Love for Scale (9 page)

She was right. “Hey Rachel, gimme a call when you get in, I’ve got something to ask you.”

Another favor? On top of dog-sitting? Rachel dialed her friend’s number.

“Hey, Sheri, what’s up?”

“Where’ve you been?” Sheri asked casually.

Rachel hadn’t told her friend where she was going, just in case she chickened out. “I went to the Y, swimming in my new suit.” She felt so invigorated and couldn’t keep the pride out of her voice.

“That’s awesome!” Sheri said. “Listen, Brian’s friend wants to meet you. You know, the guy I told you about who he works with? Brian says he’s really nice.”

Rachel’s stomach turned. “I don’t want to go on any blind dates. That speed dating thing was a disaster.”

“Well, I guess this would technically be a blind date, but at least you know about him before you meet him. Come on, Rachel, it can’t hurt.”

“I don’t know…”

Sheri laughed. “Well, you have to say yes because it’s already set up for Saturday night.”

Rachel groaned, “Sheri, why would you do that? That’s not fair. God, you’re as bad as my mother.”

“I did it because he’s a nice guy and I knew otherwise you’d refuse.”

“You know me too well.” Rachel laughed, admitting to herself that if she survived the speed dating debacle, she could handle dinner with a guy who came with a friend’s recommendation. “Okay, where and when? Oh, and what’s his name?”

“His name’s Leo, I don’t know his last name, Brian told me but I forget. Saturday night, like I said. He’ll pick you up at my place at seven for dinner. And I told him you like Chinese food but weren’t fussy about where you ate.”

Dinner? What could she eat? How could she tell a date about her diet? Leaning over to her nightstand, Rachel pulled open the drawer and got out her Weight Watchers manuals. She remembered seeing something about eating out. She put the booklets down on the bed; she’d get to them when she got off the phone.

“Thanks for having him pick me up at your place, the last thing I need is some guy meeting my parents.” On the off-chance that this Leo guy was dateable, she didn’t want to ruin it by exposing him to her parents right out of the gate.

“Well, you’ll be here anyway, I’m going away, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Rachel glanced at her calendar; sure enough, Saturday was already marked “Sunny” in big red letters.

“I’ll help you pick something to wear before I leave. Bring a couple outfits over on Saturday before I go.”

Rachel began going through her wardrobe mentally. Yuck. She had nothing that was date-worthy.
Maybe I should go to the mall
, she thought. “Okay, but if this date sucks, you’re going to pay.”

Sheri was unaffected. “Nah, I think you’ll like him. Like I said he’s nice and he’s okay-looking, too.”

Okay-looking
? What could that mean? Afraid of clarification and even more afraid that she had no right to turn someone down based on looks, Rachel didn’t ask.

“I’ll talk to you later. I need to hang up my wet bathing suit.”

“Okay, see ya.”

After she slung her bathing suit over the shower curtain rod in the bathroom, Rachel returned to her room and lay down on her bed, grabbing the thickest of her Weight Watchers manuals, hoping to find some dining-out strategies. Before she found what she was looking for there was a gentle knock on her door.

“Yeah?” she put the booklet down, surprised she hadn’t heard her parents arrive home.

The door opened a crack. Her brother’s face peeked in.

Rachel sat up. “Hey, Aaron, I didn’t know you were here.”

“I just got here. I came to talk to you.” Her usually smirking brother was somber, his face drawn. The split from Lily was obviously taking its toll. “You got a sec?”

“Sure, c’mon in.” trying to be subtle, Rachel slid her Weight Watchers books under her comforter: no point giving Aaron any ammunition.

Aaron stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. He sat down on the bed next to Rachel, looking down at his hands. “Lily told me she ran into you.”

“Yeah.”

“She said she told you about her and me.”

Rachel just nodded.

He took a big breath before he went on. “I didn’t tell anyone because I just didn’t know how to handle it. I thought maybe she would come back, you know? It’s so humiliating.” He looked at her and for the first time, Rachel saw Aaron as a man, and not just her brother. A broken man.

Rubbing his back lightly with her palm, Rachel struggled for the right thing to say. “There’s no shame in a marriage breaking up, it happens a lot. As long as you did the best you could to try to—.”

“She cheated on me.”

