Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
DR AND MRS. ACKERMAN
It was Tzipi’s turn to play chauffeur, and Jonah to drive the getaway car. Well, getaway Jeep. She stood in Newark airport, on her tiptoes, waiting to greet Kara and Shel. With a handmade sign.
She caught sight of a couple wearing colorful leis, and her stomach dropped to her toes.
She'd spent the entire ride down the Turnpike, her hand in Jonah’s, rehearsing what she'd say. How she'd explain. How she'd apologize for signing away Kara's name to a fraudulent wellness scheme and potentially tanking her career.
Shel saw the sign first, eyes lighting up. And Kara saw her.
For a moment, the sisters just stared at each other.
Then Kara started laughing.
"Oh my God," she said, dropping her bag and crossing the space between them. "Your hair! We look like actual twins again. What are the odds?"
"Kara, I—"
Her sister ran her hands through her own pixie. “I don’t plan on changing mine back anytime soon. It was so liberating! Although I'm going to miss the—Tiz, why are you crying?"
The tears came before Tzipi could stop them. Great, ugly sobs that made her shoulders shake.
"Hey, hey, hey." Kara pulled her into a hug, the kind they used to give each other as kids when one of them had a bad day on set. "Shel, honey. Go get the bags. Shhh, It’s all okay. Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay."
"I’m sorry, I fucked up. I fucked up so bad, Kar." Tzipi pulled back, swiping at her face. "I signed your name. To a contract. With Rob Levin."
Kara's expression didn't change. "Bobby Bloom? From the show?"
"He was on the boat. We caught up for a bit.
And he had been talking up his start-up wellness company all night…
trying to rope me, well…you, in somehow.
And then after everything went sideways with Jonah—long story, but after I found out he wasn't really Max—I was upset and Rob found me and I was so frazzled, I was signing autographs blindly and—"
"Tzipi. Breathe."
"I can't breathe! I potentially attached your name to a product that's full of shellfish and fake research and fraudulent kosher certification and you could've been sued and –"
"But I'm not going to be sued," Kara said calmly. "Am I?"
Tzipi blinked. "What?"
"You said 'could've been.' Past tense. Which sounds to me like you fixed it."
"Almost. I still have to meet Rob tomorrow morning and—" Kara was smiling. Tzipi stared at her sister. "You're not mad?"
"Oh, I'm definitely annoyed that Robby tried to pull this shit.
But mad at you?" Kara shook her head. "Tiz, you covered for me so I could elope. You put your life on hold, got on a boat full of strangers, gave up your phone for fuck’s sake, and pretended to be me for eight hours, plus.
Did you really think I'd be pissed that you made one mistake while doing that? "
"It was a really big mistake."
"And you fixed it. With your very smart, very handsome fake bodyguard?" Kara's smile turned sly. "I know, I know, you didn’t want to bother me on my wedding night. And I really did keep the phone on silent, mostly. But what happens on the Baller, doesn’t always stay on the Baller.” She winked.
"So you're telling me," Kara said, pouring them wine while Jonah got a tour from Shel of their enormous Tribeca apartment, "that you spent the entire night thinking he was Max. And he spent most of the night knowing you weren't me. And you still managed to fall for each other?"
"When you say it like that, it sounds insane."
"It is insane. It's also kind of beautiful." Kara handed her a glass. "Tiz, do you know how rare it is to find someone who sees you? Not the version you're performing, not the role you're playing, but actually you?"
Tzipi rolled her eyes. "He thought I was you for at least half the night."
"And then he figured it out and chose to protect you anyway.
Without expecting anything in return. That's..." Kara paused.
"That's what Shel did for me. When everyone else saw Kara Koff, action star, red carpet regular—he saw me.
The girl who stress-bakes at 3 AM and can't parallel park and cries during Pixar movies. "
"You do cry during Pixar movies."
"Every. Single. Time." Kara took a sip of wine. "My point is, you found someone real. Someone who knows the worst parts of what happened and is still there. Don't you dare let Rob Levin or this ChaiCycle crap or your guilt about signing my name make you lose that."
"I'm staying in New York," Tzipi blurted. "For a while. Avi Wolfson’s connecting me with his contacts to expand That's a Wrap, Folks! into the music industry. Here.”
Kara set down her glass. “Perfect! Yes!”
"…and I know you think it's probably too fast with Jonah and we barely know each other but – wait, yes?"
"Yes, stay. Please stay." Kara took both of Tzipi's hands. "Tiz, I have been begging you to move to New York for years. If it takes a fake bodyguard and a boat party to finally get you here, I'll take it."
"But what about my apartment in LA? My lease? My—"
"Sublet it. Break the lease. Hell, keep it if you want. I’ll pay it.
But stay here. With me. Be close to me for once.
" Kara's voice cracked slightly. "I missed you.
I missed having my sister nearby. And if you've found someone who makes you happy?
Someone who makes you want to take a chance and move across the country?
