"Hi Aviva! Surprise!”

Aviva sitting in the office writing notes looked up in shock. “Naama!” She gripped the table hard eyes rounding at the sight of her older sister. “What are you doing here?”

Naama smoothed her perfectly set sheitel. “I happened to be in the neighborhood — an old friend of mine is making a vort tonight and she wanted my help with the setup — so I decided to stop by and see the famous clinic.” She looked around at the colorful play area. “Nice. I love what you did with this space.”

Despite herself Aviva felt a glow spread over her cheeks. “It wasn’t me we hired a decorator” she murmured.

“No shame in that” Naama said with a tinkling laugh. “Though you could’ve asked me if I make the trip out for a friend then of course for my sister—”

“Well look who’s here!” The two women turned as Zevi walked in through the front door.

“Came to visit Aviva?” he asked as he strode toward the office door.

She smiled. “I see I’m not the only one.”

Zevi looked surprised for a moment then laughed. Aviva narrowed her eyes praying he would be smart enough to hold his tongue….

“Me? I ain’t no visitor. I’m the secretary!”

Aviva closed her eyes as Naama laughed clearly certain this was a joke. But she opened them again to see Naama’s expression flicker doubtfully as Zevi made his way toward the reception desk.

“You’re so funny Zevi” Naama said. There was a question mark in her voice.

Aviva quickly stepped in. “Zevi has been working here for several months already as clinic administrator. I don’t know what we’d do without him.”

“Ah I didn’t realize” Naama said delicately. “Administrator. Of course.”

Zevi seemed on the verge of saying something more and Aviva jumped up. “Can I give you the grand tour?”

“So” Zevi said later when Naama had blessedly left “When did I get the promotion? I think I deserve a raise.”

Aviva blushed. “You know Naama. I needed to say that.”

Zevi stared at her for a moment as Aviva felt her face grow redder. Finally he said quietly “Did you? I thought you got over it by now.”

She sucked in her breath stung. Not fair she wanted to shout. This is my family we’re talking about my perfect big sister. But he’d never understood. Coming from a large warm loving family himself he’d never really grasped where she was coming from. Sure he knew that a visit from her mother could throw her off-kilter for a week but Zevi with his laid-back happy-go-lucky approach to life couldn’t possibly appreciate how deeply these family dynamics ran.

Instead of responding she changed tacks. “While we’re on the subject I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this job.” She forced her voice to sound steady matter of fact; she wasn’t quite sure how Zevi would take the news that they wanted to replace him.