Ouch. Interesting how Lily had left
that
small detail out of their conversation.

“I’m really sorry, Aaron.” What else could she say?

Aaron lifted his head and looked at her. “She did it with my best friend, Tom.”

Double ouch.

“Wow, what a bitch,” Rachel said.

“I really loved her.” Aaron frowned. “And now I’m without a wife
and
a best friend.”

Rachel couldn’t even imagine what Aaron was feeling. She had never had a spouse or even a long-term boyfriend, but she was still sure that Sheri would never seduce her man. And she would extend her best friend the same courtesy, of course. Not that it had ever been an issue in the past, since Sheri and she had such different taste in men. Well, until Brian had come along, anyway. But regardless, Sheri’s men were always way out of her league.

Even still, how could a best friend betray you like that? Her heart went out to her brother, but no matter how bad he was feeling, he had to stop delaying the inevitable.

“You’ve got to tell Mom and Dad.”

Aaron took a deep breath. “I can’t.”

Never having thought that she would ever be consoling her older brother, Rachel kept rubbing his back. “You have to. Mom’s planning a big Chanukah dinner. They’re going to find out anyway. I did. It’s just a matter of time.”

Aaron shook his head. “I just can’t. Not yet.” He looked up at Rachel. “You’re not going to tell them, are you?”

Rachel snorted. “Uh, not a chance, I want no part of this. But I really think you should tell them sooner rather than later.”

“I’ll figure something out. Thanks for being a good ear.” Aaron shrugged.

Patting her brother’s back before withdrawing her hand, Rachel nodded.

“Well, I’d better get out of here before they get home from Bridge.” Aaron got up and headed for the door. “Oh and Rach?”

“Yeah?”

He stood, his hand resting on the doorknob. “You’ve got a little something right here,” He pointed to his upper lip as he squinted at her. “Oh, no, wait…I guess that’s just your mustache.”

Rachel threw a pillow at her brother, but it was too late: the door was already closed. She could hear him laughing all the way down the hall.

She got up off the bed to inspect her upper lip in the mirror. To her horror, maybe Aaron was right about the moustache, although he could have been a bit more delicate.

While she loved her brother, for the briefest of moments, she thought it was amazing Lily put up with him as long as she did.

Chapter 12

“Well look who it is!” Andrew, Rachel’s metrosexual hairstylist, grinned, his scissors in the air, hovering over his middle-aged client. He looked stunning as always in his tight jeans and black stretchy t-shirt.

He frowned, looking at Rachel’s hair. “I don’t have you in for today, you were just here a few weeks ago.”

Rachel took off her coat, turning her back to Andrew so he wouldn’t see her blush. “I’m not here to see you. Jeez, get over yourself. I’ve got an appointment with Tanya.” She took her time hanging her coat in the closet.

“Ahhh, a little bikini wax, perhaps? A bit of the old nip and tuck?” Rachel suddenly wanted to join her coat in the closet. Andrew was shameless.

What’s worse? Letting him think that I’m getting a bikini wax, or denying it and admitting that I have a mustache
? Rachel sighed. “Something like that.”

“Shut up Andrew, you’re harassing her,” Tanya said as she came up from the back room. “C’mon back, Rachel, don’t mind him.”

As Rachel walked past, Andrew grabbed her arm and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re not bothered by me, are you Rachel?”

More than you could ever know
, she wanted to say. “No,” she said out loud, smiling despite the hot blush she knew was coloring her cheeks bright red.

“Good.” He winked at her, causing her knees to feel rubbery. He leaned close, so close that she thought he might kiss her again, but instead he whispered into her ear. “Have Tanya do something about your upper lip while you’re back there.”

Oh my God, I want to die
, Rachel thought as she shook from his grasp and hurried into the back room where Tanya was waiting.

“Okay, so just a lip wax?” Tanya asked, motioning for Rachel to sit in the chair.

Rachel nodded. There was absolutely no bikini in her future and certainly no man, so there was no need to get
that
done.

* * *

It didn’t matter that Andrew worked in a salon and would be familiar with all manners of waxing and depilatories, Rachel was embarrassed. Her lip hurt like hell and the last thing she wanted to do was face a man with her red and blotchy upper lip that served as her post-wax badge of honor.

Not that she had a choice.

