Epilogue
Five months later
That year, when Judah’s Chanukah album blasted through the guys’ apartment, Akiva wasn’t the one to blame.
“Guess you don’t hate this one anymore?” Akiva teased Ari as she tore off a crispy bit of latke from the pile stacked on the counter. Liana’d been teaching her how to make them, and, well, the fifth time was the charm, apparently.
“Eh, he’s all right,” she conceded. Plus, something had to make up for his absence from their party tonight to perform at one paying more than he could say no to. “Definitely overplayed.”
She was kidding, but he was getting a lot more airtime since publicity had started for his new album, a collection of love songs in both Hebrew and English.
While his new “Im Eshkachech” was, as he predicted, the most popular, she had a soft spot for his slowed-down, almost disconcertingly sexy “Eshet Chayil.”
After all, thanks to several viral videos—including the one from Liana’s wedding (with the comments shut off, thank you very much)—a number of interviews about the inspiration for his new direction, and a follow-up article in Noted, everyone in the world seemed to know exactly who he was singing to these days.
And while there’d been some backlash—fewer invitations with certain singers, enough creeps ranting on social media for Ari to make all her accounts private—there was also a contingent of weirdos who shipped them hard and seemed happy to see Judah happy.
It’d been a strange time, but it’d also been really, really good.
Good enough that tonight she missed him deeply.
At least this year, Gideon and Liana actually showed up on time.
He was filling the fridge with the beer he’d brought while she dished out applesauce, and Ari prepared the coffee table for SevivOhNo while Akiva and Noah hung up terrible homemade decorations.
Everything was as it should’ve been. Almost.
The door flew open and banged against the back wall, and Hannah barreled in with what looked like two jugs of moonshine. “Good news!” she declared, raising them in the air. “I think this batch worked!”
Everyone else muttered feigned enthusiasm and got back to their tasks, while a laughing Ari went to help relieve her sister of the ridiculous drinks.
She did, in fact, end up letting Hannah move in with her after Liana’s wedding; even with a promotion, her salary was nowhere near enough to carry a two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side by herself.
It was every bit as exhausting as she’d expected, especially when Hannah’d decided to take up amateur mixology in their kitchen, but at least the brothers Klein generally found her amusing.
The party finally kicked into high gear when Bella and Zach showed up with the doughnuts, and Emily—now Noah’s fiancée—rolled in after her last final and proceeded to kick all their asses at drunken dreidel.
They lit candles and took silly pictures and sang along to Judah’s album at the top of their lungs.
“I can’t believe Judah’s missing this,” Ari grumbled to Liana, squinting into her empty bottle of hard cider. “We’ve done every freaking holiday separately because we’re not married, and then the first one we can finally do together, he has to bail. I can’t even text him.”
To her annoyance, a slow smile spread over Liana’s face. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sound like a woman who wants to get married.”
“Oh, shut up. You think everyone wants to get married and have babies.”
“Yeah, well, you—”
Akiva clapped his hands together and drew everyone’s attention. “Mystery Maccabee time!”
“Wait, you were serious about that?” Danny asked with a snort as he looked around the room, somehow only just noticing the pile of presents resting on a table by the door. “Shit. I, uh, gotta go find something in my room.”
“Do you wanna take wrapping paper with you?” Noah called after him.
“What do you think we’re gonna get?” Akiva asked. “An old sefer he never uses, or a shirt he’s gonna yank out of his closet and toss in a shopping bag?”
“Well, thankfully,” Bella said, perching over the pile, “someone got you a real present.” She handed a gift to Akiva wrapped in festive blue-and-white paper. “So I guess you’ll kick us off.”
Akiva waggled his eyebrows as he ripped open the paper. “And what’s this?” He turned it around and broke into a wide grin as he lifted up the pair of sriracha bottles on keychains. “Yesss, sriracha everywhere!”
“I figured this was better than hearing you annoyingly flag a server down every single time we go out to eat,” Noah said dryly.
“Still gonna do that just to annoy you,” Akiva informed him. “All right, this means it’s Noah’s turn. What do we got?”
Bella handed Noah his gift, which turned out to be a book from Liana that he’d borrowed from the library three times already—“Figured I’d save you the trip for read number four”—and then Liana received a hideously bedazzled “Mrs. Levy” shirt from Bella that made her squeal in delight while Gideon groaned.
