That was the easiest question she could answer.
“I have never seen my sister as happy as she is when she’s with Artur,” she replied, the words Niagara Falls out of her mouth.“I don’t think there’s been anybody who inspires her, who really sees her as well as he does.And she sees him too, in ways that I don’t think he’s been seen in a relationship before.Is that what you were getting at?”
Abe nodded, and this time it was grave, serious.“I’m glad to hear that.”
Which meant Naomi had made the right choices and had said the right words.“I’m glad to be able to say it,” she replied.
Abe eventually said, “If Artur made moves that meant he saw a future in their relationship, what do you think your sister would say?”
Andthosewere the undertones she heard in Liv’s question.Abe wasn’t going to invite her and Jason to what he was calling a ‘family dinner’ without thoughts that the relationship between Liv and his best friend would soon make them family.
But Liv?What would Liv say?
The fact that Liv knew well enough to warn Naomi that something might be coming said everything.But how could she explain this?
“I think he knows her well enough that they’ve discussed things,” she finally said.“I also think they’ve started to make choices together.And plans, because that’s my sister—the queen of planners.She doesn’t move without an outline and at least three others.If he’s making these noises, now, so comparatively early in the relationship, I’d be thrilled for them.”
Abe nodded, clearly on the same page.At least Naomi hoped.“Good to know.Okay.So.How are you doing…professionally?”
Again, right to the point, going from one topic to the next, cutting to the heart of the matter.“I actually have a new company, registered, organized.Filling out contracts.”
“You’re up on your 1099s?”
Naomi understood the primary concerns of a true tax accountant involved having all the documents associated with a business filled out and ready to go, so the question didn’t really faze her that much.“I have the basics done for the three contractors I’ve brought into the situation.One vehemently objected.”
“Samuel?”
Naomi nodded; how Abe knew of Samuel’s potential objections, she wasn’t sure.Apparently information traveled fast in certain family circles.Regardless of who passed the information on, the facts didn’t matter.
Because Samuel’s objection didn’t come from the fact she was creating a new business.It was simply Samuel’s way of saying that he trusted Naomi enough to continue his obligation to provide a ketubah for the wedding, even if there wasn’t a written contract dictating its terms.To Samuel, Judith, and by extension Naomi herself, were family.To Samuel’s way of thinking, deals between family members were sacrosanct.
But that didn’t matter; she wanted the paper.She needed it, if not for Aaron, Samuel’s brother and business manager, but for her own piece of mind.And that was the important fact Abe needed to know.“Yeah,” she said.“But I sent it to him anyway.I wanted to cross the t’s and dot the i’s.”
“Good.It’ll make organizing your taxes easier later.”
She nodded.And because she didn’t want to assume anything, she smiled.“I actually got an email from Max Parker-Roth this morning.He says you do his taxes?”
“I’m at the stage of my life and my career,” Abe replied as he checked a temperature gauge, “that I only do the kind of taxes that fascinate me.Artists who do visual art, event design and charity work fascinate me.My friend who can’t keep his hands out of every single pot he sees that he wants to fix fascinates me, and someone building a business up from nothing after her piece-of-shit former boss screwed her over fascinates me.If your documents are in order,” he continued, “I’ll do your taxes.”
She swallowed.He was, in fact, making the offer—and taking a very obvious pot shot at Ida while he did so.Maybe there was truth to the fact he’d declined to cater the wedding because of Ida?
But that wasn’t the conversation they were having at the moment.And whatever conversation they were, in fact, having, was something Abe was dictating the tenor of.Years of event planning meant Naomi’s default was to listen and pull threads of moods out of people, whether they were her client, whose tastes and feelings were primary for the event she’d be planning for them, or a contractor she was in negotiations with.“Thank you,” she said, clear at the response required from her at that moment.“I appreciate it.”
And as she made to stretch her leg, she saw Abe shake his head out of the corner of her eye.
“We’re not done,” he said, as if to put a finer point on the situation.
She nodded, knowing she hadn’t really moved, but also clear that her host was dictating not only the direction, but also the tone of the conversation.
And he’d also done her one big favor.
“I’m all ears,” she said.
“Because it occurs to me,” he continued as he stepped away from the smoker, crossing his arms, “that as you’re building up this company, you’re also saving the wedding of someone I’ve gotten to know, and that a few of my friends have a special interest in.”
She nodded.
“You’ve been talking to people, setting things up, pulling contractors together and signing them to your new business.”