“Okay, sorry to rush you out, but I’ve got another appointment. I squeezed you in this morning.” Tanya smiled, her eyes apologetic.

“It’s okay,” Rachel didn’t figure she could justify hiding out in the waxing room all day after just getting her lip done. She took a deep breath and hauled herself out of the chair. She walked behind Tanya up to the front counter to pay.

Andrew was sitting in his chair, having finished with his client. “So? How’s the love life? Any Jewish doctors worthy of my Rachel?”

Rachel snorted as she dug into her purse for her Visa card. “Not exactly. My mom is trying to set me up with the new rabbi.” She handed Tanya the card to swipe through the machine. “He’s young,” she added, noting the shocked expression on Andrew’s face. Like most other people, he probably had an image of rabbis as being bearded, hunched-over men eligible for AARP discounts.

Andrew nodded. “And this rabbi? Not for you?”

“Would
you
date a rabbi?” Rachel punched her pin number into the keypad.

“That’s not the issue,” Andrew said, his teasing eyes twinkling.

“No, I wouldn’t date a rabbi,” Rachel said. “Although between the rabbi and my mother I got roped into going to speed dating.” She put her card back into her purse and zipped it up.

Andrew launched out of his chair. “Really? Speed dating? How fascinating!”

Rachel shook her head. “Fascinating? No…more like devastating. It was pure disaster.”

He stepped over to her and ran his fingers through her hair, holding it up off her head. “I hope you did something special with this.”

Rachel shrugged, fighting off the shivers from Andrew’s hands in her hair. “I doubt it would have helped.”

Dropping her hair, allowing it to drape over her shoulders, Andrew stepped back. “Hmm, maybe you should straighten it, men love long hair, and it’s very flattering for your face shape.”

Face shape? As in: round fat face? There was no flattering
that
.

“I don’t know. Let me think about it. I actually have a blind date Saturday night, but I’m not holding out much hope.” Rachel inspected her boots, noticing for the first time the jagged lines of salt stains running around the toe of each one.

“You never know.” Andrew shook his head and looked down at her in a way that reminded her of her mother. “You never know where you’ll meet that special someone. Just because it isn’t spontaneous or particularly romantic, doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

Great, now I’m getting dating advice from my hot hairstylist. What’s next? Maybe I should make an appointment with a gynecologist so he can offer some advice, too.

She avoided Andrew’s eyes, hoping he figured out that she was very uncomfortable having this discussion with him. Maybe then she could run away, never to return.

Andrew patted her upper arm. “If you need an up-do for your date, you know you can call me day or night. I’ll always make time for my Rachel.”

“Yeah, thanks, Andrew.” She looked up at him, meeting his eyes and giving her best conciliatory smile. “I’ve got to go, I’ll see you later.” She headed toward the closet to retrieve her coat.

“I want details, Rachel.” Andrew sounded just like her mother, the yenta.

Tanya threw a comb at him. “Leave her alone.”

He caught the comb before it hit him in the face.

“Step back, sister!” was the last thing Rachel heard before she slipped quietly out of the salon.

Chapter 13

Rachel sat in the same place in the Weight Watchers meeting room she had occupied seven days before, though this time, she left the aisle seat empty. She clutched her new recipe book that the skinny girl, Candy, had given her after she had weighed in. According to the easel at the front of the room, the meeting topic was going to be ‘Eating Out Without Pigging Out.’ Good timing, considering Rachel’s upcoming date.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she realized she was earlier for the meeting than she had meant to be. Killing time, she flipped through the recipes.

“Hey there,” Finn said, arriving a few minutes later, standing in the aisle. “Mind if I sit?”

“No, please.” Rachel nodded at the empty chair she’d left for him. “Did you have a good week?”

“Horrendous.” Finn shook his head. “I ended up going over to my grandmother’s house to help her clean out her garage, and it seems she had
just happened
to make a cake
and
cookies that very morning. Ugh. I swear it’s like she is constantly trying to fatten me up.”

Rachel nodded. “My mother’s the same way, I swear this diet is harder on her than it is on me.” She laughed.

“Well I didn’t gain anything, thank God, but it’s a small wonder how. So how did you do?” Finn wriggled out of his coat. He was wearing Dockers, with a blue shirt and tie to match. Rachel thought he looked nice.