Read Online Brooklyn Love (Crimson Romance) by Yael Levy - Free Book Online Page B

moved on to New Jersey. Rachel watched Ma make the blessings as she lit each candle until the polished silver candelabrum was ablaze with light. As the sun set, Rachel wished Ma a “Good Shabbos” and set the table with the white tablecloth used only for Shabbos. Daddy had already left for the synagogue, and Rachel placed two loaves of braided challah bread at his seat at the head of the table. She covered the challah and then set out chilled wine and a shiny silver goblet fit for a king.
    “So where is Daniel Gold taking you after Shabbos?” Ma cut straight to the point.
    Rachel carefully set out the glass wine goblets. “To a comedy club in the city,” she said, feigning indifference.
    Ma settled onto the blue fabric couch in the living room to chat with her baby before Daddy came home from shul. “Comedy club,” she repeated, and added under her breath, “Still no supermarket?”
    Rachel smiled as she set out the finest Sabbath china. “Ma, he’s definitely not taking me on a date to the supermarket.”
    Ma pretended to examine a rip in the seat cushion. “Well, you know what I think about this whole dating nonsense anyway.”
    “No, Ma, really, why don’t you tell me?” Though she must have heard the supermarket theory a hundred times, Rachel played along.
    Ma stared Rachel in the eye. “I don’t think this dating business is appropriate for Orthodox Jews,” she proclaimed.
    Rachel nodded, tacitly encouraging her mother to go on as she joined her mother on the couch.
    “I mean, two people put on their best clothes and go out somewhere exciting and everything is so romantic. Is that reality, Rachel? Is it?”
    “No, I guess not,” she replied agreeably.
    “So a few months after the wedding, reality sets in, and they’re shopping together in the supermarket,” her mother continued, hitting her stride. “Now maybe they were romantically compatible, but maybe not in real life. Maybe he likes the expensive, plush toilet paper and she goes for the economic choice! You can tell a lot about a person in a supermarket.”
    Rachel laughed. “I hear you, Ma. But I think you can get to know a person anywhere, even in a comedy club.”
    Her mother waved her hand in disgust and pushed her big round glasses farther up on her nose. “Nu, what can you tell in a comedy club? That he’ll laugh at a good joke? So who won’t laugh at a good joke? But the glue in a marriage, the loyalty, the communication, the respect — even a person’s character, I tell you — that’s what you’ll learn in a supermarket.”
    Ma was an independent thinker, and though Rachel had heard variations on the theme dozens of times, there was always a new angle. “Okay, Ma. Say we go to a supermarket instead of a club. What deep mysterious secrets will I uncover?”
    Her mother frowned seriously. “Mamale, there are so many signs. How does a boy react when he’s waiting on line? Is he patient for ten minutes? Does he start cursing at twenty? Or try to cut the line, maybe? Is he polite to the checkout girl or the produce man? I’m telling you, life is full of these little trials. Believe me, had I gone with your father to a supermarket on a date, I’d have had a completely different view of him. Not that I’m complaining, of course. But do you want to be with some movie star image in a make-believe world, or with a fine character who’ll be a good life partner?”
    Rachel picked up a novel from the coffee table. “And all this you can tell just by standing in line at a supermarket?”
    “Well, the right supermarket, that is. Something crowded and pushy — you know what I mean.”
    Rachel laughed at her mother’s sincerity. “You make it sound like it’s got to be one way or the other. Can’t a guy be exciting and also a good husband?”
    Ma leaned back in the couch, acting defeated. “You laugh? A mother gives good advice to her daughter, and you laugh? A chutzpah!”
    Rachel knew what her mother was thinking: that she’d