Love for Scale (20 page)

But no one could have predicted what Lily had turned into.

Pearl looked up at Rachel. “You think he’d want to start dating right away?”

Perhaps Aaron hadn’t bothered to tell Pearl
when
the split up had occurred. “Maybe. I don’t see why not. He’s very resilient.”

“I heard the Kaufman girl is separated, you know the middle one, with the mole. Maybe she could get it removed…Your new ‘friend’ wouldn’t happen to be a dermatologist, would he?”

Nice to see she’s back on the horse
, Rachel thought. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I think he’s a family doctor.” She got up from the couch. “Okay, I’m going to bed.”

“Wait,” Pearl said, her tone stopping Rachel dead in her tracks. She turned back toward her mother.

“Tell me about your date first.”

Turning back around, Rachel looked Pearl straight in the eye. “It wasn’t a date. We’re just friends.”

Pearl winked. “Funny. That’s what I said about your father thirty-six years ago.”

“Give me a break. You and Dad were set up by your parents. I’ve heard the story enough times to know. Finn is just my friend.” My friend who’s going to find me a new apartment, she thought. She turned away from her mother so Pearl wouldn’t see her smiling; she’d definitely get the wrong idea.

“We’ll see. He seemed nice. A doctor,
nu
? And no mother-in-law for you to contend with. Just think of how easy it would be to plan a wedding.” It was like Pearl had reached her Jewish nirvana. She seemed to ponder all this for a few more moments before shaking off her reverie and turning back to her daughter. “Oy, you could do worse, Rachel.”

And there were Tevye’s daughters, dancing around their cottage…
“Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match…”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Oy, mother, it’s enough already. I’m going to bed and I suggest you do the same. It’s late.” She left her mother and walked down the hall toward her bedroom, yawning. And smiling.

Chapter 27

Too afraid of getting caught, Rachel fought the urge to dig her dad’s Saturday paper out of the recycle bin to look for apartments. She was determined not to tell her parents she was moving out until she had secured a place, making it much harder for her to chicken out, or worse: be talked out of moving altogether.

So by the time her lunch hour came on Monday, Rachel was frantic to get out the newspaper and spread it out on the staff room table, her pad and pen next to it, ready to find a new home. She supposed she could have looked online, but doing it old school meant she couldn’t get distracted by Facebook or YouTube (or the nagging doubts in her head).

She wrote down the info for eighteen promising ads. Wolfing down her lunch, she used the rest of her break to try to make a few appointments for Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, most of the phone numbers ended in voicemail.

Once finished, she dialed Sheri to fill her in.

“I’m going to come over after Aquafit class, but I…”

“What?” Sheri sounded suspicious. “What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to tell you that I’m looking for a place. An apartment.”

“That’s awesome, Rach!” Sheri squealed. “Wait a minute. Do your parents know?”

“No, I’m not going to tell them till I have a place.”

“Smart move,” Sheri said. “So, when are we going to look at places? This is so exciting.”

Rachel had been afraid of this. “Um, well I’m going Wednesday night after my class. But I’ve already made plans with…”

Sheri interrupted, her voice as dry as a double vodka martini. “With who, Rach?”

“That friend I told you about from Weight Watchers. I’m sorry, it just happened really fast, you know, me deciding to move out.”

“You’re ditching me for some fat chick you met at diet class?”

Ouch
. Sheri had a tendency to speak before thinking, especially when she was angry, but that one hurt. “Sheri, that’s harsh.
I’m
one of those ‘fat chicks,’ you know.”

Sheri was silent.

Knowing her friend hadn’t meant to hurt her, Rachel took a breath and moved on. “And anyway, my new friend’s not a chick, it’s a guy.”

“What?” Sheri demanded, her anger replaced with shock.

Rachel held the phone out, away from her sensitive ears. “It’s a guy.”

“Like a
boyfriend
guy?”

Thinking about her answer, Rachel paused. “I don’t know,” she finally said. She looked at the clock on the wall, only five minutes left of her lunch and she still had to wrap up the rest of her food and go to the bathroom before she went back to work. “I need to get back to work; I’ll see you tonight around eight, okay?”

“Wait, you can’t do this to me! I need to hear about this guy.”

