WHAT?
If it had been anybody else, Naomi would have had to answer questions about how intently she was staring at her phone.But this was Livvy, whose new job required a similar degree of attentiveness even when she wasn’t technically on the job.
But when the buzzer went off again, she looked down.
To: Naomi Nachman
From: Samuel Levine, sofer
I got the email.Don’t worry about it.We’re family.
Email.
What email?
Instead of thinking through the situation, Naomi went right to her email.If Samuel had gotten it, she must have been given some kind of similar notice?Maybe?
Like who it was from and what it was about?
But when she checked her email and read the newest message, the panic that she’d been holding back forced its way to the surface.
To: Important people
From: Ida Nemiroff
Re: Goodbye
To whom it may concern,
Please consider this email my announcement of my immediate retirement and end of business.I’ve wound up everything, paid all the fees andIda’s Best Partiesis no more.I have left no forwarding address and will send no further emails.
For those who I have contracted with in any form, your contracts are now void.
Thank you for your patronage through all of these years.
Goodbye,
Ida C Nemiroff
And with one email, her mentor/boss had closed her business and left town without prior notice.Now the panic began to seep out of her pores.She reached up, fingers heading toward her hair before she realized she was doing it.
“I recognize that look.”
Liv was many things; observant was one of them.All the same, Naomi nodded.“I should have listened to you,” she said.
Liv raised an eyebrow.“What brilliant piece of advice should you have taken?”
Naomi sighed, took a sip of her Thai iced tea before answering.“I should have built a logo and separate contracts for my business, just for Judith’s wedding.Kept it separate from my work with Ida.”
Again, Liv was no fool.And was equipped with older-sister radar.“What happened?Why is it suddenly relevant?”
Naomi took a deep breath and deciding that there would be no deterring her sister, shoved the words out of her mouth.“Ida closed up shop and left town, voiding all the contracts.”
Just as Naomi was about to continue the conversation, her phone buzzed again.This time, the notifications screamed that she’d gotten three separate emails, informing her that three of the service providers she’d contracted with—Ida’s pet event designer, the cake maker Ida had insisted on, as well as the caterer Ida had insisted upon when the first one didn’t work out—were unable to fit the wedding into their schedules.“And all of this is happening weeks before Judith’s wedding.”
Liv stood, crossed the room, and Naomi couldn’t resist melting into the embrace.She said, “What are you going to do?What do you need me to do?”
“What am I going to do?”Naomi smiled at her big-hearted sister, who was otherwise occupied with her new job and new boyfriend.“Roll up my sleeves and make sure Judith’s wedding doesn’t collapse less than three weeks before the ceremony, without her having any idea as to what’s going on.”
