“The date. It’s the same date as the Zambia tour. I’ll be leaving a few days before. I won’t be able to come with you”

Oh Noe and TTS and all the clients who needed their tax returns filed and their accounts transitioned over to Yochi’s colleagues were going to have to wait. This was an emergency.

Yochi hurried out of the building and walked down the block, holding the phone to his ear.

“Pessie,” he said. “Pessie, no. You can’t. Don’t book.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The date. It’s the same date as the Zambia tour. I’ll be leaving a few days before. I won’t be able to come with you.”

He heard her gulp.

“Exactly,” he said.

This was insane.

“So, like, what do you want to do?” she asked.

“Forget the deal,” he said. “Forget it, too bad, we’ll pay the full price for the tickets. The tour is finalized, the ads are running, I mean, let’s not even discuss the choreography it took to get Uri Davidi there. I can’t go to Eretz Yisrael then, there’s no way.”

“Forget the deal?” Pessie threw back. “This is the only week it makes sense to go. I discussed this with you ages ago. We can’t go earlier, Hindy can’t miss school. Plus this is when the beaches are separate. Plus your parents specifically want to go in the beginning of the summer, later will be too close to your sister Suri’s wedding.”

“I hear….”

He heard. And he didn’t know what to say. There was no way in the world he could fly to Eretz Yisrael with them then.

Yochi found himself standing in front of his car. He unlocked the door and slid inside.

“Do you want to ask your parents if we can go a little later?” Pessie asked. “Maybe they could stay with Hindy first and we’ll take over after two weeks? It would mean giving up on the hotel. We’d have to stay in Arad and drive down every day, and I hear it’s this super curvy road and Hindy’s an awful passenger, but—”

“Oooh, yes, that sounds like a good idea. We’ll give Hindy Dramamine, she’ll wear those motion-sickness wristbands, don’t worry. I’ll call my parents, I’m sure they’ll—”

Yochi stopped short, his stomach sinking. “No…” he said slowly. “I’m just realizing, our next tour is starting July 20, two days after Tishah B’Av. I… I don’t think I can travel between these two trips. There’s going to be so much work, it’ll be nuts.”

Pessie was quiet for a moment. Then she gave a small cough. “I… hear.”