He nodded.“That sounds perfect.”
As she watched his retreating form, she found herself thinking she could get used to this: him by her side in good times and bad.His touch to comfort, his kiss to bring her home.
I want nothing more.
*
Debrief.
The concept seemed so…formal, though neither they nor the location were.Over tea and a bunch of peanut butter cookies he’d whipped up, his tablet and her laptop on the table, her adorable in her pajamas, the pajama pants he’d left at her place comfortable with a T-shirt that he’d picked up somewhere.
“What happened?”
He sighed, and even after a shower that loosened his muscles, baking cookies that calmed his spirit, and drinking tea with a person he could tell everything, he felt awkward.
Because he knew he wasn’t the only one dealing with trouble; he didn’t want to ignore her problems in favor of his.“I’ll tell you only if you tell me what happened with Leah.Because I can tell something absolutely did.”
Jason could tell right away that his words hit their intended mark; Naomi sighed, settled deeper into her seat and took a cookie from the plate, putting it on a napkin.“You’re right,” she said.“But now I’m here to listen.”
And he could see from the intent look on her face, the way she held the cookie in her hand, that there was no dissuading her, no changing her mind.
He would tell his story first, setting the stage for her to tell him what had happened to her.Make the situation reciprocal, even though he didn’t need it to be.
Which meant he began with the way his brother had initially presented the situation and continued to describe the narrative, up to and including the newspaper clipping.
She didn’t respond immediately, but that didn’t worry him.Because the distaste in her expression evoked by the name of the newspaper that belonged in litter boxes settled slowly into understanding.“That is…wow.It’s horrible.”
He shrugged; he appreciated the understanding, but the distance made him realize that things hadn’t been as bad as he’d originally thought.
“I mean,” he said.“I hate it, not going to lie, but…”
“But?”
He sighed.Perspective was everything.“I guess it’s their right.Right now, Greenblatt’s Knishes is their business and if they want to be garbage, they can.My issue, as a result, is that I need to figure out how to plan what I want to do with my life and my career…before they show up.For my future, obviously, but also for my brother and his.”
She nodded.“Understandable.Do you have any ideas on how to figure this out?”
“Well,” he said, “I don’t have much time.But I was thinking that I’d be able to come up with some ideas as we go on your wedding-saving scavenger hunt.Maybe I can get advice on business plans from the people we talk to, tie those to what I thought of my experiences on the West Coast and get some concrete plans ready to start.”
“You want my help?”
He smiled; he loved how she was willing to step in.“I would love it,” he said.“You think we can brainstorm, maybe debrief as we go?”
“That,” she said with a grin, “sounds perfect.”
“I’m glad you think so,” he said, grabbing a cookie from the plate.“I’m glad to see how easily the things we’re doing fit together.”
“They do,” she said with a smile.“It’s like it was meant to be.”
Which was a thought that didn’t scare him on any level as much as it probably would have if he’d been talking with or about someone else.But that would be a conversation for another time.“Yeah.But more importantly, how are you doing?”
“Better we talk about the next stop, which is to see the photographer: Tom Walker.”
A balk.Of course there was.But he wasn’t letting her get away with it this time; there was something bothering her and she needed to let it out.So instead of letting the comment pass, he called her on it.
“That good, huh?”
She didn’t answer immediately, and again, he wasn’t worried.She wasn’t someone who vomited words when the situation was tight, tense.“I think your timing was perfect,” she finally said, her tone making him think she was using the distance to make light of a bad situation.“Leah just…presented something in a way that stepped on every single one of my weird, sensitive spots and I lost it.I almost left moments after I got there.”