One by one, everyone received their gifts, laughing and showing them off, and Ari realized that the cookbook she’d bought Emily wasn’t there. “Hannah, didn’t you bring up the gifts? The one I bought isn’t here.”
“Is it not?” Hannah scrunched her brow. “Crap, I’m sorry. I think it’s still on the table downstairs. Do you want me to get it?”
Ari knew full well Hannah’s “Do you want me to” was code for “I don’t want to, but I’ll do it if you make me, and I will be deeply whiny about it.” She sighed. “No, I’ll get it. Sorry, Em. I’ll be right back.”
She slipped out of the apartment and headed down the stairwell, but when she entered her apartment and flipped the light switch, nothing happened. “Oh, are you fucking kidding me?” she muttered. “How is the—”
It was then she realized the room was not as pitch black as it should’ve been. It took a moment for her to register the dim light as flickering candles, and then Ari saw a gift on the table, exactly where Hannah had said it would be.
But it wasn’t big enough to be a cookbook.
And the name on the tag wasn’t Emily’s.
She picked it up, a lightheaded feeling hitting her just as the opening chords of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” filled the air—not a recording but a live performance.
She whirled around, and sure enough, there was Ein Klein Hotmusic himself, serenading her in what looked to be a brand-new three-piece suit.
He looked so unbearably sexy that she didn’t know whether to open the gift or tear off his clothes, so instead she sat, watching him until he laughed and put down the guitar.
“It’s not actually a romantic song,” he pointed out.
“I was going for a throwback. I thought you’d have opened the box by now. ”
“Is that a new suit?”
“It is.”
“You dressed up for me,” she said with a slow smile, tugging on his lapels. “And what happened to your unmissable concert tonight?”
He gestured at his guitar. “You just heard it.”
“Judah.”
“You know, in my vision of this, you were already tearing off the wrapping when I came out.”
“You already got me presents,” she reminded him, toying with the sapphire pendant hanging around her neck.
“Multiple presents.” In fact, she’d briefly contemplated skipping the party tonight to crack open the Lego set she’d long coveted but that had been discontinued.
She still didn’t know how he’d managed to dig it up, as he refused to reveal his secrets.
“This one’s for both of us, really. Kind of like your entire lingerie collection.”
Her heart hammered in her chest as she lifted the weightless box. “This doesn’t feel like lingerie.”
“Guess you’ll have to open it and see.”
And so she did, delicately tearing off the paper to reveal the velvet underneath. With a deep breath, she lifted the lid … and saw Judah had dropped down to one knee.
“You’re going to get your suit dirty,” she said stupidly as he plucked the box from between her fingers.
“Arielle.”
“Judah.” Her voice was shaky, and the room was so quiet. Ordinarily, she’d be hearing the party through the ceiling, but they must’ve shut off the music. “They all know what’s happening right now, don’t they.”
“Liana is extremely persistent, as you may have noticed.”
She snorted. “Don’t let her rush you. If you’re asking because—”
“Ari. I’m asking because I am, to borrow from Gideon, head over ass in love with you, and five months hasn’t been enough. I want forever.”
“Even if I never learn how to make challah without burning it?”
“Amazingly, that is not even in my top five criteria for a life partner.”
“Noted.” He rose up and her arms slid up around his neck, but before he could lean in for a kiss, she huffed out a laugh. “And once again, you’re getting ahead of yourself. You have to ask the damn question, Hotmusic. Get back on your knees.”
“Knee,” he corrected, even while he complied. “It’s just one knee.”
She tugged her lip between her teeth and smiled wickedly down at him. “For now.”
“Arielle Becker,” he said with a quiet laugh. “Please, please marry me.”
“Well, since you asked so nicely … yes, Judah Klein, I will marry you.”
He jumped up and pulled her into a kiss, taking a brief break only to slide the ring onto her finger before their mouths found each other again, and again, and again.
Then he grabbed the broom and tapped the ceiling twice, and the room upstairs erupted into cheers and stomps that sent Arielle laughing into Judah’s shoulder.
“I’m not having five babies, you know.”
“I do know,” he said with a grin as he pulled her slowly back to the couch before dropping into it.
She climbed into his lap, rubbing her hands over his shoulders. “We’re gonna have a lot of sex though.”
His grin widened as he cupped her ass in his hands, pulling her close. “Counting on it.”
“Naima and James are going to absolutely die.” Though it’d be hard to beat the morning after Liana and Gideon’s wedding, when Ari strolled into their coworking space with Judah in tow and watched their jaws drop to the floor.