Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
“ T his is it? We’re in a park.” Leah glanced around the deserted lot. A sign said Niagara Falls State Park was open twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. It didn’t look much like a Wonder of the World from where they were sitting.
What could only be described as ice needles hit them the moment they stepped out of the car. “Is that –?” Leah gasped, turning her back to the wind.
“I think it’s the mist, freezing. Let’s make this quick.”
Leah gingerly placed the urn inside her coat, holding it in place with her crossed arms. “I have no idea if this is even legal,” she whisper-shouted to him as he skated ahead of her on the slippery pavement.
“All the more reason to make this quick.”
A park ranger was coming out of the Welcome Center. He held up a gloved hand in greeting as if it were perfectly natural to be sightseeing ahead of the region’s blizzard warning. “You folks be careful out there. The Observation Deck is closed, but Terrapin Point has a nice view, top of the falls.”
He pointed them down a path. Avi grabbed Leah’s arm before she almost went down, and together they hobbled like penguins across the frozen terrain. They were even closer to the waterfalls now, so the freezing mist had coated everything, from the walkways to the trees to the overlooks, in a dreamy, otherworldly white.
You could still hear the roar of the water cascading, churning up the frosty mist. It was hard to see the falls through it, but you knew they were there. Leah stopped in front of the ice-coated railing. “Wow…”
“You can’t get this close to the Canadian Falls,” Avi marveled as they watched the rushing water from the river tip into oblivion from just a few feet away. “You can give Mrs. Horowitz a good send-off from here.”
Leah pulled out the urn, struggling with the top. “She’s not making this easy.”
Avi held out a hand. She stubbornly kept trying to turn the top before finally admitting defeat and handing it over. “Maybe it’s sealed?”
He carefully turned it around and then upside down, examining it. What they thought was the top and a lid was decorative, and there was a screw-off plug hidden in the base. “Ah ha, there we go.” Avi carefully removed it, then handed the urn back for Leah to do the honors.
“Now that we’re here…” she trailed off. “It feels like we should say a few words, you know?”
It was cold as fuck, the ice needles were stabbing his brain, and the fur coat was becoming ice mist-logged and heavier by the minute. But Leah was right. “Was she observant?”
She shook her head.
“How about a favorite song?”
Leah bit her lip in thought. “She loved Sam Cooke.”
In his mind, Avi saw the old jukebox his Year Course host Modi kept on the moshav , full of discs from every decade and rigged to play them for free. He’d learned to sing them all during his time there, with Modi sometimes joining in with his high tenor.
Sam Cooke. Avi nodded. Mentally scanned the inventory, landed on a flashing choice and selected it.
Leah inhaled a deep breath through her nose, then pincered her fingertips into the urn to pull out the bag. Her brow furrowed, then raised in confusion as she pulled what looked like a folded index card out.
“Tell me that’s the brisket recipe,” Avi laughed as Leah studied it.
“Taking it to her grave was a clue, not a threat!” Leah pressed the memento to her heart fondly before pocketing it so she could continue the task at hand.
As if on cue, the Falls around them lit up for their nightly illumination: a rainbow of blues, purples, yellows, and pinks. As if showing them just when to start.
Leah sprinkled little gray heaps over the railing toward the frothing beyond as Avi crooned a soulful rendition of “You Send Me.”
“This isn’t like they make it look in the movies,” she groused. The mist was mixing with the ash the moment it left the bag, carrying some of it back toward land instead of sea. Avi had a thought. He held up the urn so she could place the bag back in.
“Save half. The Baller sails right by the Statue of Liberty. The rest can be scattered there.”
Suddenly, Mrs. Horowitz took matters into her own hands. As if impatient – like when Mrs. Blum stopped a Mahjong play like the Charleston, or Mrs. Felder took too long to decide if she wanted a discarded tile.
Or maybe it was Mother Nature, taking the entire contents of the bag out of Leah’s hands and carrying it on a gust into the mist.
“Hey! You there!” Another ranger appeared on the path. “Throwing anything over the Falls is strictly prohibited.” She reached for the walkie clipped to her coat.
“We were just honoring – ” Leah trailed off as Avi dropped to one knee.
“ Honoring my dearly departed grandmother, who wanted to witness my proposal.” He set the urn down next to him. “Sorry, Gran. I know you wanted this moment to be just perfect.” He threw a glance at the officer looming over them. “And private. ”
The officer clearly was not born yesterday. “If you’re proposing, where’s the ring?”
Avi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He couldn’t believe he was about to put himself through this again.
Leah’s eyes widened as Avi’s hand dipped down the neck of his T-shirt. Something fell heavy against his dark hoodie, between the fur lapels of Mrs. Horowitz’s coat — a thin, silver chain, swinging into view. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw what was dangling from it: an impressive diamond ring. It glinted in the harsh winter light as he held it up, each facet catching and throwing light into the misty glow around them.
