Chapter Twenty-Five
T he morning after Shabbat dinner was supposed to be relaxing; Liv had very loose plans to meet Artur to inspect the vendor area in the afternoon and have dinner and maybe go for some kind of drive.
Even the chamber of commerce members were thrilled with the way everything was going; she had been lazily checking social media only to see a new email to come in to her inbox. When she clicked on it, she saw that it was an invitation to a Champagne toast celebrating the dreidl once it was installed.
Things were coming together, and it felt really good.
But all that lazy excitement went out the window when she saw there was an incoming call from Judith.
“What are your plans for the afternoon?” Judith asked innocently.
She raised an eyebrow. “To relax, have a nice day, maybe inspect the vendor area now that it’s been constructed. Why?”
“Because,” Judith said with an extended sigh, “I’ve been informed that there’s a problem with the bridesmaids dresses we picked.”
“And,” Liv wondered, “what problem is that?”
“They were retired by the designer, which means we have to pick new ones. As soon as possible. We have an appointment at the dress shop this afternoon.”
Of course she did.
The only person more efficient than she was had acted and now they had a new fitting date.
Of course, that meant she could be more specific about trying to determine who was responsible for spilling the beans to her parents. “Coincidentally enough,” Liv replied, “I have a bone to pick with you, my dear cousin, about information.”
“I see,” she said. “Well, you can get some information at the shop. And then, at brunch.”
And as she ended the call, she realized she needed to make another. “Hey,” she said as Artur picked up the phone. “Gotta cancel on you today.”
“What’s up?”
“Bridesmaid dress disaster,” she replied with a laugh. “I’ve got an appointment at a dress shop on the other side of the county.”
“Need a ride?”
She laughed. There was something about Artur and his driving these days, as if now that she’d uncorked his abilities, he wanted to drive her everywhere. “You don’t mind driving me across the county?”
“No,” he said. “Gives me more time with you.”
“And,” she said, “if you drop me off, you can go work on your other car in the city while I hang out with my cousins.”
“Do you want a ride back?”
“I think you just want a debrief.”
“That too,” he said with a laugh. “How about you send me a carrier pigeon when you’re done and we’ll figure that out.”
“I like the sound of that plan.”
Not long after she ended the call, she was on the other side of the county, sitting in Artur’s car, grinning up at him. “You know,” she said. “Long as I’m here I can try on dresses for the Hanukkah party.”
“I cannot wait to see you in whatever you get.”
She smiled at his excitement. “I think that deserves a kiss,” she said.
“Your desire is my command,” he replied.
She leaned in, found his lips with hers. She ran her hands through his hair and lost herself completely in the taste and feel of him.
When she broke the kiss and stepped out of the car, she waved back at him before heading toward the door of the shop.
She shook her head as Artur drove away. “Cannot believe I’m here today,” she said.
“I can’t believe that the dress I picked five months ago was retired by the designer, I mean who does that?”
Leah’s long dramatic sigh made Liv feel better, and she hugged her.
“I do have a bone to pick with you,” Liv said.
“Yes. Bones will be picked at brunch, according to my sister,” Leah said, waving at Judith, who was standing in the doorframe of the shop to greet them.
“We’re changing colors,” Judith said with a grin as she ushered them inside. “So we’re picking blue dresses.”
Having received the orders, Liv looked through the dresses the saleswoman who’d been working with them had pulled. Her mission was to find a dress that would highlight her curves, not make her look like a blueberry.
“Why blue exactly?” Leah asked.
“It’s a color that means a great deal to both of us,” Judith said with a smile. “And if we have to change the color, we decided we might as well just have that one.”
Which, as far as Liv was concerned, worked for her. It was a slog for sure, but once she found a few she liked, she pointed to them and asked for them in her size.
“Absolutely,” the saleswoman said as she directed her into a fitting room.
Three dresses later, she’d ranked them and informed Judith of her choice.
“Great.”
When she returned to the fitting room, she got the saleswoman’s attention. “I also need a cocktail dress, for a holiday party I’m attending…”
“Yes,” the saleswoman said excitedly. “I’ll bring a few dresses that will look stunning on you.”
As the saleswoman headed off, the door was kept open by a very familiar pair of fingers. Of course, Naomi was here.
“Yes?”
“I wasn’t here long enough to miss the conversation about cocktail dresses. For the mentorship party?”
Liv glared at her sister. “I’m still mad at you.”
“I understand. You deserve to be angry; I owe you. But the dress is for the mentorship party?”
“Yeah,” Liv said. She turned to her sister. “I’ll need makeup, okay?”
Naomi nodded. “Got it.”
“And considering,” Liv glared at Judith and Leah, as they sat at brunch after the dresses had been ordered and organized, “my mother called me and informed me that your mother had told her I was out with someone, someone needs to fess up.”
“That.” Judith said, shaking her head. “It wasn’t Ash, because I told him he needed to keep his mouth shut around my mom.”
Leah sighed. “I think it was Samuel because he got a random text from Isaac Lieberman when we were at my parents’ for something on Sunday, and he asked me why Isaac was excited he met you…which meant story time. So that’s on me.”
Fascinating.
Apparently Artur had put his money on the wrong man. Either way, he would get a kick out of this one.
She couldn’t wait to tell him.
*
On the drive to Manhattan, Artur had gotten a call from Emily Gould-Smythe. “Just a heads-up,” she said. “I’m hearing the sculpture is not holding for whatever reason. Which means it actually might not survive transport. And yes, our consultant has spoken to the sculptor about the power of fastening agents, but he is not listening. Which means you’re going to have to fix this.”
Artur nodded, thoughts running through his head.
The problem needed to be fixed from the bottom up.
“I’m going to have to get a consultant of my own on site immediately,” he said. “As well as find a facility big enough to hold both the sculpture and the tools my consultant’s going to need to pull everything together.”
“Good. I like the fact you have a good bead on the situation. And remember.”
Emily’s warning didn’t have to be articulated. This was becoming a larger problem, and he was coming up against that NDA.
Which meant he was going to have to find a solution for that…as well as the dreidl.
But would Liv understand? Could he create a situation where the fragile trust they’d started to create would survive an NDA?
And that afternoon, when he listened to Liv as she talked about how important the event was going to be, as she told him how the political eyes were going to be on her as she moved from Briarwood Mayor to County Legislator representing a larger district, he hoped he could.