Chapter 10 Fusion confusion
It felt like weeks, no months, before Wednesday came along. In the time that passed, Leah had polished off her resume and started sending it off to other publications in Manhattan, which there were plenty of. She applied to other business news magazines where she thought she’d have an edge, but also to other publications that were looking for reporters across different beats. Maybe it would be fun to start fresh and write about something else. She wondered if it meant something that even after spending three years writing about something, she didn’t feel connected to it. She didn’t feel passionate about writing about business even though she understood every nuance. She was good at it, but did she want to keep doing it? Did she want to write about something else? She wasn’t sure. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to write about something. And she needed money for rent.
In between applying for new jobs, she wrote brief articles at work. No one really seemed to care if anyone wrote anything. Even Tony seemed like he was just showing up out of obligation until his job would be terminated. There were no more meetings, no more assignments. Everyone just came to work and sat at their desks all day—probably all doing what Leah was doing with her resume.
When her phone beeped asking her to confirm her attendance for a dinner reservation at a new Vietnamese/Mexican fusion restaurant that had been getting a ton of press, she was relieved. She confirmed her attendance and continued sending out her resume until a respectable time to leave her desk.
The restaurant was in midtown. Leah took the subway to Grand Central and then walked the few blocks there. Gabe was at the bar already with a drink. Seeing him felt like a relief. Like everything was back to how it was supposed to be. She and Gabe were together. Her sister was not pursuing Alex. Alex was no longer around.
She snuck up behind him and planted a kiss on his cheek. When he turned to see her, his face lit up and Leah was sure he was happy to see her too. That the relief was mutual. He pulled her into a hug. She melted into him and wanted to kiss him, but her head was pressed deep into his chest.
“How are you doing?” he asked after they had hugged silently for a long moment. He took her coat as she sat on the barstool next to him. “I heard about Club Business.”
She nodded and ordered herself a cocktail.
“What are you thinking about doing?” he asked. “Do you have any leads for a new job?”
She told him she’d been applying. But she really didn’t want to talk about Club Business or her job search.
“What have you been doing for the last few days?” she asked to change the subject.
“Absolutely nothing,” he responded. “I missed you. It was lonely without you.”
“I missed you, too,” Leah responded. “Shira has been staying with me, but she keeps me out late every night and it’s exhausting!”
Gabe chuckled and then there was silence. They both knew what they needed to talk about, but how to bring it up? How to have the conversation that was haunting them?
“Did you have time to think?” Leah asked, breaking the silence once it became too uncomfortable. She needed to know and the journalist in her knew how to ask hard questions.
“I did,” he said, taking a sip of his drink. His hesitation made Leah nervous. What did he think? Was this him breaking up with her? Is that why they hugged tightly instead of kissing passionately when she walked in?
Just then the bartender appeared in front of them. “Want me to place a food order for you? Appetizers are half off during happy hour, which ends in about 15 minutes.”
Gabe looked at Leah as if to ask if she wanted food and she nodded, but she hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.
“I recommend the duck egg rolls or the kimchi tacos,” the bartender suggested. “Those are the top sellers.”
“We’ll take both,” Gabe responded. When the bartender disappeared, he turned back to Leah. “I think it has to be your decision.”
“My decision?” she questioned. She had been so worried about what Gabe wanted, she hadn’t even thought about what she wanted.
“Yes,” he said. “Look, I love you and I want to get married. But I am not going to change who I am for that. It doesn’t bother me that we’re different religions. But I don’t want to be in a marriage where I think you’ll resent that I am not Jewish. So you need to decide and if you want to go through with this, I want you to promise you’ll accept my religion and it won’t become an issue in the future.”
Could Leah make that kind of promise? How would she feel about his religion in the future if they did have kids? And if the kids had bat mitzvahs? Would they go to temple on Yom Kippur? And how would she explain that her husband didn’t fast on the holiest day of the year? Would she resent him when she was starving after 25 hours without food or water?
“Will you fast in solidarity with me on Yom Kippur?” she asked. “I think that day will be the only issue because you know what happens when people get hangry.”
He pursed his lips. “Sure, I can fast one day a year, but that’s my only concession,” he responded. “I promise to always be respectful of your religious choices and you be respectful of mine. No trying to convince the other of anything. Fair?”
She nodded and he leaned in for that passionate kiss she had been missing when she walked in.
“Kimchi tacos,” the bartender announced, placing a hot plate with tortillas topped with pickled vegetables in front of them. Leah took a bite. They were spicy and sour, a strange combination that sort of worked.
“I’m not sure Mexican and Vietnamese food should have been fused,” Gabe said after taking a bite.
“I agree.” Leah said with a giggle. They ate the tacos anyway and the duck egg rolls, which were a little more Vietnamese and a little less Mexican, and Leah told Gabe about her last few days with Shira and what had been happening at work. Gabe told her about sleeping in an empty apartment and how exhausting his job was becoming.
“I am getting burnt out,” he said.
“Why don’t you apply for new jobs like me?”
“Because one of us needs to pay for our midtown apartment,” he said. “What if you don’t find something right away?”
Leah shrugged. They didn’t mention their wedding or the guidelines for their marriage again that evening. Instead, they just enjoyed being themselves together, just as they were before the ring made them have serious conversations about their religions. And that made Leah happy. They were good together. The rest, they would figure out as they went along.
After dinner they went back to their apartment together. Shira was on the couch, waiting to support Leah if there had been bad news, but once Leah and Gabe stumbled in after a few shots gifted by their bartender, Shira said she would leave.
“It’s too late to take the train upstate!” Leah reasoned, but Shira assured her that she wasn’t going home. She’d stay with another friend in the city.
“Someone more fun than a boring engaged couple!” Shira said. Leah didn’t ask questions. She simply pulled Gabe into their bedroom and pushed him down onto their bed where she got on top of him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him gently and then harder and when she couldn’t stand it anymore, she lifted his shirt above his head.
They definitely were good together.