“And what better place than Niagara Falls,” he went on, with an exaggerated flourish, “to ask my beloved to make me the happiest man alive?”
The ranger’s brows furrowed, clearly invested whether she wanted to be or not. Leah could practically see the gears turning in the woman’s head, weighing whether to enforce the law or let this unexpected public proposal play out.
Who is this man looking up at me like I’m his everything? Leah felt a surge of emotions she wasn’t prepared for — shock, curiosity, and a confusing, uninvited pang of jealousy. And who was the woman he’d really bought that for?
“Well, congrats and be quick about it. The county sheriff just issued an advisory against non-essential travel. You do know there’s a storm coming?” The ranger turned back toward the Welcome Center, mumbling something about giving them their moment before disappearing.
Avi – and his million-dollar smile – seemed frozen for a moment, then he abruptly sobered, stuffing the chain back under the fur coat, the ring disappearing with it just as fast as it appeared.
“Let’s pretend you never saw that,” he said, his tone clipped and defensive. His eyes met hers for a heartbeat. “Don’t.” His voice was tight, and his jaw clenched as he looked out at the mist. “Just… don’t ask.”
Leah’s mind spun. “Okay. But are you –”
“Have you been living under a rock ? She said no, so I’m saying, forget about it, Letty. Don’t. Ask.”
He took her arm and began to hustle her toward Bertha, who was waiting in the lot like a bank heist getaway car. “You should’ve researched,” he snapped, “before desecrating a public landmark! We could have been fined. Or worse.”
“Who researches a loved one’s final request? They wish it, and you do it. End of story. And the only desecration was yours, with your happiest man alive bullshit!”
Not to mention beloved .
Leah was still reeling from everything that had just happened: the makeshift scattering of Mrs. Horowitz’s ashes, Avi’s sudden, knee-drop fake proposal to throw off the park ranger, and, most of all, the diamond ring he’d revealed—and just as quickly hidden away—before telling her, in no uncertain terms, to shut up about it.
Now, the two park rangers had joined up outside and were conferring, pointing toward the Falls and turning toward the lot.
“Get in, get in!” Avi urged, yanking open the driver’s side door. Leah scrambled into the passenger seat, clutching the urn.
“You seriously told me to pretend I didn’t see a freaking engagement ring?” she sputtered, slamming her door. “What the hell, Avi?”
“Not now,” he muttered, jamming the key into the ignition. The engine roared to life, and he threw the car into reverse so fast it jerked them both forward in their seats.
“Do you think they’re putting two and two together?”
“I don’t plan to stick around to find out,” Avi shot back. The tires crunched over the icy gravel of the parking lot. He spun the wheel, shifted into drive, and hit the gas like he was Mario Andretti at the start of a race.
Leah’s heart pounded as they sped toward the only park exit that didn’t have a closed gate, the rangers and the swirling blue light of their car disappearing behind a wall of frozen mist. “Oh my God, you’re going to get us arrested!”
Avi didn’t answer, his jaw set in grim determination. He took a sharp left out of the lot. Too sharp, too fast, too —
Thunk-thunk. Bertha lurched as the front tires rolled directly over a row of bright yellow tire spikes marked with a warning: DO NOT EXIT. ENTRANCE ONLY. DO NOT BACK UP . Both of them froze as the unmistakable hiss of air escaping the punctured tires filled the car.
Leah’s mouth fell open. “You did not ,” she whispered, her voice a mix of disbelief and fury.
Avi’s hands gripped the steering wheel, and he let out a strangled groan. “Oh, come on !” he yelled as if the universe might undo what just happened. He banged his forehead lightly against the wheel. “This cannot be happening.”
Leah’s shock melted into something hotter, more acidic. “You punctured my tires,” she said, her voice shaking. “ Plural ! Because you were too busy pulling a Fast and Furious move to run from a park ranger . Who,” — she pointed, as the blue lights receded — “Is going a different way!”
Avi threw his hands up. “I panicked! And you were yelling about the ring…”
“Because you told me to shut up about it !”
The car sat there, lopsided and wheezing from its injured front tires, while the park ranger’s siren echoed in the distance. Avi glanced over at Leah, his face a complicated mix of guilt and something else she couldn’t quite read.
“I’ll fix this,” he said, his voice quieter now, “I promise.”
Avi rummaged in the trunk’s emergency kit, extracting two road flares. She watched from her seat as he popped each lid, then twisted the caps before striking the ignitor buttons against them and setting them out where there’d be a prayer of someone seeing them.
They were hanging halfway out of a parking lot entrance onto a dark, winding street in the middle of a state park that was deserted in the off-season. With an impending storm coming their way.
“Tonight’s the first night of Hanukkah,” he murmured as they watched the flares live their best life of twenty minutes on Earth.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
“This may be the closest we get to lighting candles tonight.”
