Page 15 of The Dreidl Disaster

“Which,” Paul continued, “is how I got the heads-up on this space.”

And then his thoughts clicked. Which Italian restaurant did he know in Rivertown that was led by a family tradition of hearts bigger than the world? There could be only one.

“Fratelli’s?”

Predictably in the way of small-town gossip chains, Levitan nodded. “That’s the place. Anyway, start with the bookstore and then go to the Italian place. That’s where you’ll get information.”

Because of course he was an unknown quantity, but either way, he’d put Leo on a stake later—Leo Fratelli, his other best friend who did not tell him anything.

Now, he had to organize himself, make some notes and hope that Abe would forgive him if he didn’t eat much dinner.

Chapter Five

There was moreinformation flow in the transition meeting than Liv remembered from her own meetings with the mayor she succeeded at the beginning of her first term. But time was a strange thing and Terry Fields-Kramer only seemed to have more questions than Liv could answer in two lifetimes, let alone the hours each week she set aside for the transition conversations.

Not to mention every single time Liv would get frustrated, she’d remember how close the beginning of her own Board of Legislators orientation was. The size of the manual and the questions she already had about it were much, much more than the information Terry would have to know.

But there was a knock at the door while she was starting to describe the digitization project she was doing her best to finish. “Come in,” she said.

The receptionist at town hall wasn’t her secretary, but every once in a while, the kindly gentleman would have to answer the mayor’s phone. “Mayor Nachman,” Burton Squires said, his typical orange bow tie and matching suspenders brightening the room as he walked into it, “Its Jennifer Cohen on the line.”

“I need to take this,” Liv said. Which meant a rapid ending to the meeting, which was par for the course. Except this time, Liv was the one grabbing a phone call and ending a meeting that had already eaten through her allotted lunchtime.

“No worries,” Mayor-Elect Fields-Kramer said as she began to gather her things. “I’ll see you next week.”

Liv felt horrible, but duty called and this time it was calling loudly. After taking a second to compose herself, she answered the call. “Hello, Jennifer, how are you?”

“I’m good, Mayor Nachman,” Jennifer said. “Things have been busy here, but I wanted to know how things are proceeding with the fixer.”

“Good,” she said. “He’s surprising. But good.”

“Interesting.” Jennifer paused, and if the older woman wasn’t trying to play matchmaker, Liv would eat her socks. “Peter swears he met the guy a few years ago…maybe at Comic Con when he was running around with one of Tyler’s now teammates.”

“I can’t verify or deny that,” Liv replied, “considering I only met the man on Monday. But I can say with reasonable certainty after spending most of Monday with him that he now has a good grasp of what he’s been thrown into.”

“Very good to hear,” Jennifer replied. “The reports I heard from the temple yesterday morning were mixed. But I think that’s just Marjorie being Marjorie. They liked him better at the library yesterday.”

Marjorie. The temple administrator who acted like she’d been given the kingdom itself, as opposed to just its schedule, at times. “What did Rabbi Leibowitz say?”

“The rabbi was impressed, but is waiting to see what happens at the meeting on Thursday,” Jennifer replied.

Which made sense.

“And who did you talk to at the library?”

“Ellen—she’s in charge of the information archives in the reference section. She said he was lovely.”

“Did she like Flaire?”

“Flaire brought soda into the archives.”

Which, if Liv remembered, was a problem for Ellen. “Right.”

“Anyway,” Jennifer continued, “you sat with him…the fixer on Monday, made sure he understands what he’s up against? And the story that needs to be told?”

“He knows the story,” she said. “That I can tell you.”

“Good,” Jennifer replied, sounding slightly mollified. “But I have a more important question.”

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