The Cast by Amy Blumenfeld

Author:Amy Blumenfeld [Blumenfeld, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781943006724
Publisher: SparkPress
Published: 2018-08-14T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11: Holly

I woke Saturday morning when Adam slipped out of bed. I watched as he draped an ivory linen prayer shawl over his head, opened his prayer book, turned east toward the window, and began reciting his morning invocations. As the sun rose over the hilltops and cast its light upon a corner of our guestroom, I rolled onto my side and tried to go back to sleep.

Sometime during my first trimester, when exhaustion had become the only gear in which I operated, I decided that sleep should take precedence over going to synagogue on my only day off from the bakery. The Sabbath was a day of rest, I reasoned, and I would wholeheartedly obey that commandment.

This morning was no different. But between my racing mind and my inability to find a comfortable sleeping position, catching some shuteye was as likely as the women in my community throwing me a baby shower. I decided to get out of bed and head into the kitchen for a glass of juice. That’s when I saw Lex at the counter, decked out in form-fitting black and fuchsia Lululemon spandex, with a perfect ponytail and her giant sunglasses perched on top. She looked like a celebrity preparing to jog past paparazzi.

“Good morning, hot mama!” I said. I felt homely beside her in my terry robe. I couldn’t recall the last time I had gone for a run or worn spandex as an outer layer. “Where are you off to?”

“Seth and I are going to do a loop around the lake. Jordana says it’s beautiful and just across the street from the base of the mountain.”

I heard a cell phone ring down the hall. Can’t be mine, I thought. It was Saturday morning, and I never used the phone on the Sabbath.

“All right! Let’s do this! Who’s ready for a power run?” Seth clapped his hands like a track coach as his neon sneakers pounded the treads of the wooden staircase down from the second floor. “You ready to go, Lex?”

“Am I ready? No, Seth, the question is, are you ready?” Lex asked. She turned and winked at me.

He smirked. “Check out the trash-talking Midwesterner. I guess you can take the girl out of Queens, but you can’t take Queens out of the girl.”

“I’m full of surprises, Mr. Gottlieb,” Lex said, hip-bumping him out of her way, before bolting out the front door for a head start.

If she weren’t married and he weren’t Seth, they’d actually make a cute couple, I thought.

I started to pick at some of the leftover challah from the night before, when I heard the cell phone down the hall again. A moment later, Adam came ambling out of our bedroom.

“Hey, Hol, can I see you for a sec?” he said, nodding toward our bedroom. “I need to speak with you.”

Adam never interrupted his prayers, and it was only 7:30 a.m.—way too soon for him to have finished the morning Shachris service.

I followed him. “What’s wrong?” I asked, as he closed the door behind me.

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