Page 38 of Analysing Her Assets

“Oh, okay, go ahead,” Tamar agreed.

Tally clicked, her phone app making old fashioned camera noises. At first Tamar stood rigid, staring ahead, her hands straight by her side. But Giddy woofed up at her, and she turned her head, her hair falling across her cheek, and stroked him. Her heavy breasts stretched the dress down as she leaned towards her puppy. Giddy ran around her and she laughed, spinning to keep up with him, her dress flaring around her, showing a bit of thigh.

“Giddy is so photogenic I think I’ll start a line of dog clothes,” Tally said. Tamar giggled at him, her dark-brown eyes shiny. He grinned back, enchanted.

Eyal took advantage of his lapse and freed his hand. The child half ran away, with Shemesh barking excitedly. Tamar was faster than him.

“No Gideon, Tally, I’ll watch Eyal.” She ran after her nephew, effectively putting a stop to the photo session.

“So, you’re the famous Gideon.” Tally’s hands never stopped moving, brushing back hair, touching her dangling earrings. “She never said you were this cute.”

Her jumpy fingers caressed the frills and intricate embroidery on her black jean jacket.

“Do you like it? I made it. The jacket. From scratch. I’m a clothes designer. I’m hoping to open my own boutique someday. The dress Tamar is wearing, I made it. Now she said she would let me dress her for work as well. She asked me to help her! I couldn’t believe my sister asked me for help! She never does!”

“Right,” Gideon said. Tamar never babbled, but her sister surely did.

The sister continued in a conversational tone. “My father is an architect, he works for the City of Tel Aviv, making a good salary, but it was my mother who was the prime breadwinner. We used to be well-off. Then she got ill, stopped working, and we used all our savings, plus took loans, to pay for treatments that back then weren’t part of the medical services basket.”

“I’m sorry about your mother.”

“I was thirteen and Tamar fourteen.” Gideon tried to hide his surprise. She looked several years older than Tamar. From the way she winced, it was clear she read his reaction correctly. She smiled to hide her pain, reminding him, for the first time, of her sister. “Tamar has been helping to pay the bills ever since she was in high school. For the last couple of years, she was generous enough to share some of her bonus from winning the competition with us. It made all our lives easier.”

Tamar and Eyal ran a little ahead. She wasn’t a very efficient runner, stopping frequently. Her ass looked great, bouncing side to side in that gorgeous dress.

“Why are you telling me this?” He didn’t understand this conversation, she talked like she was making a point. To him.

“Look, you guys have a thing going.” Gideon half shook his head, but Tally bared her teeth in a mirthless smile.

“Don’t deny it. She wore the dress for you! And the way you looked at her, women would kill to get a look like that from a man.” Tally was staring at the ground, for a second her mouth was softer. Then the almost black eyes turned to him. Haughty. Cold. Two permanent grooves framed her mouth. “Plus, she confided in me about it. She has second thoughts.”

A familiar physical feeling seized him. It started in his chest and spread down to his belly, tightening every muscle. An anger, the building of what his mother called a tantrum. But he was thirty-three not three. He took a few deep breaths and reined it in.

He had his own misgivings about the arrangement, now that their rivalry was out in the open. But he’d wanted to discuss them with Tamar. If she’d had her doubts, she should have conferred with him, not her sister.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked again, breathing evenly, the anger simmering but under control.

They were approaching the dog park. Tamar and Eyal were there, in the dogs’ enclosure, freeing Giddy and Shemesh. Tally touched his arm, and Gideon had to stop himself from shaking her off.

“I’m getting there. She is up for the chief analyst job, against you. I guess what I’m asking you is, please leave Tamar alone. She needs to concentrate on winning this job, which has always been her dream. And you’ll end up hurting her. All men are jerks in the end.”

When he’d arrived at Peaks, people described Tamar to him, saying she was ‘the typical power bitch’, referring to her aloofness, the monochromatic suits, the serious demeanor. But it didn’t take much scratching the surface to reach Tamar’s humor and playfulness. This Feynman sister—one scratched and hit concrete.

“Did Tamar ask you to talk to me?”

“Yes.” The single word hit him like a slap in the face. “I mean not in so many words, but that’s what she wants. What she needs. There are roles in a family, you know? Tamar has a head for numbers, she is a good provider, and Einat and me are the creative ones. She has to be focused now, she doesn’t need to be reading whatever this is,” she gestured towards the bag he was holding with his mother’s book, “or having a fling with you.”

Gideon grimaced, her cold words chilling his bones.

He couldn’t deny that both Tamar and he put their common sense in second place, and chased their libidos, at the worst time. This should be a tidy, light, sex only affair that they could end at any second. The whole point of the deal Tamar offered was to keep matters simple. He could back out and no harm done. Tamar would be glad that he ended matters, her sister all but said so.

Tamar’s face was curious when they reached the playground.

“What’s going on?” she asked her sister. Tally gave him a meaningful smile and went after her son who was running along the fence trying to keep up with Giddy and Shemesh.

Gideon whistled to Shemesh while Tamar stood quietly by him.

“What’s going on?” she asked again. “You look weird.”

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