Chapter Twenty-Four
A s he tried to figure out what his next steps were, which of his commissions and assignments had to be prioritized, Samuel’s phone buzzed.
It was Bryce Emerson.
He picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, listen. I need a favor.”
“Okay?”
“A friend of mine convinced me to teach the 14U boys’ hockey team based at the Briarwood JCC about masks, and how I use writing techniques in making them. Apparently they’re having trouble with all of that?”
Samuel nodded. A boys’ hockey team based at the Briarwood JCC wanting a guest speaker to talk about writing techniques.
There was only one writing technique a hockey team full of twelve-year-old boys would be having trouble with.
“I’m guessing the kind of trouble they’re having is with script?”
“Yeah,” Bryce said with a laugh. “Got it in one. From the way Ash tells it, these boys are stressing, even in the summer over this.”
Wait.
Who was Bryce talking about? “Ash?”
“Mendel,” Bryce clarified as if it wasn’t important. “You know, Judith Nachman’s fiancé? My wife’s agent’s future brother-in-law? That one.”
Right. Leah’s future brother-in-law, part of the couple he’d been contracted to make a ketubah for on the day this whole adventure with Leah started again.
Threads. Tied. Pulling him and Leah together. Again.
Yes, it didn’t matter so much that they had untied for now; if nothing else, this invitation would be a sign that he could fix this.
That he and Leah could tie themselves together again.
But Bryce didn’t need to hear this, not yet, if at all. “Okay,” he said, because Bryce did in fact need an answer, even though he hadn’t actually asked a question. “So what’s the favor?”
“So considering the location and the team,” Bryce began, “I thought of the mask we did.”
The mask. The one he worked on after the long session at Bryce’s house, the one where Leah drove him to the mechanic’s to pick up his car.
But once again, Bryce didn’t need to hear that. Instead he said, “Yeah. I had a great time. It’s a great collaboration, was, actually.”
Bryce continued, “If you’re up for it, you could join me and talk about the way you used the writing techniques both with the mask, and the way you letter the ketubahs and mezuzahs, as well as comics.”
Which put everything together. What Bryce really wanted was for him to talk about the way he used Hebrew calligraphy as well as script. And that sounded fun. “I like the sound of that,” he said. “What day?”
“Thursday.”
Perfect. He had time to prep, get back to Briarwood and do the class. He nodded. “At the Briarwood JCC? Do you want to meet somewhere to go over things before heading over there?”
“Yep. I’ll text you more details when I have them, and that sounds like a good idea.”
Not just good. But great. Because that meant he’d get a chance to talk to someone who might understand the best way to get through to Leah.
*
As Monday turned into Tuesday, Leah had put together and discarded so many different solutions to the problem she’d created with Samuel, she was going to lose her mind.
It felt as if the more she tried to figure out a solution, the further away one was.
Which meant desperate measures were called for. She needed help.
Naomi and Livvy had been lovely, but the last serious conversation she’d had with Naomi about the specifics of her situation with Samuel involved a rather large reminder that both of them were single. Not that single people couldn’t help her fix her romantic problems, the feeling she’d gotten was that neither of them felt comfortable.
Not that she was upset with them about it; it just made her feel alone, which was the complete opposite of the fellowship of the cousins group her sister had pulled together all those years ago.
Except that left two people. And there was no way she’d ask Judith. The very last thing she wanted was a conversation with her sister about how the situation with Samuel had progressed since the wedding expo, not to mention she didn’t need either Judith’s judgment nor her attempt to fix the situation.
This was her own situation to fix, after all. Not her sister’s.
Which left one final option.
Shayna, of all people, had been the least judgmental and the most helpful of all her close female relatives. She’d made space and created time.
Which meant during an hour she’d pulled together in the middle of a ridiculously busy workday, she relented and called her sister-in-law.
“What’s up?”
She briefly explained the situation to her sister-in-law. “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “I don’t know how to fix this…situation with Samuel.”
