“Kidding.” They both laughed as he copped to his joke. “Seriously, the two of you gave me a run for my money, trying to guess who you were. Or are. Good to see you, kid. How’s your sister? Still running the nonprofit?”
“Yeah,” she said softly. It was sweet of him to ask. “She is. Wow. Good memory.”
“Still got my subscription to Variety.” He shrugged, smile sheepish.
“Bobby Blue – you always were my favorite crayon in the box. What have you been up to?”
“Only you get to call me that, Rosie Red.” He laughed, and rubbed the back of his neck. “Still Rob Levin, that boy from Brooklyn. Hoping someone greenlights a reboot one of these days.” His signature squint still charmed. “I’m gonna hit the dreidels now, which way you headed?”
Her gaze lifted instinctively, and there was Max — her Dior clutch under his armpit like a football. The sight not so much funny now. More reassuring. Like a hand on her spine. “I’ve got a cocktail getting warm up there, at the bar. Catch up with ya later?”
He gave a little salute, still smiling. “You bet, Kara.”
Tzipi smoothed her expression as she walked, pushing that cracked-open window into her childhood firmly shut before Max could glimpse it.
“Sorry,” she murmured, taking back the festive glass. “Unexpected nostalgia ambush.” Her sister probably would’ve asked how her hair looked, after that blast from the past. “We may need a hand signal for the five-minute extraction rule.”
“Wasn’t that guy on Celebrity Crush Island?”
“Shut up! As far as I know, Rob’s career started and ended as my big brother. And wow, someone’s a fan of trash TV.”
“No, just last in the remote control pecking order in my household, growing up.” He tilted his head to look at her. “You okay?”
She nodded. Although…was she? If not, the alcohol content in this cocktail would get her there, eventually.
“So, what’s paradise taste like?” Max leaned on the bar. “And what makes pre-code better than post?”
Tzipi, mid-sip, widened her eyes. “There were so many great movies from the early thirties, before the Hays Code. Much more daring. Even risqué – with female characters who were independent, sexually liberated. And…it tastes like apricot. Pretty disgusting.” She set down her glass with a laugh. “No disrespect to the bartender.”
“You think? I’ve been drinking that shit straight up.”
They both turned, but the boss and his handcart were long gone. Max ordered them waters – probably the better call after all that dancing.
“My mom specializes in that era, in her film preservation work. So I grew up watching these kickass protagonists who controlled their own destinies. But then Hollywood began censoring everything under that Production Code, and watered down the content.”
“Because God forbid you have strong women in charge of their own futures, right?”
The manly man still holding her purse and the flying the flag for women’s rights had no idea how sexy he was, right at that moment.
“At the risk of sounding like a total fanboy, you certainly do Vanta Blackmore justice.”
She took another sip instead of answering, the sweet burn catching in her throat. And smiled, because that’s what Kara would’ve done at the compliment – accept, deflect, move the spotlight somewhere else.
Also, she really didn’t want “Max” and “Vanta fanboy” sharing the same real estate in her head.
“So why did the bartender call you that?” She was quick to change the subject. “Maximum Deduction?”
“Oh, that’s my Bond name.” He pulled his best Sean Connery out, fingers steepled. “Deduction. Max Deduction.”
She giggled. “That doesn’t sound like a very Jewish last name, Max.”
“Says the girl who shortened hers,” he teased.
It wasn’t an accusation, exactly, but for the first time all night, she wondered how much this guy really knew – about her sister, and about her, by association.
“You are Jewish, right?” She lobbed the ball back to his court.
“I don’t carry my circumcision papers around but, yes. Generational trauma present and accounted for.” He took a gulp of water and grinned. “You ever notice there’s never been a Jewish James Bond? Probably because we’d have to call our mothers before every mission.”
