“Anyway, we had this whole deep conversation about everything, some of it I’ll get to later, and at the end of it, I realized where I knew her from.”
“Where?”
“Meal Network.She hosts a show about Jewish food journeys; I didn’t recognize her that way at first.”
Naomi nodded.“She’s really good at what she does,” she said.“It’s a great show and she gives a ton of really good information.”
“My brother absolutely loves that show too,” he said.“It’s really insightful and fascinating.Anyway, she and I finish this conversation and then?”
“Yes?”
“She tells me that she’d love to do an episode with my brother and I.”
“That’s amazing,” she said.“Batya’s just really smart.”
“She is,” he said.“She’s been fascinated by the way the business is transitioning from the New York family to the Michigan branch, and also that she really wanted to talk to me tonight because she saw that godawful article the New York family saw.”
“That’s just lovely,” Naomi said.“I think she gets the ridiculousness of certain tabloids more than most people because of the fact that she’s out there, on television, you know?”
Jason nodded.“Yeah.Putting yourself out there in any form can be hard.”
“In fact,” Naomi continued, “it turns out Ida made comments that got back to Abe about how she thought the show was airing dirty laundry.Which led to him not wanting anything to do with Ida.”
“No wonder Batya made it her business to talk to me about the article and also, going back to the Ida of it all… Just…wow,” he said, his words slightly dizzying as he followed the GPS’s instructions through the streets of Rivertown.
Naomi didn’t answer, or didn’t fill in the space because she figured he’d have more to say once they got back on to route 9.
“The more you learn about her,” he said once he headed into Hollowville, “the more you realize what a piece of work she was, and how lucky you are not to have to deal with her anymore.”
Naomi nodded.“The fact I survived Ida got me a caterer, and a tax guy.”
“That’s wonderful,” he said.He paused, and somehow, in the May night, she could see the smile on his face.“I’m so glad your business is thriving, not to mention the wedding.”
“It’s…freeing,” she said after thinking about it for a while.“I was thinking about how lucky I am that I’m part of a really great community of people who care about each other.”
“I’m glad,” he said.“I’m glad that you’re starting your company, with the knowledge that people care about you, respect you and want to work with you.”
“Me too.”She paused.“Abe and Batya are really good people.”
“They are,” he said.“And you know what?”
“What?”
“We were right.Abe asked me to help him.”
“We predicted it,” she said.“If it was a secret, it would have been the worst-kept secret in the universe.”And then she found herself wondering whether he got information for his own business as well.“Speaking of business beginnings, did you get any ideas that you wanted to share?Any inspiration?”
“About…oh yes.”
She grinned; she loved watching his thought process play across his face even if she couldn’t actually see it clearly now.
“Speaking of the debrief?”he asked.
“You want to debrief now?”
Which was surprising considering how Jason usually reacted, pushing back the part of the evening where he’d summarized what he learned, in favor of forwarding other aspects of the conversation.
“Why not,” he said.
