Alphabet City that was being written about in all the blogs lately.
Maya was already there when Leah arrived. Maya was always early and it made Leah feel slightly guilty for being on time, as though it was Leah’s fault for letting her friend wait. Maya was inside sitting at a dark table with a steaming cocktail next to her.
“What is that?” Leah asked after hugging her friend and sitting across from her.
“I should ask you the same question!” Maya responded, eyeing Leah’s finger.
Leah blushed and held out her hand toward her friend. The bar was dark, but Maya grabbed the small candle on their table to shine light on the ring. “Wow, it’s so shiny,” Maya said. “How could you not tell me?”
“I’m telling you now,” Leah responded. “Now what is that cocktail?”
“It’s a poison apple,” Maya responded. “Dry ice. When did this happen? How did he do it? Spill!”
Just then a waiter came by and Leah ordered a poison apple for herself. She then started telling Maya about the yacht on Friday.
“Wait, this happened Friday? Why didn’t you call me? Or text? Or anything? Why didn’t you say something?”
Leah shrugged. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t told anyone yet. In fact on Friday evening after they had eaten their steak and chicken and their souffle and apple strudel, and after they had danced while the yacht circled the brightly lit Statue of Liberty, Gabe asked if she wanted to call her family or someone. Leah shook her head. She was tired and just wanted to fall into bed with her very sexy fiancé. It felt wrong after that to call anyone when she was naked except for the ring all weekend.
“I wanted to tell you in person!” Leah reasoned, which was partly true.
“You were afraid I’d judge you?” Maya asked. “Me?”
Leah’s cocktail arrived and she took a sip. It tasted deliciously poisonous.
“Leah! I am happy for you! I think Gabe is great! I am not your family. You remember I only dated Indian guys until Kevin came along!” Maya said. Kevin, Leah’s ex-boyfriend’s/ex-fiancé’s best friend. They had been quite a foursome until Leah and Asher broke up. And then Maya and Kevin tried to stay together, but their relationship lost its luster when they were just a couple that couldn’t double date with their best friends. They’d been hooking up on and off for the last couple of years, but now it had mostly been off.
“I know! I know you like Gabe! I know!” Leah said. “I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. I’m telling you now and I am so excited!”
“Wait, have you not told your family yet?” Maya asked. “You haven’t, have you?”
Leah shook her head and took another sip of her cocktail. Sure, her mother seemed to warm to Gabe. He had visited their family for a few holidays including Rosh Hashana just a few weeks ago when Leah’s mom Savannah had spent way too much time trying to explain to Gabe the significance of the round Challah. It signifies continuity in the new year! This new year is much more spiritual than the secular new year, we don’t countdown and party, we reflect, we think about the seasons! It was almost like Savannah was trying to teach or convince Gabe about something.
Gabe had been so polite, listening and asking questions. He had even offered to attend services with Savannah, but she had insisted he would be bored. But Leah knew the real reason her mother didn’t want Gabe to come. As the newly elected vice president of their synagogue, she didn’t want everyone to know that her daughter was dating a goy.
“What do you think your mom will say?” Maya asked. “Doesn’t she like Gabe?”
Leah shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean, yes, she likes him enough, but I don’t know if she likes him as a son-in-law.”
Until that point, Leah had allowed herself to bask in the pure joy of her engagement, in envisioning her life with the man of her dreams. She had pushed away all the unpleasant thoughts about what her engagement would mean for her family and her faith, for that matter.
These were things that she hadn’t really thought about over the last two years. As they dated, they could show curiosity about each other’s religions without pressure. They could ask questions without people wondering if someone was converting or if this marriage had any chance of survival. But now, as much as the ring was a symbol of their love, it was also a symbol of a commitment they would need to make and for one of them, a departure from a belief system.
It was time to bite the bullet, or the poison apple, and tell her family.