Chapter Eight
There was coffee and Naomi on the other side of his long nap; he didn’t care what time it was. It was also a Friday, or last he checked. It didn’t matter; he’d given himself time and space to readjust to home and family before making his next moves.
“You busy tomorrow?”
The question felt like it came out of nowhere while Naomi had paced, watching and cleaning as he cooked for her. There had been something on her mind, and he knew, as he plated the eggs, that the best thing wasn’t to ask her what was up, but to let her tell him.
Now that she had, he was curious. “Why?”
She didn’t answer him right away; she poured coffee into mugs and brought them to the table, the smells intermingling in ways that warmed his heart.
“Going to my cousin’s for brunch. Samuel’s going to be there.”
Samuel, one of the members of the poker group, was a good guy, but also a guy who spent more time running his mouth than he should. “Serious business, hm?”
She laughed, and he wondered what was running through her head. “She’s pulling out all the stops.”
He nodded, as he brought the plates to the table, after adding the potatoes that had been frying. “What’s the agenda—hers I mean?”
“In exchange for the contracts that the vendors for the wedding will have to sign…”
“For your new business, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. For now, just for the wedding, but it’s what I’m going to be working with in the future.
Anyway, yes. She’s writing me the vendor contracts and giving me her silence.
In exchange for all of that, she wants the inside scoop on our relationship, whatever it may be. And whatever she thinks it is.”
Interesting. Very interesting. He knew they were an object of speculation. But the kind of words he wanted weren’t from Ash or his brother or anybody else but her.
He asked, “Our relationship is that much of a hot commodity?”
“You didn’t realize my entire family thinks we’re dating?”
“Really?”
She shook her head. “Yeah. They discuss it constantly when I’m not around. And deliberately don’t discuss it when I’m around.”
He had suspicions; he was also confronted by people who deliberately did not discuss the fact she was the only woman he’d brought anywhere near him in social and professional settings without an explanation.
But all he said was: “Interesting.”
“As if interesting is…what? Good or bad?”
He sat down and watched as she took the chair next to him. “We’re a topic of discussion, if not the topic of discussion in family group chats everywhere. I think that’s something to consider. You know. In terms of making moves.”
“I have no idea where you’re going with this,” she said as she took a sip of coffee. “But why should we consider their opinions?”
“Well,” he said after thinking for a moment. It was important that he not mess this up. “So, they talk about us; they focus on us. Think we’re dating.”
“Right?”
“What I want to know is if you believe their concentration is what it is, because they think it’s a bad thing?”
And that was a mouthful, but he had to get it out.
Now he had to wait for her response.
“I think,” she said, her words dripping from her tongue like molasses, “they focus on it, at least on my end, because they think it’s something I haven’t admitted to, or that I’m hiding.”
Because hiding things from families like theirs, found and biological, was…not exactly forbidden, but fodder for curiosity and gossip. Which made sense.
Glad she saw that.
But was he interested in defining what was going on, or was he satisfied now that he figured she was probably right, at least on his side of the situation?
No.
He wanted to define at least part of what was happening, or more specifically what had changed between them, in a way that made it extremely clear he was okay with it. “And?” he asked, carefully. ‘What do you think?”
She laughed. “Thank you for not asking while I had a mouthful of coffee.”
“Would have been a shame to waste that gorgeous brew.”
“You get it,” she said, smiling. “And you get me. I mean that’s why we’re—” She gestured between them, probably pointing out the way she’d casually put on his T-shirt, and he was sitting at her kitchen table in an old Empires sweatshirt, having made her breakfast. “I mean we’re here, right?”
They were. Which was the start of a conversation.
Because he didn’t just want to feel her out; that would freak her out. This was also about her family. “And your cousin…?”
Naomi laughed, that gorgeous laugh of hers that made him fuzzy and warm inside. “Leah can’t say anything because she admitted to, of all things, re-enacting that wild ‘fake dating’ thing that people say nobody does except in books or movies. So.”
Which…
“That’s…I…wow?”
“It was wild,” she said, shaking her head, as if she was remembering the situation and everything she’d seen.
“Leah used a ton of excuses, explaining why this fictional concept was the perfect way to keep Samuel at arm’s length.
