Page 83 of The Dating Contract

It felt as if the more she tried to figure out a solution, the further away one was.

Which meant desperate measures were called for. She needed help.

Naomi and Livvy had been lovely, but the last serious conversation she’d had with Naomi about the specifics of her situation with Samuel involved a rather large reminder that both of them were single. Not that single people couldn’t help her fix her romantic problems, the feeling she’d gotten was that neither of them felt comfortable.

Not that she was upset with them about it; it just made her feel alone, which was the complete opposite of the fellowship of the cousins group her sister had pulled together all those years ago.

Except that left two people. And there was no way she’d ask Judith. The very last thing she wanted was a conversation with her sister about how the situation with Samuel had progressed since the wedding expo, not to mention she didn’t need either Judith’s judgment nor her attempt to fix the situation.

This was her own situation to fix, after all. Not her sister’s.

Which left one final option.

Shayna, of all people, had been the least judgmental and the most helpful of all her close female relatives. She’d made space and created time.

Which meant during an hour she’d pulled together in the middle of a ridiculously busy workday, she relented and called her sister-in-law.

“What’s up?”

She briefly explained the situation to her sister-in-law. “I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “I don’t know how to fix this…situation with Samuel.”

“Okay. I’m getting that you don’t do this often, so first of all, I’m thrilled you’re coming to me.”

“Well,” Leah said, “you’ve been the most understanding and supportive through this whole situation. Of course I’m talking to you.”

“Thank you,” Shayna replied after a moment. “I appreciate it, you know, the vote of confidence or confidante if that’s a phrase.”

Leah smiled even though she knew Shayna couldn’t see her. “Whatever it is, it works. But yeah.”

“So,” Shayna continued, “what I do know, speaking of working, is that man cares for you. Don’t forget, I watched him when we were waiting for the valet at the gala. He was so lovely to Ramona, so sweet generally. And not that he’s not the sort of guy who would have done it otherwise, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he cares for you.”

There was a silence that followed, as if Shayna wanted to make sure what she’d said had sunk in. “Not only that, you have to realize that the man knows you, or should. You didn’t, hopefully, say something too awful to him, right?”

Leah paused. “No…”

“You didn’t threaten him with bodily harm, right?”

“No.”

Though Leah had no idea where her sister-in-law was headed at this point.

“Which means,” Shayna said, “is there an event still there in the contract, and yes I know you said you wanted to end it, but maybe?”

“I could,” she managed, “ask him if he wanted to go to Shabbas? Still?”

“You could,” Shayna replied. “Have him come to ours for Shabbas and maybe, you know, tell him how you feel there?”

Which was of course the idea that made the most sense. “That works,” she said.

But sense didn’t mean reality. Sense didn’t have anything to do with her and Samuel, not really. Not when they were kids and not now, especially when, well it wasn’t him convinced they were…

Bashert.

All she’d been was convinced they were made up of messy, tangled threads.

What if she’d come to the realization that the threads weren’t tangled but tied together too late? What if her realization that nothing she did, no time she spent, was worth a damn if she didn’t have him to share it with, came after he’d decided she was right?

What if he’d decided that she wasn’t worth it?

---