Page 7 of The Dating Contract

What was her cousin doing here?

But all the same, she unlocked and opened the door, letting her cousin in. “Hi?”

“You are the talk of the family group chat,” Naomi said. “But we need to walk and talk because we are on a mission.”

Leah blinked. “Uhhh…”

You and I are going to a photography exhibit,” Naomi said. “It’s an opening at a gallery downtown.”

None of this made sense. “You don’t even like photography at galleries. Why are we doing this?”

“Wedding stuff.”

Which made sense; except… “What…I thought I was done with that for the day.”

Naomi suddenly looked as if she’d rehearsed the story she was about to tell a billion times on the way. And Leah wasn’t going to keep her cousin from delivering a performance. “Judith got a favor from her boss, which means we have tickets to go see the opening of an exhibit put together by the guy who she might want to take the wedding photos.”

Judith, her boss and his legendary favors were enough to make Leah lose her mind. This was…normal in the scheme of things but still strange. Especially after Judith had headed back to Briarwood after the expo, having sworn wedding duties were over for the day. “Okay…but tonight?”

“Yeah,” Naomi replied. “Friends and family. Opening preview night, which means a better chance of both talking to the photographer and seeing the photos.”

“And why am I coming? I was on duty all day. I deserve the night to sleep.”

“You’re both maid of honor andhere.”

Here was her Manhattan apartment, more convenient than Naomi’s place in Queens. “That makes sense, as to why you’re stopping by but…”

“This is your responsibility, Maid of Honor,” Naomi said with a laugh.

“She told me I was done for the day,” Leah repeated. “And she’s the bride, shouldn’t her opinion matter?”

“Hers does. And you’re done with her, but not with me. Ersatz planner and cousin reporting for duty. Also, it seems you have a lot to tell me.”

“About?”

From the look in Naomi’s eyes, it was clear to Leah that Judith had said something in the group chat about the bridal expo.

Which meant that Leah was in trouble.

*

Samuel was exhausted.

End of day at the expo was weird and Aaron still hadn’t stopped talking about the moment where Samuel had called Leah his girlfriend.

“She said our crowd control stinks.” He shook his head. “Like a sofer needs crowd control.”

“Someone who uses their looks as a way to drive their sales needs crowd control,” his brother had quipped as they finished loading out. “Also, you’re a multimedia artist, so you’re going to get cross-pollination.”

Aaron had been joking but it was true. And yes, the marketing campaign had been Aaron’s idea in the first place, but it still affected how he was expected to be in public.

Which was something he was thinking about on the way to meet his mentor, Liam Hernandez, at a gallery opening for a photographer he’d been following. He and Liam had been paired up since Samuel had finished design school, which had a pretty big blessing; Liam was a supportive mentor who understand what Samuel wanted out of his career.

“Looking forward to seeing you,” Liam had said in the phone call that got him out of his apartment after load-out knowing he had all of Monday to relax. “We’re going to have a lot to talk about in the next few days.”

And Samuelwasexcited; there was something about knowing Leah could be back in his life that made him…exhilarated. Not to mention, he decided as he got off the subway and made his way through the streets of Lower Manhattan, there was something in the air and he didn’t mean the heat.

He wasn’t sure what exactly it was, but as he arrived at the door, he was ready for anything. “Levine,” he said to the gentleman behind the podium. “I’m here to see…”

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