Now they’re actually dating, and now she’s decided that she’s going to ask me about you. ”
“She’s Asher’s agent?”
Another nod. “Yeah. Both now, and at the beginning of her career, she was the baby agent slated to take him on.”
“Before the injury?”
She nodded. “Yeah. That’s Leah.”
“And she’s the one who wants to interrogate me on behalf of your entire family?”
He watched as she nodded again. “That would be it. She’s also the maid of honor.”
“That’s why she seemed familiar, not the agent thing,” he said, the lightning bolt of realization hitting him. “We haven’t really started to talk aside from sending back and forth emails about general wedding stuff, but I know Samuel from wedding family poker night.”
She laughed. “That’s a mouthful.”
“It is,” he said. “It’s interesting. Ash and Lev invited Samuel and then Artur to play poker.
Of course, then Artur started to talk about how he had way too many poker nights, which gave Ash the idea to start a poker game and play until some kind of sports came on TV and then watch that over pizza. ”
“And not knishes?”
He shook his head. “No. Definitely not. Knishes require work and when they don’t require work, I spend the night feeling weirdly guilty. Anyway, so what is our position?”
He had chosen his words deliberately, leaving a door open, focusing on what she’d say to her cousin, as opposed to anything else in question.
“What do you mean? Be clear here.”
“With us. Level one, what do we tell Leah?” he began, carefully so as not to put pressure on her before it was necessary. And if you feel up to it, how would you describe what’s going on with us…between us?”
“You’re helping me to get the wedding back on track. Anything else will happen naturally, right? I mean it has been.”
It has been.
Happening naturally…
“And” he said, “just to be clear, you’re not opposed to any direction it’s gone so far?”
She shook her head. “I think we’re adults. I think we’ll figure out how to define what’s happening between us as we go.”
Which was the best thing he’d heard all day. “And your family?”
She rolled her eyes, and he understood exactly why. So many times, the questions started like this, the relentless curiosity that followed. It sounded like he’d asked the same question, but as she thought about it, it seemed as if she got it.
“As far as I’m concerned,” she finally said, as he felt her hand grasp his, “my family, yours, whoever, can say what they want, you know? We know the truth, and if the lines blur, we can figure out how to clean them up whichever way we want to.”
We know the truth.
We’re adults.
“Honestly. Emotional and actual honesty. I like that.”
And now that was clear, he was ready to meet everything and anything that came their way.
*
Saturday, May 3rd
Nothing was ever clearer in the morning, no matter what people said about it.
The nerves she had about taking Jason to meet Leah in this new phase of their relationship did not leave after the conversation she and Jason had the night before. And she didn’t know why.
Was it because of how easy he was taking all of it? In stride, no questions, as if he hadn’t turned the page since before he left?
Right into her apartment, right into her arms and right into her bed…as if the last few months he hadn’t been traveling the country, mostly on the West Coast.
And she’d let him.
Not just let him but…welcomed him, invited him. Amidst the kind of chaos where nobody else would come near her. Even when the rest of her life had fallen apart, as if it had been held together by a wet tissue, he’d come right back and…was unquestioningly there.
Wow.
Usually the way it went, with relationships—at least the ones she’d known—at any sign that she wasn’t the superwoman she seemed like most of the time, the guy who had been so interested in her would…depart.
And yet there was Jason. Genuine confidant and friend before…who had become more without even a question. Who wasn’t flinching when she told him they were going to see her cousin. The sports agent. Who wanted to interrogate him.
“You okay?”
Even in the early morning, in the middle of the Lower East Side, he looked beautiful; Empires cap on his head, jeans and a T-shirt on his frame. They’d just gotten out of Baum’s bagels, having navigated the crowd and emerged with their prize.
She nodded. “Just thinking,” she said, resorting to one of her usual lines, which in this case was true.
“We’ll be fine at Leah’s,” he said, somehow managing to figure out part of what was bothering her. “Make Samuel play poker, and he’ll lose his marbles and his attempt to gossip.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with a laugh.
“Next time we’re near here,” he said as she felt his arm go around her, “we’ll stay at my place.”
She tried to act like it wasn’t the bombshell it felt like; she knew Jason had to have some kind of apartment, but she’d never heard him talk about it; his brother’s place in Briarwood, sure. But his?
