Aviva grinned. “Yes. Mostly it’s used by my friends.”
“I love it. It’s perfect for you. Although I think I’ll stick with your full name, if you don’t mind. It’s pretty and unique.”
He exhaled with a whoosh, trying to cover it with his napkin. That went surprisingly well. Maybe she was softening in her old age.
“I don’t mind. And you’re right. Growing up I was always disappointed to never be able to find anything personalized with my name on it. But now I like it.”
They ate for a moment in silence. Jacob admired Aviva’s ease at dealing with his mother.
“Everything tastes wonderful, Karen.”
“Yeah, Ma, the brisket is terrific.”
“Thank you both. Brisket has always been Jacob’s favorite.”
“I’d love the recipe if you don’t mind sharing it.”
Once again, Jacob held his breath. His mother was always reluctant to share recipes, especially with people she’d just met. There was no way she’d give it to her this soon in their relationship. He wracked his brain to try to come up with something to distract his mother.
“Hey, Ma—”
“Jacob, don’t interrupt. I taught you better manners than that. Aviva, I’d be happy to give you the recipe, honey. Remind me before you leave tonight. I love women who aren’t afraid to eat and cook.”
Whoa. Apparently, his fears were misplaced. All of them. Either that or an alien had abducted his mother and replaced her with this easygoing, pleasant woman. Because she proved he didn’t need to be nervous. Aviva was a lot stronger than he’d thought.
Aviva laughed. “I do like to eat. Cooking, well, I’m not terrific at it. I don’t have a tremendous amount of time, but I’ve always heard brisket isn’t too complicated—not that I mean any offense!”
“Not at all. Brisket is pretty easy. It’s a great meal to practice on. It’s almost impossible to mess up.”
“Good, you understand. I wouldn’t want to offend you. Anyway, yours tastes so good. Hopefully I’ll be able to maybe come close to this.”
He silently applauded her as she extricated herself from a potentially difficult situation. This woman he’d fallen for was good.
“You know, if you want, you’re welcome to come over sometime and I can make it with you. That way you can see how I do it. Sometimes it’s easier to learn by example rather than a recipe.”
Jacob’s throat closed. He tried not to choke on his mouthful of food. Did his mother offer to teach his girlfriend to cook?
“That would be terrific! Maybe one weekend while Jacob studies.”
“Are you free Sunday? It freezes well, so you’d be able to have it for later. It’s always better reheated anyway.”
“I am. I can’t wait.”
His girlfriend…his mother…
“Jacob, close your mouth and eat. Aviva and I are getting along just fine.”
…liked each other. His mother was right. He focused on his plate and ate in silence.
Aviva was a genius. She deserved a lot more faith than he’d given her. Not only could she hold her own with his mother, she’d charmed her. Actually charmed her. A foot beneath the table stroked his leg. Aviva smiled at him. He hoped she could read all the silent promises and apologies he was making.
In the meantime, he would step back and let his mother and girlfriend handle themselves without his help. Because a smart man knew when he was out of his element.
Chapter Nineteen
“How was dinner with Jacob’s mother?” Aviva’s mom asked as soon as she picked up the phone.
“Hello to you too, Mom.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you know you called to tell me.”
“You’re right.” Aviva sank onto her bed and kicked off her shoes. “Dinner was fun. We got along great.”
“Really? Tell me.”
She recounted their arrival, dinner, and conversations. “Her home was one of the most gorgeous I’ve seen. I’m getting together with her again on Sunday. She’s teaching me to make brisket.”
“Alone?”
“Well, Jacob’s in his hole studying for the Bar exam, so yeah, alone.”
“And it doesn’t worry you?”
“She was nice. Her brisket was amazing. It’s Jacob’s favorite, so I want to learn to make it.”
“Aw, my baby’s in love!”
Aviva sank against her pillows glad her mom couldn’t see her face. “Stop. You make me feel like I’m four.”
“Sorry. I’m happy for you, though, bubbelah. You deserve someone like Jacob. The fact you like his mother is even better. Have you told Jacob how you feel about him?”
Aviva squeezed the phone in her hand. Her heart pounded. “No. I…I kind of just figured it out myself and I don’t want to pressure him.”
“And you’re not good at pushing him.”
“I don’t want to push him into confessing something he might not feel yet. Besides, he has to study, Mom. I don’t like to distract him any more than I already have.”
“You know, you don’t just put yourself last by not talking to him. You put him last too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I get you don’t want to do anything to prevent him from studying, but did you ever think maybe he wants to tell you how he feels but doesn’t know how?”
“He knows he can talk to me.”
“Yes, he knows he can, but you’ve said yourself he’s bad at talking about his feelings. Maybe he really needs you to make the first move.”
“You’re the one who suggested I prioritize with him, Mom.”
“Oh baby, I didn’t mean important things like how you feel about each other.”
Aviva wrapped her arm around her waist. “I may have taken your suggestion a little too far.”
