Chapter Fourteen
L eah found herself in Briarwood for the second time that week; first, she’d dropped a grateful Samuel off at the mechanic’s to pick up his brother’s car, and now, she was at Shayna and Nathan’s to drop off some of the hockey equipment that she’d found for Ramona.
“I’m in a pickle,” she said, deciding to tell Shayna instead of her cousin or her sister. “I need a dress for the Tzedakah Exchange gala.”
“Luckily for you,” Shayna said as she grabbed her phone and purse, “I know a few people who know about dresses.”
Leah, of course, was not surprised that after a few calls, Naomi and Judith both showed up, making excuses for Livvy as they sat in the car while Shayna drove across the county to the formal-wear shop she knew.
“This place is legendary,” Naomi said with a grin. “How did you know this place?”
Leah had stopped being surprised by Shayna’s random bits of arcane information a long time ago. But all the same, Shayna told the story about a dress of hers that had gotten stuck in customs. “They drove to new Jersey to get that dress,” Shayna said with a smile. “And Leah needs a dress to impress. They also have a kids section, so I’ll be getting Ramona something.”
“Ramona’s going?” Judith asked.
Shayna nodded and pulled into the parking lot. A furniture store, a huge bookstore and a few random shops flanked the store. “Yep. Her hockey team is making a presentation, or at least they’ll be there to look adorable. So she needs a dress.”
“Already?” Leah asked, then remembered the organizational philosophy. “I guess once a unicorn always a unicorn.”
Shayna nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Wait,” Judith said, “is this the Tzedakah Exchange gala that you’re going to?”
Leah nodded. “Yeah.” The Jewish charity organizations were way too close for comfort in most cases, and the last thing she wanted to know was that her sister was going. But she asked anyway, maybe just to be polite. “You going?”
“Yeah,” Judith said, much to Leah’s chagrin. “Asher’s officially going, and I’m his plus-one.”
Which made sense; her client and future brother-in-law had begun an organization that worked with Jewish hockey players five years before.
Yet another hurdle she’d deal with at the gala, and heading toward it.
Great.
*
Samuel hated the rules for suits, but there were benefits to having a brother-in-law who paid attention to fashion.
Tommy directed him first to his favorite store, and once he’d bought the suit, his brother-in-law led the reluctant trio out of the city and to a tailor who would make sure that whatever garment he brought in would be altered in time for the gala.
“Why are we going to Westchester?” Aaron asked as they pulled into the shopping center parking lot, which was the question that Samuel wanted to ask, except Samuel wasn’t interested in incurring the wrath of someone who was helping him.
“The guy’s practically retired,” Tommy said. “But he’s here, with a few of his relatives, and enjoying himself.”
“Don’t question it,” Samuel said. “He got me a suit.”
“That I did,” Tommy said as they headed toward the store, unassuming as it was.
“Hi,” Tommy said as they opened the door. “Tommy Levine-Goldfarb. Mottel’s expecting me.”
The woman who met them nodded, and shortly, an older man emerged from the back.
“Hello, Mottel,” Tommy said, gesturing. Which Samuel figured was his cue. He figured correctly, thankfully, because the next move was to point. “My brother-in-law needs to be fitted for an event.”
The older man didn’t say anything, just waved his arms and pointed toward the dressing rooms.
And so, deciding that this was even more of his cue, Samuel followed, going into the fitting room and putting the suit on.
“Guy’s brilliant,” Tommy said.
As he came out of the dressing room, the older man looked him up and down. “A few small adjustments,” Mottel said as he came out of the dressing room. “You will be good.” And as Mottel began pinning and pulling, out of the corner of his eye, Samuel saw a vision.
A short jacket over a dress, fitting curves that went on for days, blue eyes that met his, chestnut hair with a hint of a curl.
Leah.
He gulped.
Leah Nachman had always been pretty; then and now. But right now, at this moment…she…
“Abba,” a voice said, breaking through his concentration, “you took my tape measure and the last time you did that I told you I’d have to do my next fitting where your extra tape measure is. So hineni .”
And hineni meant that whoever this was, was going to have Leah stand up on a stool right across from him to do her fitting.
“Hi,” she whispered, her voice carrying across to where he stood. “Awkward though.”
He tried not to full-on laugh; he managed just to snort. “Could be worse,” he said.
“I don’t know how.”
And then as he watched the woman start to pin and pull and push and sigh, he decided he didn’t want to know.
“Like this?”
He laughed. There was something about having dual fittings, standing side by side, co-conspirators in weird embarrassment, that brought them closer. “Don’t want to think about it,” he finally said.
“Why are you here?”
“My brother-in-law,” he said, resisting the urge to run his hands through his hair. “He knows clothing and he knows this place. You?”
“My sister-in-law,” she replied. “I realized I didn’t have the right outfit for the gala. My niece is up in the kids section getting fitted with my sister and my sister-in-law. And Naomi.”
“Your niece is going? To the gala?”
Leah nodded. “She’s a member of the team being honored, even though it was her first session, they take them in immediately. So she’s going.”
In the space between what she said and what he wanted to say, he heard a screech and then some familiar voices that made him cringe.
“What’s going on?” she whispered.
He shrugged, then heard a commotion of voices. Including one very familiar one.
Aaron.
*
As if standing and getting fitted across from Samuel wasn’t enough, hearing her cousin Naomi’s screech amidst the commotion put the cherry on her shit sundae. “Hi, Naomi,” she managed.
As if it couldn’t get worse, Naomi didn’t turn toward her but toward someone else. “Aaron Levine-Goldfarb, how are you?”
“I,” Samuel’s brother said, “am good. What brings you here?”
Leah tried not to scream as Chava, the tailor, stabbed her with a pin.
“Stop moving! If you stopped moving, then I wouldn’t stab you.”
“Sorry,” she managed. But her cousin’s arrival couldn’t be at a worse time, and she needed to say something about it. “Naomi…what the heck?”
Naomi seemed smug. “Ramona’s adorable but there are only a few people who can watch a four-year-old pick a dress before things get chaotic. And then I remembered you were here. So here I am.”
And without warning, her cousin came closer. Leah felt like she’d been placed under a microscope, as Naomi inspected every inch of her body. “You need a magnifying glass?”
Naomi shook her head, in no way chagrined. “I like the dress,” her cousin finally pronounced. “And your boyfriend there?”
Of course Naomi was going to say something.
“Boyfriend?”
A guy she didn’t know but figured was Aaron’s husband, the source of the Goldfarb in the last name.
“Still?” Naomi asked.
“Yeah,” she managed. “Still.”
“Interesting.” Naomi looked across the room. “You guys going to the gala together?”
“You should go together,” Aaron of course. “It would be a great idea.”
“Two nice people,” Mottel said. “Going to the same event, who are going to look nice? Why should you not go together?”
Samuel looked back at her; they hadn’t actually finalized their plans. “So I guess we’re going?”
“Yeah, your plus-one or mine?” Leah said, relaxed in a situation where she shouldn’t be, considering the questions that would come her way between then and when the gala would actually take place.
Then again, if she couldn’t survive this situation with Samuel, what was she doing fake dating him in the first place?