“I mean…” he continued, pulling her close as if he felt he’d done something weird or wrong. “You know. If that’s a thing you want.”
“Really?” she said, trying to act nonchalant. “I mean that would be cool.”
“Thought you’d think so,” he said. “Especially if we’re doing something down here and, you know, we just want to relax.”
“I like it.”
And she did. She liked the idea that he’d begun the process of bringing her into his life, into his spaces and boundaries since he’d so thoroughly made himself at home in hers.
She was excited to see what the future would bring.
*
I like it.
Jason hadn’t meant to include his apartment in conversations with Naomi at that point, but when he impulsively said it, she didn’t object. Even more, it boggled him that he hadn’t mentioned it before.
Naomi’s reaction was perfect, though; the way she fell into the idea of spending more time with him in his spaces as well as hers. He liked hearing the words as much as the feeling of what those words did to him.
But there were some things he needed to know, and he figured he wasn’t going to learn them if he didn’t ask. “It’s just us having brunch with your cousin and Samuel, who she fake-dated?”
The sound of her laugh made him smile.
“Yes,” she said. “They’ve been dating for a bit less than a year, I think. However much of it was fake, who knows, but they’re dating for real now.”
She was a bit more relaxed. Which was good. That had been his goal, after all. Now he got to the question he really wanted to know the answer to. “So…your sister isn’t going to be there?”
“No,” she said. “She’s not. She and her boyfriend aren’t coming.”
“Too bad,” he said. “It would have been cool to see his take on the situation.”
Naomi shook her head, her eyes dancing in a way that made him smile. “Again. The whole idea of this is to keep information from people, not share it.”
“Which is true, although…”
“Yes?” she asked, sounding a little too skeptical for his taste.
“If you want to avert a crisis, the best person to have on your side is a crisis PR guy. That dude is scary.”
She laughed. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. A good guy but wow.”
Jason understood exactly what Naomi was getting at. Artur could be intimidating; heck, he’d played poker with the man and managed to tell the tale. “Where does Leah live?”
“Upper midtown. Do you want to take the subway or drive?”
“My car’s actually—” He stopped and looked around, because the timing was too perfect.
He pointed. “There.” It was a random parking lot, but he liked it.
The added benefit being the main attendants all liked his knishes, and he made sure he brought them some at least once a month when his car was there. “It’s why I thought about it.”
“You think you can get a parking spot by my cousin’s place?”
“Upper midtown?” He thought about it, then shook his head. “Not worth it,” he said. “It’s not far enough to risk it. Let’s take the subway.”
“Better choice,” she said. “You’ll drive me somewhere fun later.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said. “Let’s do this.”
But as they got off the subway, his phone started to buzz.
Who’d be texting him now?
Jason pulled out the phone and checked the number; he didn’t want to think about the expression on Naomi’s face. Because of course, it was a message from his brother.
J. Come to my place.
And he turned to Naomi, feeling pulled between being the worst person in the world and worried why his brother was being that urgent on a Saturday when they hadn’t made plans. It had to be an emergency; his brother never summoned him like that unless it was “I have to go. My brother needs me.”
She dropped his hands and looked up at him, concern in her expression. “Everything okay?”
He shrugged; it was the best he could offer her. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s bad, but I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ll call you later, and if you’re up for it, I’ll come back to your place for a debrief?”
She nodded. “And if you need me earlier, you call me, okay?”
He nodded, let her pull him close.
“You sure you’re okay?”
He nodded into her shoulder and then pulled back. “Enough to get to my brother,” he said. “I appreciate it. I appreciate you and I adore you. Take the bagels and my regrets.”
She took the bag of bagels from his outstretched hands, and he wondered if she was going to kiss him, then ended all conversation by brushing his lips across her cheek.
“See you later?”
She nodded. “Keep me posted.”
And as he headed toward the source of his brother’s message, he realized he’d never felt so tethered in his life; the last thing he wanted was to deal with his brother and the business.
Which, he decided, was the realization that he’d gone across the country to make.
But as he headed toward the subway going downtown, it was taking him farther and farther away from the life he wanted.
All he had to do was figure out how to get it.