The Intimacy Experiment (The Roommate #2) - Rosie Danan Page 0,47
three dates with for peer analysis and then accidentally sending said screenshots, along with She’s joking, right? I can’t tell, to the aforementioned woman. There’s not much you can do but be honest. Just tell her you’re into her and that all of your friends are going to make fun of you for at least a week when they hear about this. The bigger test is how she responds. If she makes you feel weird about it, that’s a red flag.
Ethan found himself both intrigued and slightly terrified by the potential make-or-break impact that texting held in modern courtship. He thumbed open his message thread with Naomi on his phone, but there was nothing flirty or even intriguing. Just stark, professional coordination. Ethan told himself he didn’t mind.
“Okay, that’s it for tonight.” Naomi closed her notebook. “Thanks for coming, everyone. See you next week.”
Ethan got to his feet but lingered against the back wall until most of the participants headed for the exit, chattering among themselves, a few lingering to exchange what looked like flirty banter.
Luckily, Clara had organized an online sign-up form for the remaining lectures (to collect email addresses for follow-up recruitment efforts). While the lectures did build on one another, each module could stand alone, so newcomers shouldn’t have too much trouble joining in midseries. The email replies helped Ethan and Naomi anticipate a head count for the week. Thus, they’d moved to an auditorium instead of a classroom at the JCC when they’d received over seventy submissions for week three.
Naomi rose to the occasion of commanding the larger space, projecting her voice effortlessly and strolling the aisles as she spoke. While she made herself accessible, she retained an aloofness that made the audience crave her approval. In contrast, Ethan tried to create a relationship with his congregants in which they could forget to be formal with him. He tried to come across as someone who could as easily be a friend as a mentor or leader. But maybe that had contributed to the board not taking him as seriously as he’d hoped. Naomi’s oratorical style was more fluid than his, flexing from authoritative to empathetic depending on the conversation. Perhaps he ought to take a leaf out of her book.
The impact of the seminars was slowly flowing to the synagogue. Turnout at services had started to pick up. Yesterday Ethan had taken a phone interview with a local reporter. The progress, though obviously welcome, also made him surprisingly nervous. Would he live up to the expectations of his new audiences? Would they accept the middle ground he occupied between traditional teachings and modern adaptation?
To add to his stress, the rumors about his “hunt for a wife” had only grown. He’d started getting calls from as far as the East Coast. Even tonight, a cluster of women lingered at the door, waiting to ambush him. The one in the center kept squinting up at him and then down at a picture clutched in her hand. A flash of the distinct cobalt blue of his favorite tallis told him it was his headshot from the synagogue website. Good grief.
He needed an exit strategy. Maybe if he could somehow signal distress to Naomi, she’d come rescue him?
At the front of the room, she bent her head, deep in conversation with one of a handful of people who’d lined up to speak to her. When she tossed her hair, laughing at something one of the guys said, a stab of envy hit Ethan in the gut.
Finally her line dwindled, and she looked up to find him loitering. She probably wished she could avoid this conversation after he’d made things so awkward on the phone. But Ethan had given himself a pep talk in the parking lot this afternoon, so one way or another, he was going to tell Naomi how he felt.
“Sorry,” she said, making her way over to the brave women still waiting for him, “but you’re going to have to exit the auditorium. Rabbi Cohen and I need to have an official debrief of tonight’s lecture, and it’s probably going to take a while.” She pushed the door open with her hip and waved them cheerfully through. “I’ve been known to go all night.”
“Get home safely,” Ethan offered sheepishly. “Hope to see you next week.”
The heavy door shut behind them with a loud slam, leaving him alone with Naomi in a very quiet room.
He joined her where she’d started wiping down the whiteboard, leaning against it for a