Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari

Author:Ayelet Tsabari [Tsabari, Ayelet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2024-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

Mika sank into the seat with a sigh. “I may never be able to get out of it.”

“Well, you look”—I tried to avoid the cliché but couldn’t—“glowing.”

“Shut up.”

“Having dinner at Silvy’s tonight?”

“My mom has lost it. She’s gone into full grandma mode.”

“Silvy? I can’t imagine that.”

“Well, she doesn’t want to be called grandma, if that’s what you mean.”

In high school, Silvy was the mom I wished I had. Her hair was highlighted blond and blow-dried and her eyes were smoky. She owned an arsenal of makeup, a million bottles of nail polish and perfumes lining her vanity table, and a closet filled with dresses and stiletto heels she let us try on freely. And you could talk to her about everything. Sex. Drugs. You name it.

Shalom walked by carrying a stack of chairs and flashed a toothy smile at me.

“Who’s that?” Mika followed him with her eyes. “Cute.”

“Oh, Shalom. He owns the place.”

“How do you know him?”

“I’ve been coming here a lot. Just to get out of the house. I swim. Check the classifieds for jobs.”

A young waitress in jean shorts and a pierced belly button took our coffee order.

“Wait, you’re looking for a job?” Mika frowned. “How would that work with school?”

“I’m still on leave,” I said, feeling the tightness in my throat that came about every time I thought of my academic future. “Right now, I need to make some money and be busy.”

“Why don’t you ask Shalom for a job?”

I watched our waitress picking up dirty dishes from a table, dropping the bills into her apron. I didn’t have waitressing experience, but I worked as a barista in my early twenties. How hard could it be?

“He’ll give you a job all right,” Mika said, voice full of innuendo.

I laughed.

“Sorry. I’ve never been so horny in my life. I see sex everywhere.”

Shalom passed by with another stack of chairs. I eyed him, considering. “Actually, I’ve been kind of thinking about Iggy.”

“What about Iggy?” Mika was perusing the menu. “Shall we order breakfast?”

“Sex.”

She looked at me and down at the menu. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Isn’t he seeing someone?”

“I don’t think it’s serious.” He didn’t even mention her when we went to Yael. Not once. We ended up hanging out that entire day. He came over and we made dinner. He fixed a loose knob on the bathroom door and helped me clear some of the bags I wanted to donate. We got stoned on the front porch and talked. It was easy, fun, comfortable.

“Avner ran into him on Shenkin a couple of weeks ago. Said it looked serious.”

The waitress dropped our cappuccinos. I sat up, mixed sugar into my coffee. “Serious how?”

“They were holding hands. He said they looked really into each other.”

I sipped from my coffee.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a good idea anyway.”

“Why? We’ve had casual sex before.”

“Are you sure it was casual?”

“Sure.”

“For him, too?”

“I think so.”

“I don’t know,” Mika said. “I always thought Iggy never quite got over you.”

I inhaled. The sun hid behind a single cloud, and for a moment it felt like fall.

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