Chapter Eighteen
Wedding scavenger hunt (N)
Debrief (J): How do you expand your business? What’s the most important thing someone starting out in business needs?
I love you.
She heard the words, no louder than a whisper in the deepest dark of night.
Was she supposed to know? To hear? To react?
She had no idea what to do or how; somehow Jason’s late-night expression was strangling her.
He wasn’t leaving. That was a relief.
He’d seen her stressed, helped her through being stressed…and he wasn’t leaving.
Could she shove her fears about losing him, about him being like every other man she’d ever been close to aside for however long it took to consider…her own feelings?
But as the thought started to make its way through her, the alarm she’d set went off.
She was running behind.
Of course.
She shoved all of those messy, emotional thoughts aside as she pulled herself together for the day, dressing, putting on makeup and grabbing both the binder and a few contracts to place in her tote bag.
“Do we stop for coffee or breakfast?”
He shrugged, the smile on his face still bright. “Your choice,” she said. “I think we should bring a drink or two and maybe stop?”
She nodded. “Okay? That sounds good.”
He looked at her, and she wondered what he was looking for: a sign? Something else?
Who knew what was going through his head.
“Before we get in a car for a few hours,” he said, almost out of nowhere. “I need to ask you a question.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I said something last night. If you heard and it took you by surprise, I’m sorry. I just…was testing it out on my tongue. If you’re not ready to hear it, then we won’t talk about it.”
“It just took me by surprise,” she said, honestly, because she’d never been anything but honest with Jason before. “I haven’t given myself any time to think about anything but this wedding. I’ve been stressed…well you know that.”
Jason nodded; she knew what disappointment on his face looked like and that wasn’t it. “I understand,” he said.
“I will tell you that it didn’t scare me, or anything like that,” she said. “I will also tell you that the thing that made me the most nervous was whether you wanted me to hear it.”
“Noted,” he said.
But all the same as he pulled her close, she sought comfort in his arms. And found herself wondering…what she felt about him…whether it was love or something else entirely.
Whether the nerves that gathered in the pit of her stomach had more to do with what would happen when she figured out how she felt, or what his reaction would be…or even how an answer she couldn’t find or determine would affect them.
She knew she wasn’t afraid of the fact he loved her; it wasn’t even a bad thing. It was a good one.
She just couldn’t figure out how to categorize how she felt well enough yet.
But she knew she didn’t want to lose him.
And hoped he knew her well enough to know she meant it when she told him: “I have feelings,” she said.
“You matter more to me than anything. I’ve never felt…
better than when I’ve been with you. You make me a better person. If that’s love, then I’m there.”
“The words? Is it okay I said them?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m not ready to say them yet, but you’ve seen my dirty laundry.”
He laughed. He was around to see the mess that had been her sister’s love life.
“That’s true,” he said. “But you’re not being recorded.”
She shook her head. “I’m not.”
“But are you ready to go on a drive to Long Island with someone who has been under public scrutiny? Recorded? Watched, I mean?”
“More than ready,” she said, reaching up to run her hands through his hair. “There’s nobody I’d rather go on this drive with than you.”
And with that, at least, partially settled, Naomi followed Jason to his car, and hoped desperately that the traffic would help them and not hurt them.
*
Jason could have kicked himself as they walked down the street to the parking lot to retrieve his car. Not only had he dropped ‘I love you’ in the middle of the night, but had basically managed to insist on some kind of answer before they left his apartment.
Granted, there had been logic to his choice of subject matter; with or without traffic, the drive to Long Island wasn’t short. Which meant the prospect of making that drive with her, that bombshell hanging over them and stealing the air, was about as appealing as diving into a vat of Roquefort.
But the response she’d given, though it was trademark Naomi, emotional deer in headlights, wasn’t exactly as encouraging as he had expected. Of course, she could have also told him to go to Hades and that she didn’t want to talk about emotional issues at all.
So, it was a…positive, maybe?
Either way, they’d gotten the worst of that conversation out of the way and at least they could breathe around each other. There were buds growing that would hopefully flower at some point.