Leah growled. “I’m not about to say Baruch atah, Adonai over roadside flares.”
Avi was rubbing something in his hands like it was a genie’s lamp. It was a worn leather wallet from which he extracted a card.
“Can I borrow your phone?”
“You have Triple-A?”
“ Tobin has Triple-A,” he corrected. “And we have really great catering.” He lifted the bag from the venue that had been chilling in the back seat. “Believe me when I say, beef on weck makes everything a little better.”
Avi wasn’t lying. Something about a soft roll, sinfully crusted with salt and seeds on top, soaking up au jus from tender meat and melting in her mouth. A dollop of horseradish on it, washed down with the cool Canadian beer, provided just the right zing as they waited for the tow truck, estimated to arrive within the hour.
The hour felt like midnight at that point, but it was only six-thirty. Technically dinner time. Avi poked his head back into the bag. “Chips, salsa, crudité…too bad they didn’t pack dessert.”
Without a word, Leah reached into the back seat.
“I knew it!” Avi crowed.
“One piece,” she warned. Mrs. Ackerman’s rugelach was that good, and now that she knew Avi’s weakness for the pastry, she’d have to be a strict gatekeeper.
His eyes widened at the sight before him. Each one he reached for looked plumper and more sugar-studded than the one before it, but he finally settled on choosing one from the tin she held. Those Grammy-winning fingers held the piece up to inspect it in the glow of the map light.
“All that hazarai ,” he praised, and Leah was pretty proud of how she had, indeed, managed to stuff the dough full of rich chocolate and walnuts – all the sinful junk – and still keep its pinwheel intact.
One bite and the noise he made had Leah crossing her legs. One of Avi’s pleasure buttons had clearly been activated. And it was that good.
“Cream cheese,” she offered up happily. “It makes all the difference.”
“Girl,” he managed around a mouthful, “if you’re holding onto another one of Mrs. Horowitz’s recipes, imma steal it in your sleep.”
“Nope, this one’s Mrs. Ackerman’s. And it’s all in my head. She’s been making me practice for three months now. For her grandson. The doctor .”
Avi chewed and swallowed before nodding, eyes closed. “Ah, it all makes sense now. This road trip…it’s a rugelach road trip. Most important of missions.”
Was he making fun?
A promise was a promise, even if the stakes weren’t what she’d led him to believe. And if nothing else, it was proof she could see one thing through, no matter how the rest of the trip veered off course. All she knew was that she couldn’t show up on the Matzo Baller without any rugelach for Hersh.
“Hence…only one.” She snuck the smallest nugget from the tin before pressing the lid firmly in place. It really was divine.
Avi sucked the last blob of chocolate off his thumb and pouted – Avi Wolfson pouting, ladies and gentlemen – before conceding. “If you let me have one more when we get to New York, I bet I could get my friend Talia to deconstruct and reverse engineer it. She is the Jewish Grandma caterer…and quite a rugelach whisperer herself.”
“ If we ever get to New York, you can have one more,” Leah bargained. “Or, I’ll trade you…a rugelach now, for the ring story.”
As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them. After all, hadn’t it been just like the ultimatum old heartless Hattie had used on her earlier that day, leveraging Linda’s last wishes? Leah didn’t want to send Avi down a path he hadn’t planned to go. Look where it had gotten her today: stuck in a snowy parking lot with two flat tires.
But she did want to hear Avi make that noise again. And she was dying to learn more about the ring. So win-win?
She placed the tin on his lap. Avi’s dark eyes searched hers for a moment, before he lifted the lid and dipped his hand back in. He extracted the largest piece – a portent of the juicy story to come? – and held it to his lips. Leah held her breath.
“This stays between me, you, and Bertha?”
“Of course.”
“This has nothing to do with my willpower. Which is amazing, by the way.”
“Of course.”
She watched as he bit and chewed, eyes rolling back. “Fuck. No offense to sufganiyot , but gimme a plate of these every Hanukkah.”
Okay, now she was going to need another one, too. Her mouth watered as she plucked her piece from the tin. It was like the power of suggestion. Or watching someone yawn and feeling one coming on.
“That doctor is going to propose on the spot when you lay these on him.”
Not quite.
The weight of her secret loomed large in the cabin of the car. So much of her bucket list was already going off script, and this road trip with Avi—unplanned, chaotic, and oddly personal—felt like it needed its own lane, separate from everything waiting for her in New York. Telling him now would shift the dynamic, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that just yet.
“Classic stall. Come on,” she prompted, biting into her piece and catching crumbs as they fell with her other hand. “I’ve paid the toll. Let’s hear it. Speaking of proposals…”
“You’re pushy, you know that?”
“Comes with being the youngest,” Leah said with a shrug, trying to sound casual even though her pulse was skittering. She didn’t know why hearing this felt so important—but it did.