“I don’t want to upset you, honest, but I want to make sure you don’t brush aside your feelings because you could hurt more than just yourself.”
“I appreciate it, Mom, I really do. I’ll talk to Jacob and tell him how I feel. I promise.”
“Good. In the meantime, have fun cooking and let me know what happens.”
“I will.”
As Aviva hung up, she promised herself she’d call Jacob tomorrow and talk things out. It was time he knew how she felt about him, regardless of what else was going on his life. Her mom might be right.
****
Jacob’s phone rang the next morning as he packed his books to head to the library. “Hey, Aviva.”
“Do you have time to get together today?”
“Ugh, I’m totally swamped. Any chance we can talk now, instead?”
Her sigh echoed through the phone. “Um, I guess.” He put his books and keys on the table then dropped into the wooden chair. “Is everything okay?”
“I just, I kind of wanted to talk to you in person. This isn’t really something I can say over the phone…”
He froze. There was only one thing he could think of that could only be done in person. “Avs, can you give me a second? I need to call you right back. Don’t go anywhere, okay? I need two minutes.”
“Okay.”
He ended the call and sat at the table staring at his books. The refrigerator buzzed in the background, creating a white noise that was somehow comforting. The thing about the law that had always appealed to him was its logic. And right now, there was no logic to anything. Something was wrong with Aviva, something she’d wanted to talk to him about in person. The only thing that popped into his head was her wanting to break up with him. That was the last thing he wanted. His heart pounded in his chest.
He needed to keep calm so he could convince her they belonged together. They’d just had dinner with his mother. The two women had miraculously gotten along. Or he thought they had. Could something have happened during dinner to make her want to break up with him? He wracked his brain trying to replay that evening, but nothing jumped out at him. What could he say to convince her to give him another chance?
Tel
l her you love her.
He straightened, thinking for a moment it was Adam who’d said that. But Adam wasn’t home.
Did he love her? He thought so. He thought about Aviva constantly. Instead of studying, his mind wandered and he’d daydream about her. He loved talking to her, touching her. When music played, every love song sounded like it was meant for the two of them. He wrote love notes in the margins of books. For the first time, he could imagine a future with someone and it didn’t feel difficult. His stomach fluttered every time they were together, even now, while talking on the phone. Yeah, it was love. So he had to be willing to confess his innermost feelings, now, when she was asking. Even if those innermost feelings involved groundless fears Aviva couldn’t handle his mother.
He played with the spine of the book on the table. He had to call Aviva back and tell her everything. No more secrets. He had to trust that confessing his feelings would change her mind. Picking up the phone once more, stomach clenched, he dialed her number. “Aviva? I’m back. And I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For everything. For not being truthful about how I felt and even for now, interrupting you, hanging up to gather my thoughts and not being honest about that either. I know we’ve talked about your needing me to be honest. I didn’t do a very good job about it. But I’m trying. I’ll tell you everything.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Please give me a chance to explain? Before you say anything else to me, please let me tell you how I feel.” He waited, pain pulsing behind his eyes. What if she gave up and said no?
“Okay.”
The silence on the phone weighed him down like a physical being. He swallowed, his tongue thick. “Aviva, I love you.” He plowed right through the gasp on the other end of the phone, afraid he wouldn’t get the words out if he waited a second longer. “I think I’ve loved you from the moment you beat me at bowling. I was just too afraid to tell you. I spend my life trying to avoid conflict, which is why I lied to my mother about you, and why I was afraid to admit, even to myself, that I was falling in love with you. Because if I admitted that, I’d have to figure out how to fit you into the rest of my life.”
He gulped. “But the thing is, you already fit. You’ve fit in from the second we met. It was easy. And I can’t picture my life without you. I don’t want to picture it without you. I’m crazy about everything about you. Please don’t break up with me. I don’t know what happened at dinner with my mother, but I promise you, I’ll fix it. I’ll…”
“Jacob.”
There was a slight pause. Aviva spoke, her voice filled with wonder. “I love you too.”
His chest swelled. “Wait…what?”
“I love you.”
“You do?”
“I do,” she said. “In fact, that’s what I called to tell you. Only it’s not the type of thing I wanted to say over the phone.”
“I thought you were going to break up with me.”
“Why would I do that?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t figure out what had to be said in person and I thought maybe something happened at dinner that I wasn’t aware of.”
“Dinner was great. I thought you knew that.”
“I did. But my mom can be difficult. I’ve learned to deal with her, but I didn’t think you’d be able to handle her, especially after the mess I made at the High Line. I was afraid of what would happen if she didn’t like you. I need the two of you to get along.”
“Jacob, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“I know. It was a knee-jerk reaction, though. I’ve never seen her as taken with anyone. I kept waiting for another shoe to drop. Only, it never did. And now I feel ridiculous.”
“Jacob, I’ve known you for almost two months now. Never once have you sounded ridiculous. You’ve been kind and thoughtful and always concerned about my feelings and everyone else’s. You don’t ever have to worry about that, okay?”
