Services had been lovely, and going had felt good, except when Deb realized the time after closing prayers had finished and she’d had a bit of food at the post service meal. She’d arranged to meet Sam just outside the rink where the game was taking place, which meant she had to get home and change into non-temple clothing.

The light chill of winter in the district had arrived, and she hated running in heels. So it was a toss up between running and freezing. She chose the running, and ran toward the metro entrance.

She stopped, trying desperately to catch her breath, breathing hard as her feet turned into aching pits of despair. She knew she’d made shitty life choices. The shoes were the most comfortable things on carpet, but turned to torture devices on any other surface. Unfortunately, there were mostly the latter type of surfaces between her apartment and the temple. The horrible metro carpet did not count.

Breathing hard wasn’t enough though; she found herself bending over while gasping, and reaching for her feet in a feeble attempt to give both her lungs and toes a breath.

“Hi.”

Apparently, it seemed that Sam was always going to appear while she was in the middle of her worst moments. Like this particular one, where she probably looked like a twisted up tomato. All the same, she smiled as she straightened up and turned towards him. “Hey. What’s up?”

Of course he looked gorgeous and not at all like he had to rush to get here. “Just got out of services, heading to see a hockey game. You know.”

“You went to services?”

He nodded. “Sat in the back, stayed quiet. I saw you though.”

She raised an eyebrow. “So why didn’t you come and join me? I saved you a seat, you know.”

“I came late,” he said, a grimace on his face. “I was already disturbing people when I came in, so I didn’t want to make it worse.”

Of course. Sam Moskowitz could not just meander through the aisle to find her. If he had gotten in and nobody was paying attention, she understood. “I get it. But you didn’t come to find me after services?”

He laughed. “I didn’t want to make a scene. I waited in my pew, talked to the rabbi, who seemed cool, and then headed out.”

Right. Sam Moskowitz couldn’t just meander through the crowd of people heading towards the post service meal. The fact that he was standing on the sidewalk next to her was probably dangerous. “So…”

“It’s fine. Really.” He paused. “You want a ride to the game?”

She grinned, gestured at her outfit. “Not like this.”

He nodded, gestured at his tie. “Yeah. My cousin apparently used to go direct from temple, but he was playing, so he had the excuse of changing there.”

“And the facility in which to do so.” She sighed. “And mine is back at my apartment along with what I’m changing into.”

He nodded and she wondered what he was thinking. “I can take you back to your apartment…”

She bit her lip. She appreciated the offer but she didn’t know him, not really. They’d had a bunch of short conversations, but she’d only met him the night before. The last thing she wanted was for him to know her address. “I’m fine,” she said, moving from foot to foot in an attempt to put too much pressure on either of her feet “I can take the metro.”

“Look,” he said. “The car is comfortable, you’ll be off your feet a little bit, and I can drop you a certain distance away from your apartment, say a block or so? Close enough where it makes sense to drive and far enough away where I don’t know where you’re going.”

The offer was tempting, but she paused, staring up at him. “You’re driving?”

He shook his head. “A car service. I’ve been advised against the subway because it sucks, and the cabs are worse. So I’ve got a driver…”

Of course he did. He wasn’t a local; lord knew who’d actually want to drive on the streets of DC if they didn’t have to. “In a manner of speaking and most of the time, the metro sucks. But then again, don’t most of them? And yes,” she said. “You can drop me off about a block away from my place. Saving my feet for the change in shoes and the rest of the day seems like a good idea. I’ll meet you at Kettler, ok?”

He nodded. “That sounds good. And,” he gestured as a black town car pulled up, “that’s my car.” He laughed. “It’s so cliché, but it works.”

As he opened the door for her, she smiled at him. This was going to be nice. And handy, she thought.

Sam dropped Deb off, ran into the apartment, let Toby out of the bathroom as he changed. Once he’d changed into jeans and a USA hockey jersey, he snuggled Toby, then changed his food and water and cleaned his litter box. Once all that was done, he lured the little cotton ball out from under the couch with a rustle of tissue paper and then deposited him back in the bathroom.

Then he headed off to Kettler. He didn’t see Deb at the assigned meeting place, and he started to get worried.

“Sam?”

He turned around to see a face he was used to seeing on his TV screen. “Hi?”

“Sophie Katz,” she said without preamble. “I’m supposed to make sure you’re ok.”

He shook his head. “Let me guess. My cousin emailed you. ”

She nodded. “Yep. Told me it was part of my responsibility for the day. You know. Watch out for the out of town guests. All that lovely stuff.”

He nodded. “Sounds just like my cousin. Excellent.”

She smiled, and he could see the unasked question flit across her face. He braced himself. “Did you fulfill the bet?”

He wasn’t sure why she’d asked that as opposed to anything else, but the hockey bet he’d made with another actor was a fun but safe subject. “We’re still talking. I’m here at the moment and he’s doing something so we…”

“Hi.”

The sound of Deborah’s voice made him stop in his tracks. He didn’t do it often; it had pretty much been trained out of him, but Deb. He turned, meeting her eyes and the smile on her face with his own. “You made it.”

“I did,” she replied.

He couldn’t get the words out to reply to her; he was relieved and excited all at once. So he turned to the reporter who looked back and forth between them. “Sophie, this is…”

“Deb Taubman. Local preschool teacher.”

“And,” Sophie interjected, “friend of…”

“Preschool teacher,” Deb answered firmly, a hand on her hip as if she was going into battle. “I’m a preschool teacher and the sister of a director. I’m here to watch hockey. We can talk about my sister’s movie, we can talk about kids, we can talk about hockey and that’s about it. We’re not talking about my friends. On or off the record.”