More importantly, the music was good, the sun was bright and there wasn’t much traffic on the expressway. At least when they approached it, and it was pretty much a straight shot between that part of the expressway and Rockliffe Manor.
May made t green, gorgeous and bright; the Long Island Expressway wore the impending summer well, it seemed. The exit was also nice, not as curvy as the Rivertown or Hollowville exits off of any of the major highways.
And Rockliffe Manor? Was gorgeous, as if it had been drawn by someone who wanted a cross between brand-new suburb and historic town.
“This is nice,” Naomi said as they drove through the downtown in search of a parking space. “I’d love to come back when things are less stressed.”
“Yeah,” he said, deciding to pull into one of the municipal lots instead of staring down the main streets in search of a spot he’d have to parallel park into.
He noticed that there weren’t meters, especially in the spots at the edge of the lot near the historical society.
“I really like the way everything is laid out. I think they have a gorgeous waterfront.”
“They also have a summer festival,” she said with a grin.
“You noticed that?”
She nodded and the sparkle in her eyes made him smile. “I love small-town summer festivals I don’t have to plan.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
She nodded. “Once you start planning festivals in small towns, you’re reminded of how much parking these festivals take up.
You can’t help but notice how much parking, whether metered, lots or both, a town might have.
So, every small town that has a festival or an opening or whatever, the first thing I look for is parking. ”
“That is just exhausting,” he said. “I mean I don’t have a base cuisine, but I’m always watching people as they’re cooking in restaurants or catering wise. I’m always seeing what I can learn. Is that the same in certain ways?”
She didn’t answer immediately. “Somewhat. I mean I haven’t planned that many festivals, because it was one of those things that Ida turned her nose up at, but after Briarwood’s Hanukkah opening, I was contacted by some people from a Committee of the Hollowvilles, and I’ve been helping them plan a Festival of Autumn, going from Sukkot to Halloween that’s going to start this coming year. ”
“Wait,” he said. “Hollowville now is going to have a Halloween festival and a Hanukkah festival?”
“It’s complex,” she replied. “North Hollowville started the whole thing a few years ago, with a Halloween festival. But as Hanukkah became huge for Hollowville and Halloween became unwieldy for North Hollowville, the North Hollowville committee asked Hollowville if they wanted to join the festivities, read: help plan, with an autumn-themed holiday. And because the Hollowville committee was exhausted, they suggested their contribution would be Sukkot-themed, never thinking North Hollowville would agree. But, they underestimated how desperate North Hollowville was to share the planning, so they agreed immediately.”
“Which is where you came in?”
Naomi nodded. “Pretty much. It’s been wild, with the Sukkot-themed events in Hollowville. I think they’re taking inspiration from the kinds of things Briarwood does with Hanukkah. Not as…”
“Over the top as their Hanukkah presentations?”
Naomi nodded. “Exactly. Sukkot doesn’t lend itself to that. It lends itself to harvest and build your own sukkah and etrog drinks and supervised lulav waving and donuts and all that kind of thing. Someone might want to get Zach Weisler to come and sing ‘Three Stars.’”
Which, if Jason remembered correctly, was, in fact, a Sukkot song. “Makes sense, though if anything is going to turn this situation over the top, it’s that.”
He loved listening to her as her mind worked out the larger picture of an event. He loved the way she saw things, and the events she managed to plan.
“I can see some kind of an etrog-ade, not a cider though,” he replied as he thought about it. “But I think the lulav cookies would be so much fun. Like in the context of the things you create for Halloween, pulling out the crafting nature of Sukkot would be fun.”
“I’ll run it by the committee.” She paused, looked at him as he pulled into a space. “If you’re serious about helping, you know?”
Once he’d parked, he grinned at her. “The back end of event planning is just not my thing, but once you introduce a food item or two? I’m in.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “You should know that by now,” he replied, brushing her shoulder with his fingers to soften what might otherwise be considered a blow. “But generally speaking, if you want me in, I’ll do it.”
“But what are you thinking? I mean,” she said “Like…generally?”