The flight and shuttle to the hotel were smooth (traffic aside), and the resort was every bit as gorgeous as promised, dotted with palm trees and smelling of salt air and freshly cut grass. It was an entirely different universe from the poststorm New York City he’d left behind, with its scents of exhaust and petrichor.
Judah inhaled deeply, smoothed an invisible wrinkle in his polo shirt, and headed inside.
The lobby wasn’t the chaos of screaming children he had imagined, but he went straight for the front desk anyway, feeling a few pairs of eyes tracking him as he passed. It wasn’t his first Pesach program as hired entertainment, but he was a lot more recognizable this time around, and the Orthodox Jewish world was already small enough.
He checked in, went through the whole indignity of “Yes, it’s just me,” and “Right, only one key,” and headed to his room, barely appreciating the oceanfront view as he put his suitcase on the luggage holder, kicked off his shoes, and set his phone down next tohis bed. The idea of a nap was tempting, but not as tempting as showering the plane ride off of him.
Of course, the thought of taking a shower immediately brought his mind to getting some other much-needed relief, and he hesitated. How long could he go on jerking off in every damn shower to a woman he wouldn’t be touching again? At what point did it simply become self-inflicted torture?
He was still trying to decide when his phone rang from the nightstand.
For a good time, call…
He and Ari had exchanged a few texts, but they’d never once spoken on the phone. That twinge in his heart resurfaced as he imagined her calling to say she missed him, but he quickly dismissed the thought. More likely she was calling about the underwear she’d left behind, which he’d only stumbled upon on his way out the door that morning.
Either way, if he didn’t answer now, he was going to miss her call. And so he answered. “Hey.”
“Hi.” An awkward silence descended before she spoke again. “I—you mentioned dreading being lonely. I figured I’d make you unlonely for a minute.”
Heart thump.
Crap.
“I was just going to take a shower,” he said stupidly, his tongue feeling too big for his mouth, his heart feeling too big for his chest again. Then he realized it sounded like a come-on, andthenhe wondered if she was calling for phone sex. For some reason, the thought made him a little sad, even while his dick clearly liked the idea very much.
“Oh. Well. Don’t let me keep you.”
“No! I mean, that wasn’t me trying to kick you off the phone.” He dropped onto the bed. “I wasn’t… Iam—I…” He took a deep breath and tried to arrange his scrambled thoughts. “Thankyou,” he said finally. “That was really nice of you to call.”Too nice.“It does help.”
“Well, Idoknow someone else you can call if you get lonely. Like, maybe a certain brother who’s alone with his mom, stepfather, and grandmother for yuntif and would love to connect with his big brother, I bet.”
Judah’s heart stuttered for a whole different reason, thinking of his family sitting around the table without him, Akiva singing Mah Nishtana, his grandmother teasing him about making sure he found a good hiding spot for the afikomen if he wanted a present. “Yeah,” he said thickly. “I’ll call.”
“Good. And let yourself have a good time, Judah. It’s only as lonely as you let it be. As much as I hate to admit it, I no longer believe you have the most loathsome personality on the planet.”
He laughed. “Highest praise from Arielle Becker.”
“You know it. Have a good yuntif, Judah. Chag kasher v’sameach.”
“Chag kasher v’sameach, Ari.”
He stared at his phone for a full minute after they hung up, wishing she’d call back, or he’d think of a good reason to dial her number. But they’d said what they had to say. It was a sweet and unexpected extension of their goodbye, but still a goodbye. They’d had a deal, and that deal had expired.
It was time to venture out on his own.
For a moment, he considered leaving his phone behind, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do so. Instead, he silenced it, slipped it into his pocket, and headed down to the lobby, hoping some fresh air would clear his head. He was just making his way to the large outdoor seating area overlooking one of the pools when he heard a vaguely familiar voice calling his name.
“Judah Klein!”
Judah looked up to see a familiar figure walking his way, and after a couple of blinks he realized it was Benny Winkler, an oldfriend from high school. Judah had no idea where he was living now or how many kids he had, but there were none trailing behind him as he came over for a bro hug—just a few other guys Judah didn’t know and a woman who looked a few years younger and was presumably one of their wives.
He plastered a smile on his face and returned the back pat. “Benny! Long time. How’s it going?”
“Not nearly as good as it’s been going for you, from what I hear.”
For an inexplicable second, Judah thought Benny was referring to the last week, and he nearly broke out in a cold sweat as he wondered how word of his exploits with Ari could’ve possibly spread this far. And then he remembered what the rest of his life looked like, and he exhaled sharply. “Baruch Hashem,” he managed. “Things have been busy. Good.”
“My nieces are going apeshit that you’re here.” He gestured to the guy next to him. “You remember my brother, Aaron.”
