Published Work > Better than Gelt

Better than Gelt available at Torquere Press.

A Torquere Press Holiday Single Shot short story.

Better than Gelt is a holiday (Hanukkah) themed story about two Jewish women alone in the city who get together during Hanukkah to keep their respective family traditions and end up making some hot new memories.

Rebecca has had Eva's number for a little while, but she hasn't called. Eva is pretty and graceful, all of the things Rebecca isn't, and the Jewish bookstore owner isn't sure she's willing to take a chance. When Eva turns up in her store and hands over her number again, Rebecca reconsiders, and it's Chinese for Christmas for the girls. They make plans to meet again over dreidels and latkes, and Eva makes a proposal that's better than gelt. What could be better than chocolate coins on Hanukkah? Eva has something in mind that Rebecca's never thought of.

Excerpt

A cold gust of air and the pleasant, familiar jingle of the shop bells got her attention. A young woman in a pea coat and blue jeans stood in the entry and surveyed the shop for a moment before moving into the store itself. Rebecca followed the striking woman with her eyes as she headed right for the self-help/psychology section. The way the woman walked and her cute butch haircut seemed familiar to Rebecca for some reason, but Rebecca couldn't place the face.

The graceful confidence with which the woman pulled a book off the shelf and flipped it over to read the back made Rebecca think that whatever she was looking for wasn't for herself. She didn't look like she needed any help at all. Rebecca was captivated, instantly infatuated, as she always was by a woman with confidence, and she couldn't tear her eyes away.

The woman glanced up, caught Rebecca's eye and smiled. Rebecca glanced away quickly, embarrassed to have been caught staring, but she didn't get off that easily.

"Excuse me?" the woman called out, beckoning Rebecca over with her body language as she leaned a bit in Rebecca's direction. She smiled as Rebecca approached. "Hi."

Rebecca forced herself to smile in return and hoped the burning blush she felt in her cheeks wasn't actually showing.

Hey, a girl could dream, right?

"Hello. Can I help you?" she asked as casually as she could manage, and made her way over. Are you free tonight? hovered on the tip of her tongue but Rebecca knew it would never get any farther. It never did.

"Why, yes, actually." The woman looked at her with an expectant smile. "Rebecca, right?"

Shit, they had met. More than met, they'd exchanged names. Had she been drunk or something? Rebecca blinked at the woman blankly a minute and then tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as if scrutiny at a slightly different angle might jog her memory.

The woman laughed at her. "Oh, you have no idea who I am, do you?"

Rebecca's brow furrowed as she squinted, trying to put the pieces together. "I'm sorry, you really do look familiar but... when did we meet?" Working retail, Rebecca met a lot of people, and when she wasn't working, she also attended conferences and book expos where she met even more. She usually made an effort to get to know the regular visitors to her shop a little, too, but she couldn't be expected to remember everyone's face.

"I'm Eva. We met at the Stonewall Democrats meeting last month? You are Rebecca, right?"

Rebecca's memory was back instantly, and she blushed eve harder. "Eva! Of course!" Of course. How could she have forgotten? "I'm so sorry, it's been a crazy day," she lied.

"Christmas Eve and all." She cleared her throat. "So... nice to see you again."

Eva's was a face that Rebecca hadn't meant to forget, and a phone number she hadn't meant to lose. Not that she'd actually lost it, she kind of accidentally on purpose buried it in the drawer in her bedside table when she couldn't get up the courage to make the phone call.

"Mmmhmm. Must have been a busy month, I guess."

"Uh," Rebecca sighed. "Kind of. Yeah." But not so busy that she couldn't have called Eva if she'd been brave enough.

Eva leaned on the bookshelf, her manner casual, if a little confrontational. "Sure. Holidays coming and all. I understand." But she sounded like she didn't believe her own words one bit. She was teasing Rebecca, offering Rebecca easy excuses that she, herself, clearly didn't buy.

"Right. Yep. Exactly."

"Did you lose my number?"

"Yes. No," Rebecca admitted.

"Throw it out?"

"No! No, no, nothing like that."

Eva smiled as if she liked that answer and pushed away from the bookcase. "Good."

"How did you find me?"

"You told me you owned this place."

"Oh, right. I remember now." She felt like an idiot. How hard was it to make one damn phone call? Eva was hot, interested and single. Rebecca was... nervous. She felt unattractive sometimes. Awkward. Ugly.

"I actually do need a book," Eva told her.

"You do?" Rebecca asked.

For more of Rebecca and Eva, look for Better than Gelt at Torquere Press!

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