He expelled a breath he’d tried to talk around. “How the hell did I luck out with you?” He closed his eyes. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
A soft chuckle came over the line. “I believe it involved sneaking out of a speed-dating event. Apparently, we’re both rebels.”
“You were really calling to tell me you love me?”
“I was. I just wasn’t sure if you were ready to hear it and I didn’t want to distract you from your studying or scare you away.”
“You’ll never scare me away, Aviva. And you’re worth so much more than any distraction. Please don’t be afraid to talk to me.”
“I’m trying. And I want you to talk to me too.”
“I’m working on it. I love you, Aviva. I truly love you.”
“I love you too. Still. Again.”
“I hate to just stop talking, especially because I just got finished telling you you’re not a distraction, but I have to study. Can we talk later?”
“Absolutely.”
This time, when he ended their call, there was no sense of impending doom. For the first time in a long time, he was at peace.
****
He loved her. He’d actually told her. For a man who wasn’t comfortable talking about his feelings, he’d certainly had no trouble expressing them. She couldn’t stop thinking about it—or him—all day. The way his voice sounded when he said those words. It was like a caress, soft and intimate, meant only for her. She liked it better that way. She remembered a character in a movie who professed his love for the heroine by shouting it from an actual rooftop, with a bullhorn. It was a grand gesture. Aviva’s roommates had swooned. But to her it seemed like it was a gesture made to demonstrate how awesome he was rather than how special the relationship was to him. Aviva’s stomach had turned.
Jacob always made her feel special, made it seem their relationship mattered, that she mattered. He didn’t play games. He didn’t show off. He didn’t care about that stuff. That was why she liked him. Actually, that was why she loved him.
She’d never felt like this about a guy before. Never felt the soul-baring comfort, the need to make the other person feel as good as he made her feel. She was used to putting others first, but it always felt like a sacrifice. With Jacob, it never did.
“Aviva, did you hear me?”
She started. Her face heated as she looked at Karen. “Um, I’m sorry, I missed that.”
Karen shook her head. “You know, I said the recipe was easy, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to get it by osmosis. Where were you?”
Aviva leaned against the counter. “I was thinking about something.”
“Something or someone?”
She looked at Karen, not sure how to answer.
“Ah, that’s how it is. I hope this involves my son?”
Aviva nodded.
“And it’s a good thing, right? I mean, you’re not bursting into tears, and you came today, so…”
She nodded again.
Karen put the recipe on the counter. She sat at the table, motioning for Aviva to join her. “Okay, I’m good, but I’m not a mind reader. There’s only so much information I can pull out of you, so if you stay distracted, you’ll have to talk to me. Otherwise, we can go back to cooking.” She tented her fingers together and raised an eyebrow. The look was so similar to Jacob’s, Aviva gasped.
“Problem?”
“No, but when you sit like you are and raise your eyebrow, you look just like your son. Or, rather, he looks just like you.”
Karen smiled. “In all seriousness, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t mind. I love him.”
Karen dropped her hands onto the table. “Really?”
“Really. I know it’s only been a short time, but I do.”
“Have you told him?”
“Yes.” She smiled and bit her lip.
“How about him. Do you know he loves you?”
Her smile widened. “Yes.”
A big grin crossed Karen�
��s face. She wrapped her arms around Aviva. “Oh, I’m glad! He told you?”
Aviva nodded, unable to suppress the giggle that burst from her lips.
“Well, my son doesn’t tell that to just anyone, so if he said it, you can believe him. I knew I liked you from the moment we met. Even during graduation, I had an inkling. Your liking my brisket was just a bonus.”
Aviva ran her hand over the tablecloth. “I didn’t doubt him.” Not about that. Never about that.
“I know, you’re just in that glorious haze of new love. Maybe we should postpone the cooking lesson?”
“No, no, I really want to learn. I promise. I’ll focus now.”
Karen patted her arm as they moved to the counter. “I’m usually pretty insistent my cooking protégés pay attention. However, in this case, I can probably make an exception. Now, like I said before, peel and slice the carrots.”
Chapter Twenty
A week later, Aviva sat trying to avoid looking at the calendar. Her to-do list was on it, so at some point it would be necessary. But the calendar was a reminder of how long it had been since she’d seen Jacob. A week. An entire week of quick phone calls and occasional texts, but no actual in-person dates. It might not sound like a long time, but she missed him. She sighed.
“Aviva, where are we on the RSVP list and menu?” Meryl asked.
With a start, she pulled them up on the computer. “We’ve heard from about three quarters of our guests. The caterer just sent the final menu for confirmation. Do you want me to print it out for you?”
“Please. We meet with Russell later today. I want to review everything beforehand. When will you follow up with the guests we haven’t heard from?”
“This week. Our final count is due in two weeks. I want to stay on top of it.”
“Good, perfect. Okay, I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
Five Minutes to Love Page 18
