And apparently the distance wasn’t as far as he’d thought.“Ouch.Is everything okay?”
“It will be,” she said, her voice a combination of pain and exhaustion.“Samuel came out of nowhere and got her to give me the contracts; I barely left the bagels.She conceded after she realized I was serious about leaving, and in exchange, they gave me information about Tom.”
There was a knot of information, which he’d eventually untangle and help get to the bottom of.But then, it was obvious to him that she immediately wanted to switch subjects and talk about the first item on what felt like their ‘Save the Wedding’ scavenger hunt.
Having decided to let the rest pass until she was ready to tell him the details, he focused on the information she wanted to give him.“Which is?”
“He’s got an exhibition in Hollowville tomorrow.I figured we’d go early and stop by the bookstore.”
He nodded.“Sounds good.”
And then he pulled her close.“One more question,” he said.
“Mmm?”
“How do we spin this?”
“What do you mean, spin?”
He sighed.“We’re going to Hollowville to see the photographer at an exhibition.We know why we’re going, but we may run into people, you know?If not family, then people who know family.”
“Right,” she said.“And we want to be clear about what we’re doing because we don’t want anybody, beyond the people who already know, to find out what we’re actually doing.”
He nodded.“That.Exactly.News travels fast within the communities we’re a part of.”
Naomi nodded.“And the very last thing we want is people finding out the wedding arrangements fell apart.Because then Ash will find out, and then Judith will takeover, stressing out and stressing the entire family out with her.”
Speaking of stressing, he turned his attention to the first name on the list.Tom Walker.“Why are you targeting this photographer exactly?Have you seen any of his work?”
“Yeah,” she said.“I was at an exhibition of his, actually.Judith had taken an interest in his work, and one of those Jacob Horowitz-Margareten favors was going to be him taking photos.But then Ida swooped in, he pulled out and…”
“Right.”
Hurricane Ida.
“I take it he’s good?”
“Which means you haven’t seen his stuff,” she said.
Jason paused.Had he?“I don’t remember, actually.I don’t think so.”
“Which means our story is that I told you how much I liked seeing his photography and said you should come with me to see this exhibition.Especially one for a good cause.”
He nodded.“That works.And the rest could happen as it happens, right?”
“The rest?”she asked.But then a flash of realization made its way across her face.“Right.Us.And yes.Emotional honesty works perfectly for us.What people see, they see.”
And that was fine with him, at least for then.
Chapter Ten
Wedding scavenger hunt (N)
Object 3: Signed contract for the photographer
Debrief 1 (J): What inspires someone to start a small business?
Sunday, May 4th
