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David’s head lifted, his eyes meeting hers. She didn’t need to speak, he read the words on her face as clearly as if she’d written them on the wall.
Stay with me.
Eighteen
“Did you really spoon feed my best friend crepes last night?” Abi said, amusement and incredulity screwing her face up. David looked up from the book he was reading, brows going up in surprise. Not that Abi was asking about the date, but that she knew the specifics.
“For the record, I used a fork. Did Shoshana tell you that?” He reflexively took his feet off the desk. Abi didn’t seem to care, but if Kathy happened by the open doorway, he had a feeling she would make her annoyance known. Abi stepped more fully into his office and closed the door partway. It was still open, they could be interrupted, but it gave the appearance of a more private conversation. Interesting.
“No, actually, I got it from Janet. Her oldest daughter is a hostess at Francesca’s. Janet is volunteering in the preschool today.” She sat down on the arm of the sofa that was perpendicular to his desk. The office was quite large, mainly to accommodate the bookshelves. But also, the sofa and overstuffed chair were good for counseling purposes.
“Janet is…”
“The one with the, uh,” Abi trailed off meaningfully, making a fluid motion with her fingers around her hair. “She said Ruthie said you looked cute together.”
“Uh huh.” David nodded to show he understood. Janet Saperstein had a rather unfortunate perm. Abigail’s coaching over the past weeks had been invaluable. He was certain he wouldn’t have learned nearly so many people’s names so quickly.
He leaned on the desk for a moment, wondering how he should be responding to this information.
“Out of curiosity, have you told Shoshana about this yet?”
“Oh,hellno,” Abi said, huffing a laugh at the very idea. She laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles. “If you really were feeding her crepes, that means you probably want a second date.”
“Yes, as it happens,” David said, feeling a headache threatening in the tension he was feeling in his teeth.
“Then she doesn’t need to hear about how Ruthie Saperstein felt about her outfit,” Abi said, her eyes sparkling dangerously.
“What was wrong with her outfit, exactly?” David asked. He was becoming resigned to the fact that these kinds of interpersonal details were going to leave him in a state of constant confusion. He didn’t used to be this bad at people. In fact, handling people was a large part of why he was so good at his job. Usually. Apparently, so long as it didn’t involve Shoshana.
Abi laughed for real and dragged a hand through the short mop of curls that framed her face. “Probably that she didn’t tell Ruthie where she bought it. It’s not the outfit, my friend.”
“Are you telling me people actually care that I’m taking her out?” he said, surprised at how surprised he was by the idea. He wasn’t sure what he’d thought last night. Clearly whatever had upset Shoshana was very real to her, but he couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea that so many people would be so interested in her love life.
“Are you telling me you’re surprised?” Abi dipped her chin, considering him over her glasses. “Crap, you really are.”
“Willyouat least tell me what exactly is going on?” David said, sitting back in the chair, frustration making his words more forceful than he intended. Abi didn’t seem offended though. In fact, she glanced over her shoulder at the half open office door before looking back at him.
“What did she tell you specifically? There’s no way she didn’t tell you something, Shoshana is an absolute drama queen.”
David raised his eyebrows at that, because he very much remembered the look on Shoshana’s face the night before and her panic and indecision had been real. He didn’t say as much, but he did outline as much of the conversation as he could without feeling he was betraying a confidence.
She grunted once or twice, asked a clarifying question, but otherwise took in what he was saying without comment. By the time he was done outlining the entire date, leaving out the deep, lingering, soul stealing kisses he shared with Shoshana next to her car, and of course everything that transpired at her house, Abigail’s face was grave.
“I was hoping she’d gotten over it,” Abi said when he was done. “I mean, okay not like over it over it, but at least--”
“Overwhat, exactly? For God’s sake, will someone please give me a straight answer about this?” David said, exasperation making him stand up from the desk. He felt like he needed to blow off the afternoon and go to the gym or something. He definitely had the urge to hit something solid.
“You know who her dad was, right?” Abi said, as though this made sense in context. Which, it didn’t.
“Her dad owned a furniture store?”
“Yeah,” Abi said, rolling her eyes, “and he was also board president for almost twenty years. The library down the hall has his name on it, dude.”
“Well, okay, I’m clueless,” David said, because suddenly that’s how he felt, “So, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Look, this is really something Shoshana should be telling you, because honestly? I don’t get most of it,” Abi said seriously. She held up a hand when he opened his mouth to protest. “I mean, I’ll tell you what I can, but you really have to talk to her about it. Leah could maybe tell you some more stuff than I could, but don’t go to my sister, Sho would lose her shit.”
“I’m not going to go around gossiping about her personal life,” David said, defensively. He considered the bookshelf to his right and a title caught his eye. He took it down from the shelf without really thinking about it and put it on the desk. He’d refer back to it later, he had a sermon to write.
