One Hot December (Men at Work 3)

“That’s before you told me he was a nice Jewish boy. Why am I just hearing this?”

“Because he didn’t know. We were talking about our parents and he mentioned that his mom died when he was a baby. He said his father never talks about her because there’s a lot of bad blood between the two sides of the family. His dad’s Catholic and his mother was from a pretty conservative Jewish family apparently.”

“Then he’s Jewish.”

“That’s what I told him. Then I asked him if he wanted a bagel.”

“Wicked girl. In my day we didn’t talk to men like that. Well...I did. But most women didn’t.”

“I can’t help myself,” Flash said. “He’s infuriating. I can’t stand being around him. I want to insult him and yell at him and put a ‘kick me’ sign on his back. He turns me into a child. I’m twenty-six. I should be able to talk to a man I’m attracted to without insulting him.”

“You’re in love.”

“Yup.”

“And you’re scared.”

“Yup.”

“Sit up straight and talk to me like a grown woman, Veronica Redding. We’re adults here. Let’s act like them.” She snapped her fingers and Flash sighed and sat up straighter.

“You don’t have much room to talk,” Flash said. “You’re Jewish but you’re addicted to frosted Christmas cookies and you make me buy them for you so your son won’t find out.”

“Where did I go wrong with that boy?”

“Your son runs an entire hospital. He calls you every day. He checks on you three times a week. And he’s nice to me. Nobody’s nice to me but he’s nice to me.”

“Yes, but he has no sense of humor. My son should have a sense of humor. If he caught me with these, he’d throw them in the trash and tell me I shouldn’t be eating goyische food.”

“That’s terrible. If he catches you with them, tell him they’re mine and you were just holding them for me.”

Mrs. Scheinberg laughed. “He’d see right through it.”

“Fine, I’ll keep smuggling them to you. As long as you share.”

“I always share with my girl,” Mrs. Scheinberg said, leaning forward to pat Flash on the knee. “Now tell me more about Mr. Asher. Why were you two talking about mothers?”

“I don’t even remember how we got on the topic. I put in my notice and said goodbye. I was already to the truck when he came out and asked me to stop by his new house and help him with a project. He’s got this fireplace thing that needs some major repairs and it’s...wow. It’s a work of art. But it’s rusted and broken.”

“It needs your help.”

“It does.”

“So you’re going help Mr. Asher?”

“No.”

“You told him no? Are you that angry at the man?”

“I’m not angry at him. I’m not. Not really. Not much, anyway.”

Mrs. Scheinberg raised her eyebrow.

“Okay, I’m angry at him,” Flash said. “He dumped me.”

“You work for him. You expect too much of a man when you ask him to compromise his integrity so you can have a boyfriend.”

“He shouldn’t have slept with me if he felt that way.”