“I can’t right now. I’ll tell you tonight, not that there’s anything to tell, really.” Rachel didn’t want Sheri to get the wrong idea about Finn because it wasn’t like that.

Not yet, anyway.

* * *

“Okay, so let’s have it.” Sheri waited until Rachel was seated on the couch before she asked. A heroic act of patience for Sheri.

“Have what?” Rachel said, deadpan.

“Oh piss off, Rach, tell me about this guy.”

Rachel shrugged. “He’s just this guy I met at Weight Watchers. Well, actually I met him at the speed dating thing at the synagogue.” She cringed, remembering the horrific event.

“So he’s Jewish, check one. Well, don’t just give me
those
details…what’s he like? What does he do?”

“You sound like my mother,” Rachel groaned.

“Oy, Rachel,” Sheri pinched her nose and gave a fair impression of Pearl’s nasal voice. “You need to find a nice Jewish doctor, oy vey!”

Rachel snickered. Sheri had always been able to imitate her mother dead on.

“So what does he do?” Sheri got up. “I’ve just boiled the kettle for a tea, want one? I’ve got some of that herbal shit you like.”

“Yeah, I’ll have whatever you’ve got,” Rachel said. “And…um…he’s a doctor.”

Sheri stopped dead in her tracks and turned to stare at her friend. “You’re kidding me, right?”

Rachel shook her head.

Sheri’s fists rested on her hips, the smirk on her face widening. “So you’re telling me that you have actually fulfilled your mother’s dream.”

Rachel shrugged. “There’s nothing going on. He’s really just a friend.”

Sheri disappeared around the kitchen wall. “Well you’d better do something about that, young lady!” she hollered. “When do I get to meet him?”

“He’s
just a friend
, Sheri. Nothing’s going to come of it.” Rachel swallowed. It hadn’t occurred to her that Sheri would want to meet Finn, although now it made sense.
Of course
she would want to: like Pearl, Sheri was assuming that this guy was going to turn into more than just a friend, more than just someone to go to Weight Watchers meetings with. Rachel wasn’t as optimistic. When it came to men, they either just wanted to be her friend or would pretend to want more just to get her into bed. Nothing ever came of any relationship Rachel had ever had with a man. Well, nothing other than heartache.

But this was unprecedented. The couple of guys she had dated over the years had been friends of Sheri’s boyfriend du jour. Never had she met someone on her own. Now faced with the prospect of Sheri meeting Finn, Rachel was afraid. Sheri had always been the popular one, the one with all the boyfriends, the thin one. What if Finn liked her better? She’d already proven that she had plenty of shiksappeal—she’d snagged Brian after all. What if after meeting her, Finn didn’t want to hang out with Rachel anymore?

“I don’t know…”

“What about Friday?” Sheri suggested.

Rachel sighed. “Can’t. My mother already accosted him and committed him to Shabbat dinner.”

“
What
dinner?” Sheri asked. “Is that some kind of Cantonese dish?”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “No,
Shabbat,
stupid, you know—the Sabbath.”

Sheri returned to the living room and handed Rachel a steaming mug of herbal tea. “Here you go,” she said, sitting beside Rachel on the couch. The room filled with the smell of strawberries. “So um, your mother, she’s become religious all of a sudden?”

Rachel held the tea up close to her nose, the delicious aroma filling her nostrils. “I don’t know. I guess her years of prayer finally paid off now that I’ve brought home a Jewish doctor. Maybe she figures she owes God a bit of payback.”

Chapter 28

Even after an additional four pound loss (due in part, Rachel was sure, to the horrific, yet sadly effective Metamucil incident), verified at the Weight Watchers meeting on Tuesday night, Rachel was still a bit anxious about Finn joining her at her Aquafit class. Her weight loss so far was still a drop in the bucket. A very big bucket. And it didn’t matter how much he tried to reassure her, just the thought of allowing anyone she knew to see her in her bathing suit absolutely terrified her.

She had gone on her lunch break to the mall to try to find a newer, less utilitarian bathing suit. Something pretty. The plus-size store catered to an older clientele and only had a few suits for the ‘cruise season’, and even Rachel’s eighty-six year old Bubby would have turned her nose up at every one of them, saying they were too dowdy-looking.

