He wants to leave.
I flush with panic. I don’t know why he’s here, but I do know that my heart will break if he goes. I gesture towards the desk chair. He takes it. I can barely contain my exhale of relief. I sit across from him on the edge of the bed. I smooth my wrinkled skirt. I stare at my coral-painted toenails.
“It’s prettier in your hands,” he says at last. “The room. Mine always gets messy.”
I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and then I look down and let it fall forward again. “Thanks.” I force my eyes to meet his. Hazel. My stomach twists. “My mother is a window dresser. She always tells me that small spaces can still be beautiful.”
“Hard to get smaller than these rooms.”
“You know those crazy holiday department-store displays that people actually wait in line to see? She does them for Bergdorf Goodman.”
“Those are a big deal.” He leans forward, impressed. “Your mom is French, right?”
My heart skips as it does every time he remembers something about me. “Yeah. She started working here, moved there for a better internship, met my dad, and…stayed.”
Josh smiles. “I like that.”
“How did your parents meet?”
“Law school. Yale. Boring story.”
“I’m sure it’s not boring to them.”
He laughs, but my own smile fades. “Where have you been this week?” I ask. “Were you sick?”
“No. I’m fine.” But he sits back again, and his expression becomes impenetrable. “It’s Sukkoth.”
Sue-coat. “Sorry?”
“The Jewish holiday?”
The humiliation blush is instant. Ohmygod.
“I’m off from school until next Thursday,” he continues.
I search for something intelligent to say, something I’ve picked up from living in New York, but my mind is blank. Sukkoth. That’s not a holiday people take off, is it? It can’t be. As my brow furrows, Josh’s eyes brighten. They look…almost hopeful. He shakes his head as if I’d asked the question aloud. “Nope. Most American Jews don’t take it off. And even then, it’s only the first two days.”
“But you’re taking an entire week?”
“I also took off last Friday, even though Yom Kippur didn’t start until sundown. Same thing, the day before Sukkoth.”
“But…why?”
He leans forward. “Because you’re the first person to question it.”
I’m not sure whether I’m more stunned by his deception or by being singled out. I laugh, but even to my ears, it sounds apprehensive. “Exactly how many holidays are you planning to take off?”
Josh grins. “All of them.”
“And you think you’ll get away with it?”
“I did last year. As the only student here of the Hebrew persuasion, the faculty feels uncomfortable questioning my religious observance.”
I laugh, but this time it’s for real. “You’re going to hell.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t believe in hell.”
“Right. That whole Jewish thing.”