Page 68 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

The way he rather haplessly shrugged his shoulders melted her insides. “It’s perfect. Before sundown, you light your candles, but can also turn on any lights you might need and leave them on until Shavuot, or Shabbat, for that matter, is over, to turn them off. It’s the turning on and off of lights that breaks the rules of creating or extinguishing fire. I’ve taped the switch in the fridge so the light doesn’t come on when you open it.”

She opened the largest one next and found a thousand-piece puzzle inside. It was an image she was familiar with from The Book of Ruth.

“It’s Ruth gleaning in Boaz’s fields.”

“Okay, so self-explanatory to you,” Ben said. “But I had no idea that Ruth was like me. Not Jewish. And yet, her great-grandson became King David. One day, you’ll have to explain why she was able to become the matriarch of a family that delivered a Jewish King and yet we aren’t supposed to marry because our kids wouldn’t even be considered orthodox.”

Chaya ran her fingers over the image on the box. “It’s complicated, but she’s one of the reasons I love this celebration because she’s a badass in many ways. I’ll tell you about her later if you’re interested.”

Ben touched her cheek. “I thought a jigsaw might give us something to do this evening that keeps us in line with your rules.”

She leaned into him, the feel of his hand on her skin setting her insides on fire. “I can’t believe you did all this.”

“Well, keep going. There’s a few more.”

She opened the next one, a smaller box, this time. With the wrapping gone, she could see it was clearly a jewellery box.

Inside was a silver chain with two long and narrow silver rectangles. Hammered into the silver plates were words in Hebrew. “Where you go, I will go,” Chaya said, lifting the chain from the box. “Will you put it on for me?”

He took the chain from her as she lifted her hair out of the way. His fingers tickled the back of her neck, and when it was fastened, he kissed above the clasp tenderly. She turned to face him. “How does it look?”

“Beautiful, like you. I read that she went somewhere with her mother-in-law, like a life-changing move thing, and this is a quote from her story or book or whatever.”

Listening to him try so hard to make the celebration memorable, how he researched and grasped so many things about what was important to her, bolstered her confidence about the two of them. About how their blended faiths, or her faith and his lack of one, would work in practice. He’d never thought celebrations that were so important to her were silly. But this time, he’d made the effort to learn, even going so far as to pick things they could do together with the candle and jigsaw. He was willing to sacrifice a night in front of the television, or out at the pub, or time on his phone, to simply be with her. And in that action was hope that they could figure this out together.

“Ben. I’m overwhelmed. In a really good way. You’ve gone to so much effort to make this special.”

He ran his knuckle down her cheek. “You’re special. And it’s not lost on me that the reason you’re here on your own is that you made the decision for us. I promise I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure you never regret it.”

She stepped up onto her toes and kissed him. “I’m not going to.”

He slid his hand around her neck, squeezing it, as he took the kiss deeper. On a sigh, she let him, savouring the way his other hand gripped her waist. Finally, he cupped her arse and lifted her onto the kitchen island, but instead of kissing her more, he stepped back.

“We’re dating, remember?”

“For how long?” she said, almost on a moan.

“Sunday,” he said. “I made plans. A hotel. I’ll tell you later. You have to keep those last two flat like that.” The remaining parcels were lumpy and bumpy and a bit damp in places. Ben shrugged. “Probably shouldn’t have wrapped them.”

She opened the first parcel and grinned when she confirmed what was inside.

A cheesecake.

She ripped open the second and found another.

Who didn’t love a celebration that revolved around cheesecake? Well, it revolved around dairy products. Milkshakes, cheese with obligatory crackers, and yoghurt, which she’d planned for breakfast tomorrow.

“Can we open one now?”

Ben grinned. “Was kind of hoping you would. It’s kosher. Had to go to about ten different places to find it. I already ate at home because I wasn’t sure about your rules. But I could totally eat cheesecake.”

“I had something to eat a few hours ago. Funky shift patterns. But I’m hungry.”

Chaya slid off the island and grabbed two forks and plates. She served up a slice of the salted caramel one and handed it to Ben. Then, she cut herself an equally large piece before taking a bite.

“So good,” she murmured as she chewed.

When she swallowed, Ben leaned forward and kissed the side of her mouth. “Caramel,” he muttered, before kissing her again.

---