Page 84 of The Dreidl Disaster

“Liv,” Naomi’s voice out of nowhere. “Get over here.”

Of course her sister would interrupt her private time with her gelt latte. Of course she would. She still wasn’t ready to or interested in talking to anybody, let alone her sister. “I…what?”

“We need to talk. Now.”

Liv blinked. “No, we don’t.”

“I need to talk to you about something.” Naomi paused, and Liv wondered what the hell her sister was doing.

“More specifically I have something for you.”

“Now is not the time,” Liv said, brandishing her coffee in her sister’s direction. “You need to leave.”

“Not leaving until you talk to me.”

Liv threw her head back, powered by the sigh that could end all sighs. “What could be so important that you are this insistent,” she managed while glaring at her sister.

“There’s something someone else told me,” she said, biting her lip.

Was Naomi nervous?

“Anyway, you really need to know what it is.”

Liv blinked. “What?”

“I have a message for you from Artur.”

And if nothing could switch the mood of the moment and of the room completely, it would be those words and that name.

Naomi pulling a sentence with those words and that name was the very last thing Liv wanted, or for that matter, needed. “No. That is the LAST name I need to hear right now.”

“You need to hear this and I’m not leaving until you do.”

“Excuse me?”

Naomi looked around and gestured to the crowd of people starting to enter the shop. “If you want to make a scene,” her sister said, “fine. I’ll make a scene. But I suspect you don’t.”

Temporary moment of dealing with betrayal and heartbreak over, Liv desperately needed to get back to life, caffeine, and her job. Not to listen to the insanity that her sister felt like she needed to deliver. “I have to go, Naomi. This isn’t a good time.”

“Fine. I’ll head to the office with you,” Naomi said. “We need privacy anyway.”

And in that moment, Liv saw the determination in her sister’s expression. Liv knew that expression, it meant Naomi wouldn’t take no for an answer; the version of her sister who was stubborn and inescapable and tenacious. Naomi was not budging.

“Fine,” Liv said, “but you need to be quick.”

Bargain made, Liv followed her sister to the town hall building, not knowing what she was getting into.

*

Out of nowhere,the door to Jacob’s garage flew open, revealing Isaac, with his best friend close behind.

“Move away,” Isaac said. “And let me work.”

Artur pointed toward the box. “This is what you’ve got to work with.”

“And what do you want me to make out of this—” Isaac gestured widely toward the box “—whatever this is?”

“A dreidl.”

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