The Intimacy Experiment (The Roommate #2) - Rosie Danan Page 0,26
one had given her advice in ages, and now here she was, getting lessons in bravery from a socialite. Either she’d truly gone soft, or Clara had grown a skin thick enough that Naomi’s admittedly empty threats could no longer penetrate it. Both ideas were terrifying.
Naomi pulled into a parking space but kept the doors locked. “Just stick to PR in there. Please.”
Clara leaned over and kissed her cheek before opening her door and hopping out.
“You got it. My lips are sealed. Strictly shop talk. All business, all the time.”
“Stop issuing platitudes,” Naomi commanded as she shut her own door.
Rusty aches inside her stirred, angry at being disturbed. She put the odds of this encounter not ending in disaster at slim to none.
Chapter Eight
IT HAD TAKEN Naomi less than forty-eight hours to deploy her plan to subvert the board.
“Sorry for the delay,” she’d said when she’d called to arrange a meeting between Ethan and her friend Clara at a Silverlake coffee shop. If this was slow, he was terrified to see what full speed looked like.
The two women, a study in contrasts, were already seated at a small corner table when he arrived. Naomi wore sharp, straight lines and a lipstick that turned her mouth into a stop sign. Clara, on the other hand, had on a white dress and matching smile.
“Ethan, this is Clara, one of my business partners. She used to work in PR, and now she oversees publicity for Shameless,” Naomi said in a droll tone. Then, shifting her gaze to Clara, she continued, “She’s going to be extremely professional during this meeting and not stray from the lane of her very specific expertise.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ethan said, shaking her hand and pretending he hadn’t noticed any tension between the two of them. “I really appreciate your help.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure.” Clara gave Naomi’s arm a little squeeze. “It’s a treat to meet the man Naomi can’t stop talking about.”
Ethan’s grin froze on his face until Naomi cleared her throat loudly.
“I’m going to grab us all drinks,” she announced. “Ethan, what would you like?”
“A green tea, please.” Naomi nodded and set off for the counter without asking for Clara’s order. Either she knew it already, or her friend wasn’t getting a beverage.
“So,” Clara said, opening the notebook resting on the table. “Can you run me through the challenges your synagogue is facing?”
“Oh. Sure.” Ethan took his seat. “Well, when I became the rabbi a little over a year ago, the congregation was losing members at a steady rate of twenty percent or so every year. Since I’ve been with Beth Elohim, we’ve slowed the leak, but I haven’t been able to turn things around completely using traditional tactics like promoting our Intro to Judaism course in local ads.”
“I see.” Clara jotted down some notes. “And I’m guessing you’ve got aggressive recruitment targets?”
“Aggressive is putting it mildly.” The synagogue was bleeding money. “The executive board has strongly suggested that if I can’t show significant increases in membership in the next six months, they’re going to start looking for prospective buyers.” Ethan didn’t mention that his recent altercation with Jonathan had probably moved that date up considerably.
Clara nodded. “And you figured the biggest opportunity comes from people who are currently unaffiliated versus trying to poach?”
“Yes. One, I wouldn’t feel right trying to steal members from another synagogue in the city, but two, I’d lose. We don’t have anywhere near the kind of resources Endmore Boulevard can tap into, for example.” He’d grown up going to that synagogue. They had incredible facilities and membership in the thousands. If he was lucky and worked his ass off, Beth Elohim might get there in ten to twenty years.
“Going after nonaffiliated Jews is an uphill battle but, I’m pretty sure, our only shot,” Ethan continued. “Synagogues all over the country are struggling to appeal to younger members, but ours has an especially tough time because our current congregation skews toward the other end of the spectrum. I figured I’d need to change our offering to appeal to people under the age of sixty, so I went looking for innovative educators and met Naomi.”
“Drastic times call for drastic measures.” The woman in question set down three drinks—Ethan’s tea and two iced coffees—before passing one of the latter to Clara with a very pointed look of warning.
“Well.” Clara leaned forward to take a sip. “I must say the two of you make quite the pair. What was it you used to teach, Ethan?