“A broken leg is not exactly life threatening. It sounds like they have everything under control. Why do they need to bother you?”

Tammy tilted her head back and took in a lungful of fresh air. There was something about walking through the streets on a balmy Jerusalem evening that made her giddy.

She glanced sideways at Yehuda. He was humming softly to himself. That was a good sign; she’d suggested this after-dinner walk to try to relax the tension she’d been feeling between them recently.

“Isn’t it incredible that we actually live in Yerushalayim?” she exclaimed.

Yehuda laughed. “Took you eight years to figure that out?”

“Sometimes,” she said carefully, “I worry that I’m so caught up in my work that I forget to step back and appreciate the bigger picture of my life.”

Yehuda didn’t reply, and Tammy looked at him again, anxiously. Finally, he said, “Maskim. You’re so excited about what you’re doing that you’ve thrown yourself in full throttle.” He swerved Shimmy’s stroller around a bus stop, as Tammy frowned.

“Are you saying that’s a bad thing?”

“Of course not,” he said quickly, still looking straight ahead. “As long as it doesn’t eat into the other important things in your life.”

“Well, it’s not,” she said defensively.

Yehuda was silent as they walked past a row of stores. Tammy noticed a gorgeous sequined headscarf displayed in one of the windows, but decided now wasn’t the time to window-shop. Besides, Yehuda would probably say it was out of their budget.

Yehuda cleared his throat. “Speaking of work, I’ve decided to look for more tutoring jobs.”

“Why?” Tammy asked. “Do you even like tutoring?” His twice-weekly tutoring job seemed to be going smoothly, but he didn’t seem to be enthusiastic about it.