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“Well, alright then,” Patti said, finally removing the last post-it from the window, “I’m about to introduce you to the concept of a Kanban board, and it’s going to change your life. We’re going to sort through whatever these are supposed to be with it. Then you’re going the fuck home and you’re going to take a nap.”
Shoshana saw no reason to argue with this logic, so she didn’t.
* * *
David stared at the bag of takeout food in his passenger seat and wondered if he was doing the right thing. At four o’clock he’d gotten a call from Abi. She let him know she'd called an order into a barbecue restaurant in town, and if he knew what was good for him, he would pick up the order and take it to Shoshana’s house. She didn’t offer any other details, and she didn’t ask if he would be following through on the request.
He knew what Abigail was doing, forcing a confrontation, but he wasn’t sure it was the best course of action. He also had no idea what she knew. He certainly hadn’t told her anything. And, he assumed, if Shoshana had, Abi would have appeared in his office like an avenging angel. Perhaps she knew what was best, considering that she had known Shoshana for so long.
Not that you’ve been coming up with a plan of action that would dazzle the ages, anyway,Moshe said. David sighed.
“She made it pretty clear she didn’t want to see me,” he pointed out, knowing this was bullshit. He should never have let it go for so long.
Shoshana’s door was painted a bright purple, and the exterior of the Craftsman house was done in a rich charcoal grey with white accents. In daylight her house was tasteful, but unique. There were tea roses lining the path to the porch, and bees lobbed themselves from one purple flower to the next.
She said she didn’t have time for you when you’re a shameless ass, that’s not the same thing as “if you come around again, I’m calling the cops”, schmendrick, Moshe said.
“She’s probably going to slam the door in my face,” David said, fingers curling in the handles of the takeout bag.
You’re bringing food. She’ll talk to you long enough to take the bag,Moshe said, wise as ever.
David almost laughed. It was a good point. And Abi was canny, she probably foresaw that exact situation. He calculated he had about thirty seconds from the time she opened the door to the time she took the bag out of his hand and slammed the door in his face. So, he better make his words count.
He had no idea what he was going to say to her.
Let me stay with youwas, perhaps, a good start. He was halfway up the walk when he nearly turned around and walked back to his car.
Coward,Moshe said. David rolled his eyes, the old man wasn’t wrong. He was absolutely a coward.
Shoshana had the kind of doorbell that involved turning a small handle attached to an actual bell, like a bicycle so that when the handle twisted, the bell rang on the other side of the door. He twisted the filigreed disc and waited, wondering what Shoshana was doing home at this hour. The store was meant to be open until six at least.
He was reaching for the bell again when he heard a scraping from the other side of the door and then he didn’t have any time to think because the door was opening. She was wearing comfortable looking yoga pants and an old tee shirt, a fluffy looking blanket draped around her shoulders, her hair a rumpled mass around her head. He’d woken her.
“David?” Shoshana rubbed her eyes in the late afternoon sunlight, looking confused and wary.
“I brought food,” he said, lifting the bag. “For you, I mean. I’m not hungry, I don’t expect you to share. Abi asked me to. Bring the food, I mean.”
Her eyes cut to the bag, taking in the logo on the side.
She took the bag from him and stepped into the cool dark of the hall. She hadn’t asked him in, but she hadn’t told him to leave either. The door was still wide open. He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and stepped inside.
She’d waited a few feet from the door. When he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, she sniffed, turning away from him again to shuffle into the house. Deev glared at him from his place on the coffee table. The cat, at least, had not forgiven.
David followed her through the living room, noting the nest she’d made on the sofa and theare you still watchingmessage on the television from Netflix. He left it, feeling that it would be an overstep to reach for the remote and turn the television off. He’d done that exact thing in this house more than once. But he wasn’t sure if he was still welcome now.
He could hear her in the kitchen, so he followed her there.
Shoshana was removing takeout containers from the bag. She stopped long enough to adjust the blanket on her shoulders so that it didn’t get in her way, then continued working. Whatever Abi had ordered was plentiful.
“Do you want any of this?” she asked, not looking at him, “I’m not sharing the brisket, but she always orders mac and cheese and I don’t likePokey’smac and cheese.”
“Uhm--sure, I could eat some mac and cheese,” David said, because he wasn’t sure how to answer. He wasn’t particularly hungry. But if she wanted him to, he would shovel pasta into his face until he passed out.
“Good, I hate wasting food. You may as well sit down,” she said, putting a Styrofoam, plastic-wrapped container further away from her on the counter. Mac was written in Sharpie across the plastic-wrap. She dug around in the bottom of the bag and found a plastic set of fork, knife, and spoon. She put it next to the side dish.
“Thank you,” he said, because apparently his only use at the moment was as food disposal. “Did I wake you?”
“I needed to get up anyway. If I slept any longer, I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight,” she said, talking into the open silverware drawer in front of her. She fished out a few utensils for herself and shuffled to the refrigerator.