“Okay. I’m getting that you don’t do this often, so first of all, I’m thrilled you’re coming to me.”
“Well,” Leah said, “you’ve been the most understanding and supportive through this whole situation. Of course I’m talking to you.”
“Thank you,” Shayna replied after a moment. “I appreciate it, you know, the vote of confidence or confidante if that’s a phrase.”
Leah smiled even though she knew Shayna couldn’t see her. “Whatever it is, it works. But yeah.”
“So,” Shayna continued, “what I do know, speaking of working, is that man cares for you. Don’t forget, I watched him when we were waiting for the valet at the gala. He was so lovely to Ramona, so sweet generally. And not that he’s not the sort of guy who would have done it otherwise, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he cares for you.”
There was a silence that followed, as if Shayna wanted to make sure what she’d said had sunk in. “Not only that, you have to realize that the man knows you, or should. You didn’t, hopefully, say something too awful to him, right?”
Leah paused. “No…”
“You didn’t threaten him with bodily harm, right?”
“No.”
Though Leah had no idea where her sister-in-law was headed at this point.
“Which means,” Shayna said, “is there an event still there in the contract, and yes I know you said you wanted to end it, but maybe?”
“I could,” she managed, “ask him if he wanted to go to Shabbas? Still?”
“You could,” Shayna replied. “Have him come to ours for Shabbas and maybe, you know, tell him how you feel there?”
Which was of course the idea that made the most sense. “That works,” she said.
But sense didn’t mean reality. Sense didn’t have anything to do with her and Samuel, not really. Not when they were kids and not now, especially when, well it wasn’t him convinced they were…
Bashert.
All she’d been was convinced they were made up of messy, tangled threads.
What if she’d come to the realization that the threads weren’t tangled but tied together too late? What if her realization that nothing she did, no time she spent, was worth a damn if she didn’t have him to share it with, came after he’d decided she was right?
What if he’d decided that she wasn’t worth it?
“I mean…” she said, because if she was going to confide in Shayna, she might as well go for the gold. “Would he listen to me? Would he accept my invitation? Would I be too late? Am I too late?”
“You can’t say for sure,” Shayna said. “And nobody can ever say anything definitively for sure.”
Which was helpful.
Not.
“But,” Shayna continued after Leah realized she hadn’t said anything. “I would bet on the fact that someone who’s wanted someone and something for so long isn’t going to give up on it easily. Nobody ever does. He may drive a hard bargain.”
“Like what hard bargain?” Because if she knew nothing else, it was how to negotiate and bargain. She’d been doing so for most of her professional life.
“Probably not kneel like some books I’ve read, but like probably make you actually admit you were wrong. Or something.”
“So like some visible grovel?” she wondered, just to make sure.
“Audible grovel,” Shayna said. “Some clear indication. But you’ll be fine. I think.”
She hoped. Except how she’d be able to bargain with him on a grovel was beyond her; this wasn’t Passover and the search for the afikomen when she was a kid, but something else.
This would, as they said, be the bargain of her life.
How she’d manage that, she had no idea. But that at least gave her a goal.
But Shayna was still on the other end and she’d done a big favor, even if it didn’t feel so big. “Thank you,” she finally said. “How can I repay you?”
“First,” Shayna said. “Thursday night you need to come and visit; I’ve got a thing to go to. It’s a jewelry designer’s thing for the Unicorns.”
Which meant her sister-in-law needed a partner in crime for a girls’ night out. “Okay.”
“Designer’s a Jamie Sawyer…”
The name sounded familiar and Leah let it play over and over in her mind.
Sawyer. Jamie…jewelry designer…Sawyer.
And then she had it.
The conversation at Liam’s party, where she stood and laughed with Sarah. “She was at the party I went to with Samuel.”
Jamie would know how to fix this; if nothing else, she was friendly with the group.
“That’s good,” Shayna said. “Even better idea to come to the showing.”
And as she ended the call with her sister-in-law, Leah felt excited and energized for the first time in days. She was going to figure this whole mess out.
Somehow.