He nodded.God, he was so glad she was helping him, both in business and life.Sharing his life with him…
Did he just?
No.
He wasn’t going to have those thoughts, not internally or externally.Not yet.That was putting the cart before the horse in a major way, which did not work when he was with someone who’d been skittish about saying I love you.
And even that, it hadn’t been very long since the hamantaschen.
Which meant he had to pull himself back, drag himself back to reality and then calm his raging, beating heart.
This wasn’t the time for him to think about things that weren’t even close to happening.
Not yet at least.But he realized she was waiting for him to respond, to say anything.“Thank you,” he said.“I really appreciate the help.”
Naomi nodded.“Of course,” she said.“You can absolutely look at my documents and things.I think you’ll eventually need the documents and the setup to the degree that I have them; but eventually isn’t now.So, you’re fine I think.At least at this point.
“Thank you,” he said.“I really appreciate this.”
She smiled, a slight movement of her lips.“You’re going to do this, and I’m so proud of you.”
He looked down before looking back up at her.“I love you.”
“The feeling,” she said, “is entirely mutual.”
And she leaned toward him, her lips meeting his.And settling in for a gorgeous, beautiful kiss.
*
As per usualthe next morning after an event, after Jason headed out for a quick run, she got a call from Liv.And after the preliminaries, she got a little excited to tell her sister the news.
“You’re excited,” Liv said.“What’s going on?Tell me.”
“We got everything,” Naomi managed.“Event designer, photographer, cake, and caterer.All we need is music, which was supposed to be a groom thing, and the wedding is back on track.”
“Let me twist Artur’s arm,” Liv replied, already moving to the next item on the checklist without even having been asked.“I’ll see if he knows what was supposed to happen, or even who was supposed to play.And if so, see if he can help there.That or the friend of Ash’s who has the cabin might want to play.”
“Whatever he can suss out will work,” Naomi said.“But that’s going to put a bow on the wedding.We’re not that far out.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Liv said.“I mean you pulled this off and started your business.”
Which was a thing she hadn’t actually processed fully until her sister said the words.“Thank you,” she finally said, once the emotion got shoved down her throat.“I honestly don’t think I would have done it if you didn’t have my back.”
“Of course I have your back,” Liv replied, sounding slightly offended.“You’re my sister.”
“When you’re not ghosting me at a dinner…”
“Batya told me not to come,” Liv said.“Unlike someone who deliberately ghosted Artur and I at Mom and Dad’s.”
Naomi laughed.“You needed to see them without me.He needed to see them without me.But what’s your story?I need to hear what happened from you.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you already know what happened?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Naomi said.“Just tell me.”
“We were running late,” Liv began, as if this was an occurrence that happened regularly, and a story style she told often, “and she said hold on a second, before coming back and being like, you know, Abe and I have enough to talk to them about, and I don’t need you hovering.”
Now that the story conformed to what she’d heard from Batya, she could let Liv off the hook.Not only that, but that she could also see Batya saying exactly that after spending time with her.“Okay,” Naomi said.“You’re off the hook.”