Resigned to wear her skirted black suit, Rachel returned to work empty-handed.

She had told Finn she would meet him in the pool for the class, so as she stuffed her bag into her gym locker she realized she didn’t even know if he was in the building.

“I hope not,” she said out loud, looking around to make sure no one had heard her talking to herself. She had arrived to the YMCA early on purpose, thinking if she got into the pool before he arrived, he wouldn’t get a good look at her in the bathing suit.

Maybe he’ll be late. Maybe he won’t come at all. Maybe he’s only coming to check her out in her bathing suit to see just how big she really is to see if it’s worth luring her into bed.

She shook her head; that wasn’t fair. Finn had been nothing but nice and supportive, and anyway, he’d lost a hundred pounds himself. Could someone who had lost a hundred pounds be like all the other men Rachel had ever encountered?

She truly didn’t know, but from what she knew of Finn so far, she didn’t think so.

Wrapping her towel around her waist, she took a deep breath and walked through the change room toward the pool.

Finn was already chest-high in the water, bobbing up and down among a few of the seniors. He smiled as he saw her approach the pool.

Rachel put her towel down on the bench and scurried into the pool. No time for dipping in a toe to test the water: she needed to get her body in and covered up quickly.

“Hi,” she said as she arranged herself in the empty area next to Finn and began to walk in place to warm up her muscles.

“Hi,” Finn said with a smile. “This is nice. The pool is pretty warm,”

Rachel leaned in closer to him. “The seniors like it pretty warm,” she whispered.

Finn nodded. “You look very nice by the way; I don’t know what you were worried about.”

Rachel dropped her eyes. It was hard to believe him, but she did appreciate him saying so. “Thanks,” she said, dragging her hands back and forth on the water’s surface, creating gentle ripples which expanded as they glided away from her.

“Although, I’m disappointed that you haven’t commented on my breasts,” Finn said, pretending to look dejected.

Eyes wide, Rachel looked up at him.

He laughed. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Boy, you sure are tense.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just…”

Finn shook his head. “No need to explain. I’m the one who should be sorry, I’m making you uncomfortable. But really, you look just fine.”

Thankfully, about ten seconds later, Gordon, the very fit, very tanned Aquafit instructor came out of the small office and out onto the pool deck.

Finn’s shoulder’s drooped as he leaned toward Rachel. “And
you
felt inadequate? Look what
I’m
up against.”

Rachel smiled, trying to be encouraging.

Gordon turned on his music and started marching in place. “Hi everyone, welcome back to Aquafit! For anyone new, I’m Gordon.” He looked around the pool, smiling at each of the class’ participants. “Let’s warm up by marching for a few minutes. Irma, you’re looking fine today. Sam, nice to see you back; hope you had a great time in Arizona. And I see some new faces, welcome. Glad to have you here.” He nodded down at Finn.

Finn stole a glance at Rachel. He feigned a gag before turning back to look at the instructor.

Rachel couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

Not wanting Finn to have to wait for her, Rachel got dressed as fast as she could. Since the class was shallow-end only and she didn’t put her head underwater, she saved twenty minutes just by not having to wash and dry her hair. She pulled it back into a ponytail and left the change room in just over fifteen minutes. As it turned out,
she
had to wait, sitting on a hard wooden bench in the lobby for almost five minutes before Finn came out.

“Sorry, I hope you weren’t waiting long, I can’t do anything with this.” He frowned and looked up as he slid his fingers through his wet hair.

Rachel grabbed her bag off the bench. “Just a few minutes. What’s wrong with your hair?”

“My barber retired. I’m in hairstylist limbo.” He looked frazzled as he pointed toward the exit. “I’m parked out this way. We can take my car and I’ll drop you off at yours later.”

Rachel nodded, following him out of the building. She didn’t see what the problem was with Finn’s hair, though as she stole a glance at it, she noticed it did look a bit long. Maybe slightly unruly. “My stylist is very good, you should try him out.”

“Oh yeah?” He held his hand out and took her bag, tossing it into the back seat before opening the passenger door for her. “Maybe I’ll give him a shot if you say he’s good.”

“He is.” Andrew had earned Rachel’s unwavering trust over the years and she never had any reservation about recommending his services.