“You’re a friend of a friend of Max’s,” Sophie stated, stopping Deb in her tracks. “Max said to watch out for you too.”

Suddenly, Deb was at a loss for words. “You’re talking to Max?”

Deb had a connection to his cousin’s best friend? That was definitely something to ask her later.

“Yeah.” Sophie shook her head. She motioned to him. “I’m watching over this for him and this yahoo’s cousin.”

“Except,” Sam interjected, “Adam is still sending emails.”

Sophie snickered and Deb looked intrigued. “I told him I can organize on site, but I cannot be responsible for admin. Not my thing. He wants me to do this for him? Then he or Max should be taking care of the admin.”

Both he and Deb found reason to nod. “Reasonable,” he said.

“Anyway,” Sophie said, “You should go and sit and watch some hockey. The games are about to start.”

Sam turned towards the ice. Sure enough, the referee was about to drop the puck for the first faceoff, and so he said goodbye to Sophie and led Deb to their seats.

Deb continued to be amazed how easy it was to talk to Sam. It was comfortable to sit while talking hockey and fandom – thankfully he was also an Empires fan – as they watched the different teams.

“You have any team preferences?”

She laughed. “I’m not rooting for any particular team today.” Then she had to explain. “Would you believe this is the first time I’m here? I mean it’s something that I’ve always meant to do, but I was so crazy stressed with the admin I had to do for my old job. I never gave myself time to breathe. Now? There’s so much less admin, so much less worry, and so much less fear.”

“What happened?”

“I had to partner up with a temple to host the preschool I’d started when I couldn’t afford the rent on the space. Now, I’m doing what I love and I don’t have to do a lot of the admin I used to. It’s a win. But it’s hard and freeing all at the same time.”

He nodded. “Yeah. It feels freeing here. Weird, but freeing. Like back home, I know where to go, how to deal with being what I do for a living. Here I have no idea, but it’s fine so far. I’m comfortable.”

She nodded, and it felt good to be understood. “Me, too,” she said as she took the hand he offered her. “Me, too.”

Sam was pleased to discover that Deb was also a loud hockey fan. He could scream at the ice, cheer, and not worry about embarrassing anybody. More importantly, Adam had told him the arena was a safe zone and protecting people’s privacy was important. Otherwise, according to an early email, nobody would ever go.

But even after a long day of hockey watching and rink food, Sam was still nervous; broaching any possible extensions of their time together after they’d known each other (in person) for a day. And as he descended the stairs that took him down to the aisles and the exit, he smiled at her. “So any plans afterwards?”

“Don’t know.” She shrugged, and then covered her mouth to disguise a yawn – a move he recognized. She grinned. “Maybe go home, sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“It has,” he said, before the yawn hit him, too. “Tomorrow?” He paused, stopping his words when he realized the kind of impression he was giving and the pressure he was putting on her. “I’m …look. I’m coming on strong. I’m sorry…”

“You didn’t run away when our first interaction involved me dropping a fig on my sweater, nor did you run away when I was twisted up like a pretzel and breathing my lungs out before the game.” She grinned. “I call it a win.”

He nodded, a bit more relaxed. “Okay. I’m glad to hear that. And you know that if you don’t want anything to do with me, you can tell me and…”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a guy I’d like to get to know. We’ve spent some time together, and I like the way you make me feel.”

He loved the sound of her words, and her tone of voice warmed his heart. But he had to reply in a way that wouldn’t scare her. “I like that. A lot. So this is going to sound weird…but it’s because of me?”

In the moment after the words left his mouth, he wanted to take them back and shove them into the darkest depths of his heart.

Deb took a deep breath. “So, you know why that woman…Sophie, really wanted to talk to me?”

He shook his head. “No…”

He watched and waited, wondering what she was going to tell him.

After a while she said, “my best friend from college has parents she hates, as well as two siblings she cannot stand. On the plus side, she has a baby sister she would kill for, and a brand-new boyfriend. Max.”

He blinked. “What? You mean your best friend is Max’s girlfriend Caroline? As in Caroline Crosby? The President’s daughter Caroline?”

She smiled. “Yes. Anyway, I haven’t talked to her for a while because she’s somewhere I don’t know. Nor do I want to know. However, she’s about to enter into a very public custody battle for her younger sister that will force her father into a very uncomfortable light. So, blinding lights aren’t very much but hot.”

“Right.” He nodded, understanding. Being friends with someone like Caroline, especially now, would prepare her to be around him at the worst of times, when he couldn’t get a moment of privacy. DC had been safe so far, but he wasn’t going to hold his breath. “Okay,” he finally said. “I see.”

She nodded back at him, looking up at him with an expression he couldn’t decipher. “Do you cook? Because if you did we wouldn’t have to worry about brunch places. Otherwise…”

“I can make an omelet. “ He paused, ideas going through his head. Was she a cat person? Toby’s breed was pretty safe for people with allergies to cats, but there were always people who didn’t like being around cats. “How do you feel about mischievous Devon Rex kittens?”

“Devon Rex?”

“Odd looking, but adorable. A tiny little cotton ball. Climber. He gets into everything. I’ve discovered he likes hair ties for some reason. “

She raised an eyebrow. “Hair ties?”

He nodded. “My sister lost at least a box of them before she discovered who’d been stealing them.”

“What time should I come over? And where?”

“The Palisade,” he replied, trying and probably failing to disguise the relief he felt. “Eleven?”

She nodded. “That sounds great.” She smiled. “I’ll bring hair ties.”

“He will love you forever and insist on playing fetch.”

She laughed. “This will be fun?”

“I hope so.”