" She squeezed Tzipi's hands. "Then I'm not letting you walk away from that. Plus now I don’t have to beg you to consider apartment-sitting while I go with Shel on his Doctors without Borders mission.”
“What? To Zambia? Back up! What about the press junket for Luminous Reckoning? The last idiot standing?”
“The studio is pushing the release back. Due to Hannon’s recovery. Did you know they hired an Entertainment Risk Consultant to come on board with him?”
“He said that guy was his ghostwriter, for a memoir!” Tzipi dug in her purse and found the card Rebecca had given her the night before. Sure enough, there was his title, right under his name: Jerry Greenwald, Senior Risk Analyst, Entertainment Division.
“That might’ve been the studio’s cover story, but I’m sure Hannon’s ego ran with it.” Kara rolled her eyes. Tzipi handed her the card.
“Call him, please. I turned down the autograph he requested for his mother at my most flustered. She might be a real fan. So how long is the movie delay?”
“Three months, at least. Could be six…” Kara ran her hand through her hair and laughed.
“Okay, so maybe the pixie cut was a bit of manifesting. I had wanted to go with him all along. One of the reasons why I chopped this all off. Shel said it'd be more practical in the field, I’d have to keep it covered mostly. And honestly? I love it. So much cooler in the heat.”
“Wow. Save some of that manifesting for the rest of us, Vanta.”
Kara laughed, and Tzipi bopped her with a throw pillow.
“You're sure about this?" Tzipi studied her sister's face. "You just got married. You could take a real honeymoon, not a humanitarian mission—"
"This is our honeymoon." Kara smiled. "Shel and I, we're not beach people. We're 'make a difference' people. Tikkun Olam – repair the world. Besides—" She bumped shoulders with Tzipi. "I like knowing you'll be here. Taking care of things. Building your own life in New York."
"But seriously…what if it doesn't work out? With Jonah. And me?"
"Then you'll have me. And this apartment. And a nonprofit expansion that's already in the works." Kara smiled. "You're not alone in this, Tiz. You never were. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to be."
"You didn't—"
"I did." Kara's expression turned serious.
"I knew the whole Rosie Bloom thing was hard on you.
How people always saw you as my replacement instead of your own person.
And then when you quit acting, I was so focused on my own career, I didn't... I didn't make enough space for you in my life. I'm sorry for that."
"Kar—"
"Let me finish." Kara took a breath. "You are not my backup.
You're not my stand-in. You're my sister, my twin, my best friend.
And you are so much more than I ever gave you credit for.
What you've built with That's a Wrap? The lives you've changed?
That matters just as much as anything I've done on screen. More, probably."
Tzipi's eyes stung. "You really mean that?"
"Every word." Kara pulled her into another hug. "So yes, stay. Build your life here. Date your ridiculously tall comedian-accountant hybrid. Let me be the annoying sister who pops by unannounced and raids your fridge."
"Your fridge? I'm staying here, remember?"
"Semantics." Kara pulled back, grinning. "Although if things work out with Jonah, I'm guessing you won't be here much longer anyway."
"It's only been two days.” Hard to believe.
“Two pretty amazing days, from the sound of it."
Tzipi couldn't argue with that. “We basically binge-watched an entire relationship in a weekend.”
“And?” Kara raised a brow. “Are you hooked?”
“…Yeah. I really am.”
The second to last candle.
Jonah stood in Kara and Shel’s loft—because apparently, this was his life now, casually hanging out in a Tribeca penthouse—watching Tzipi and her sister hold the shamash together.
What a difference a year made.
It had been a year since he'd faceplanted on the Matzo Baller last Hanukkah and Kara Koff (the real one) had helped him. A year since he'd promised himself he'd make it up to her somehow.
He'd never imagined it would lead to this.
"Your turn," Kara said, handing him the lighter. "Honorary family member privileges."
"I'm honored." He took it, hyper-aware of Tzipi watching him with soft eyes. "But shouldn't Shel—"
"Shel's on a call with Doctors Without Borders.
Time zones are a nightmare." Kara gestured to the menorah—an antique silver one that looked like it had had many happy candles drip down it in years past. "Besides, you've earned it.
You protected my sister. Figured out her Rob problem.
Shielded her from my Hannon problem. And based on the way she's looking at you right now, made her happier than I've seen her in years. "
"Kara," Tzipi hissed, cheeks flushing.
"What? I'm just saying." Kara winked at Jonah. "Light the candle, Klein. And don't set anything on fire. This place is rent-controlled."
"No it's not," Tzipi said.
"Okay, no, but it's expensive."
Jonah lit the helper candle, watching the flame catch and grow. And the girls used it to light all seven. The menorah blazing in Kara's window for all of Tribeca to see.
They sang the blessing together—Tzipi's voice heartfelt, Kara’s precise, and Jonah's somewhere in between. He felt like he was in a Room to Bloom Hanukkah special, virtual reality edition, in surround-sound.