Page 88 of The Dating Contract

Now was the fun part. Samuel managed to find the words to explain what had been going on with Leah, at least the best way he could. “So anyway,” he said, “when both Leah’s nephew and future brother-in-law told me that I needed to come tonight, I realized I needed to make it count.”

“So you’re going to hope that the babka is enough to convince Leah that you’re worthy of the time she has?”

He shook his head. Aaron and his obsession with babka that was or was not his amused him. “Babka is for her family,” Samuel clarified for his brother’s benefit and need to know where all babka was at all times. “The reason I asked you to drive with your larger car is what I’m hoping to use to convince Leah I’m worthy.”

“Speaking of using things,” Aaron said. “I liked your letter to the congregation in Virginia.”

Going from babka to work matters, but that was also normal—if not slightly dizzying—conversation between him and Aaron. All the same, Samuel adjusted himself to the swerve in topic and nodded. “I think I’d like to prepare myself to write a Sefer Torah in the future, but I’m not ready, not now.”

“Indulge me,” interjected Tommy. “But what exactly do you have in that back seat? Do we need to worry about the condition of the trunk after you take it out?”

From the back, Samuel laughed. This wasn’t Tommy’s car exactly, but it was enough his for him to be interested in the condition of the car. But the idea, the contents?

What sat in the trunk, the object of Tommy’s concern, had been the result of a random idea…and yet it seemed like it would possibly, potentially work. He’d listened to Bryce and Asher and Shim and, in the end, Samuel decided that what was really important was a fresh start. And the item he brought needed to symbolize that, not a recycled piece of someone else’s history, or even their own.

So when he’d gotten back to his apartment after the class on Thursday, he’d racked his brain, trying to figure out something that would be symbolic enough to fit the situation. To demonstrate that his mind wasn’t on the past, that it was on the possibilities of their history, their future.

Something new.

And then it clicked.

He’d stood, staring at it as if he’d seen it for the first time. Leah had even pointed it out so long ago while they were talking about contracts.

This was it.

And so he managed to wrap it up, frame and all, and hope his brother, with the bigger car and the bigger trunk space, would be able to bring him to Briarwood.

“No,” he said. “It’s not a messy thing, just big.”

Tommy snorted. “Hopefully it’s big enough to do what you need it to.”

And as Aaron turned into their parents’ driveway, Samuel nodded. “Yep. That’s what I’m hoping too.”

*

Leah knew exactlywhat she had to do the second Jamie’s words had sunk in. They followed her back to Manhattan right after the jewelry opening, followed her to bed and into her dreams that night.

Friday morning, standing in front of her closet, knowing the large wrapped package was inside, she made the executive decision to call Naomi. “I need you,” she said. “It’s an emergency.”

“Okay?” Naomi sounded confused, but that was okay.

“I need you to help me bring a painting to Shayna’s.”

“A painting?

“A print, something, whatever it is,” she said, knowing that all she’d been doing was carting it around the country with her, not opening it. She hadn’t actually looked at it, didn’t even know what condition it was in since she’d wrapped it up the first time one week before the infamous high school breakup.

Which was a problem.

“Right,” Naomi said, interrupting Leah’s train of thought. “I need to meet Livvy in Briarwood before Shabbas so it’s a good choice.”

“Good. I’m glad. Meet me at my place as soon as you can.”

Of course a few hours later, she was settled with her cousin in the car on the way to Briarwood, the painting strapped in the back. “Thank you,” she managed. “I appreciate this.”

Naomi said, “I have one question.”

“Okay?”

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