Avi chewed and swallowed before nodding, eyes closed. “Ah, it all makes sense now. This road trip…it’s a rugelach road trip. Most important of missions.”
Was he making fun?
A promise was a promise, even if the stakes weren’t what she’d led him to believe. And if nothing else, it was proof she could see one thing through, no matter how the rest of the trip veered off course. All she knew was that she couldn’t show up on the Matzo Baller without any rugelach for Hersh.
“Hence…only one.” She snuck the smallest nugget from the tin before pressing the lid firmly in place. It really was divine.
Avi sucked the last blob of chocolate off his thumb and pouted –Avi Wolfson pouting, ladies and gentlemen– before conceding. “If you let me have one more when we get to New York, I bet I could get my friend Talia to deconstruct and reverse engineer it. She is the Jewish Grandma caterer…and quite a rugelach whisperer herself.”
“Ifwe ever get to New York, you can have one more,” Leah bargained. “Or, I’ll trade you…a rugelach now, for the ring story.”
As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them. After all, hadn’t it been just like the ultimatum old heartless Hattiehad used on her earlier that day, leveraging Linda’s last wishes? Leah didn’t want to send Avi down a path he hadn’t planned to go. Look where it had gotten her today: stuck in a snowy parking lot with two flat tires.
But she did want to hear Avi make that noise again. And she was dying to learn more about the ring.So win-win?
She placed the tin on his lap. Avi’s dark eyes searched hers for a moment, before he lifted the lid and dipped his hand back in. He extracted the largest piece –a portent of the juicy story to come?– and held it to his lips. Leah held her breath.
“This stays between me, you, and Bertha?”
“Of course.”
“This has nothing to do with my willpower. Which is amazing, by the way.”
“Of course.”
She watched as he bit and chewed, eyes rolling back. “Fuck. No offense tosufganiyot, but gimme a plate of these every Hanukkah.”
Okay, now she was going to need another one, too. Her mouth watered as she plucked her piece from the tin. It was like the power of suggestion. Or watching someone yawn and feeling one coming on.
“That doctor is going to propose on the spot when you lay these on him.”
Not quite.
The weight of her secret loomed large in the cabin of the car. So much of her bucket list was already going off script, and this road trip with Avi—unplanned, chaotic, and oddly personal—felt like it needed its own lane, separate from everything waiting for her in New York. Telling him now would shift the dynamic, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that just yet.
“Classic stall. Come on,” she prompted, biting into her piece and catching crumbs as they fell with her other hand. “I’ve paid the toll. Let’s hear it. Speaking of proposals…”
“You’re pushy, you know that?”
“Comes with being the youngest,” Leah said with a shrug, trying to sound casual even though her pulse was skittering. She didn’t know why hearing this felt so important—but it did.
Chapter Twelve
Avi squinted into the snowy darkness as if the right words might materialize there.Talking about Sylvie – or himself with Sylvie – was like picking at an old wound that he could never let fully scab over.
“We were on Year Course in Israel together, when Miri died. And Sylvie, well. She had her own issues. We became like…mirrors for each other. Seeing every broken piece, but instead of judging, reflecting it back. Making it less painful. Making it art. She’d show me these photos she’d taken, and somehow, she’d captured the person I wanted to be, not just the mess I was.
“Fast forward nine years.” He touched the ring at his chest and cleared his throat. “Not exclusive, but…whenever we’re in the same town, we’re usually in the same bed. Especially in New York. Especially at Hanukkah. And especially after the Baller.” He gave a wry half-smile. “Our friends think it’s a casual hookup, and we let them believe that. It was easier that way.”
“The really fucked up part?” He rested his head gently against the driver’s side window. “We’ve never been on the same page. I couldn’t commit to anything but my own darkness in Israel. Then I got my head straight and tracked her down at college, but she’d moved on. So I wrote this stupid song aboutit – you know the one – and it hit number one. Suddenly, she’s back in my life, but my life is going a million miles an hour, and she wants to be on the road with me...” He trailed off.
“And you don’t want her there?”
“I don’t even know if I wantmyselfthere.” This last tour had proven that. “Not like this, anyway. It’s like a continuous hamster wheel. But I’m worried if I stop, I’ll get flung off like in those funny-but-not-funny animal videos. And I’ll be forgotten.”
“Come on – who could forgetMusic So Hot, It’ll Melt Your FaceAvi Wolfson? I know I sure didn’t.”
He appreciated the brief moment of levity she brought to the table. Or rather, to the front seat. “Okay. Not exactlyforgotten. But at least allowed to stay home for a while, work on new music in peace. Sleep.”
