Page 44 of The Dreidl Disaster

“I want to know whowasmanifesting the treat and the bad decisions then,” Naomi said. “Because you’re rarely, if ever, on the verge of making choices that you’re concerned will make people remember you have a personal life outside of politics.”

“All of this is the prelude to the decision.”

“Okay,” Naomi said. “So, you’re on the verge of making what you think is a bad decision, which is most likely related to a relationship that may or may not be professional and something you might potentially want to make personal. Am I right?”

Liv nodded, trapped into a conversation that was getting deeper and deeper by the second. “Yes,” she said. “You are.”

“And what bad decision is the problem here?”

“He’s invited me to a barbecue pop-up at his friend’s house in Rivertown.”

Naomi blinked. “I did not ever expect to hear words like that coming out of your mouth, but also I barely expect to hear those words strung together.” She paused for a second. “Guy’s from Rivertown?”

“Yes?”

“Friends with Judith’s boss?”

“I don’t know the guy, and I don’t know Judith’s boss. All I know is that his best friend is the barbecue guy who’s going to open a restaurant and he’s testing recipes and he, the fixer, invited me to the pop-up.”

“Sounds familiar,” Naomi continued, in that irritating way her sister had of connecting things that were entirely too disparate. “Kosher barbecue?”

Liv nodded. “Yes. Again, he, the fixer…”

“If you’re going to call the guy anything, you should use his name. What is the guy’s name by the way?”

“Artur,” Liv said. “Don’t know the friend’s name but the fixer is Artur…”

“Who is, in fact, the fixer Leah’s looking at for her client, and knows Judith’s boss. Which meant his friend catered Ash and Judith’s b’nai mitzvah party but can’t do their wedding.”

“Who did you go with for the wedding, by the way?” Liv wondered, trying to get her brain off of the web of connections she’d walked into.

“Someone who my boss has used before. Kosher et cetera, et cetera. They’re paying through the roof for this, but it’s good I guess.”

Liv nodded. “Got it.”

“So, are you going to the pop-up or is that the decision you think is the bad one?”

She could tell her sister even if she couldn’t admit it to anybody else. “I want to,” she said. “I really want to. But it’s a horrible decision.”

“Livvy,” Naomi said, putting down her wineglass and crossing over to where she sat.

Naomi’s embraces were wonderful, and Liv let herself be swept up into her sister’s arms. “Livvy,” Naomi said again. “It’s dinner. It’s not the downfall of your political career. Who knows.”

But it never was just dinner. Nobody ever invited someone to ‘dinner’ without strings. Ever. She separated herself from her sister and sighed. “The chamber of commerce is watching me, and him. They called us to Levitan’s to make sure we were makingprofessionalprogress after the meeting yesterday. If I go, and someone sees me…”

“This is a pop-up by someone who just finished creating the barbecue recipes used at Levitan’s. Isn’t he someone who could possibly be convinced to open something more permanent in Briarwood? If nothing else, think of it as a business expedition,” her sister said, her eyes flashing.

“It’s complicated,” Liv said, knowing she really didn’t want to be. “It’s always complicated.”

“Life is complicated, as is love,” Naomi replied. “And don’t even think about it.”

But despite her sister’s warning, she did in fact travel down the ridiculous rabbit hole that had been the disaster of her love life: guys who almost derailed her career before it started, guys who thought it was a horrible idea for someone her age to run for office, others who asked her out only to pitch her an event in the middle of a fancy restaurant. Not to mention the man who turned the chamber of commerce into her own personal watchdog.

But all she said was, “Just because not everybody is McManus, doesn’t mean my life or my instincts aren’t affected by it. I don’t need this event to destroy both my life and career, Mimi.”

“You’re using the nickname,” Naomi said. “That means business, so business I shall give. This is dinner. This is a very carefully planned invitation to eat food you already like. Worst comes to worst, you eat the food and don’t discuss it again.”

Only hours later did she realize she hadn’t taken the opportunity to quiz Naomi on her own love life, or even admit that she’d decided to say yes.

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