The drip coffee maker she’d bought him for some birthday ages ago.It was still in its place of honor, outfitted with a new, reusable filter.It looked awkward in the very sleek kitchen but the fact that it was there meant something to her.
And that was what she used, filling the pot with water, the filter with the ground coffee he left in a glass container just to the right of the coffee maker.When the prep was done, she pressed the button and waited.
The smells from the coffee maker were beautiful, and she found herself grabbing her phone and making notes as she waited for it to finish.
Of course, that meant she was holding her phone when the call from Liv came in.
She checked the time; it wasn’t that early for her sister.She was probably in her office at the county legislature, organizing before the official start of the day.
“Hello?”
“Can you talk?”
There was nobody more respectful of her time in the morning than her sister; then again the only time she wasn’t respectful was when there was a commitment she hadn’t followed through on.
Like the one time she’d deliberately forced her sister to face their parents with Artur alone back in December.But that was for Liv’s own good, and if nothing else, she was ridiculously thrilled at how that had turned out.
But coffee mug found in a cabinet, fresh brewed coffee poured, she nodded.“I can,” she said.“What’s going on?”
“Not much,” Liv replied.Naomi could hear the shuffle of papers, which meant her sister was in the middle of something work-related.“Things have been good; I love the caucus.We’re on hiatus at the moment, so I’ve got a few events going on, but also catching up on paperwork back here.”
The paperwork catch-up, of course.“I’m glad you’re enjoying this,” she said.“I’m so excited for you.”
“Thank you.But also, I wanted to know how wedding prep was going.And how things were going with Jason.”
She could answer the questions one by one without thinking about the fact that Liv was hiding questions within each other, tying easy-to-answer questions together with ones that required thought.“Wedding prep on my end is fine,” she said.“We have a photographer and a designer for the event.We’re deciding where to go next, but the two vendor-contractors we do have are signed.How’s the bachelorette party going?”
“Trying to organize a few things; but trying to organize a party when your counterpart for the other side is a rabbi in the middle of late confirmation and bar and bat mitzvah season is practically impossible.”
“Any ideas at least?”
“A few,” she said.“But I’m settling on a few ideas with Leah.If I need a tiebreaker, I’ll let you know.”
With Leah.
She tried not to get upset about the prospect, considering Leah was the maid of honor and Judith’s sister.Which meant that most decisions about the wedding where Judith’s opinions weren’t already on record, would have to go through Leah.Thankfully, Naomi was working on details that Judith had already made choices for.
“She shouldn’t have acted the way she did,” Liv continued.“And I told her that.You’re being more than a little sensitive about things with you and Jason, but she never should have been so explicit about it.”
“I am sensitive, and don’t think I didn’t hear you ask me about him.”
“I know,” Liv said.“I’masking because I’m your sister and you’re spending a lot of time with him.Which means I want to know how you’re doing with him.This isn’t playtime for me, or information I’m getting to share in some group chat.”
Which was probably a bit more information than Naomi wanted to hear.But the sincerity was the important factor, and if anybody knew how to sweeten the pot when asking for information, it was her sister.
“We’re making choices, opening doors.We’ll see what happens,” she said.“But I’m not going to lie and tell you I’m not enjoying myself.”
She could see her sister’s expression, even if Liv wasn’t on a camera.
“Just be careful,” Liv said.“I know you’re being careful but remember to keep talking to him.Remember to make sure he knows where you are.”
She nodded.That was good advice, also something she could count on from her sister.And yet there was something still running around in her mind.“But what’s up with dinner?How did this whole thing come about?”
With a clear undertone of ‘what should I expect?’ thrown in there for good measure.
“I asked about your progress for a few reasons,” Liv replied.“The main one is the question of the caterer.”
“Really?”Naomi asked, knowingsomethingwas afoot.“I mean we have leads—Jason had a bunch of names he’d given me for the last catering debacle, that we were going to approach at some point, maybe today?”
