Page 82 of The Dating Contract

Chapter Twenty-Four

As he triedto 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 turnedinto 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.

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