With all of the Yom Tov madness and concurrent practices, it had been a while since she’d taken a good look at Gabriella’s Bulgaria explorations. But as Gabriella never failed to remind her, they needed to close on a place soon if they hoped to film there in January. So, though she was exhausted from the long afternoon of shoots, she’d sat down at ten to review Gabriella’s suggested locations with more judicious eyes.

When it came to anything Gabriella suggested, though, it was hard to be judicious.

“Planning our next vacation?”

Rina jumped as Heshy came up behind her, and broke into a smile. “Hi! I didn’t hear you come home. Is it that late?” She glanced at her watch. Ten thirty. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

And then she shook her head, because while this was normal for Heshy, it was really insanely abnormal. Who got home from work at ten thirty at night on a regular basis?

Don’t understand why he doesn’t just sleep there, she thought resentfully. But that was all she needed, to give Heshy ideas. She bet if it were up to him, he would sleep at work, and just come home for Shabbos. That aniline leather sofa she’d bought for his office a few years ago was certainly comfortable enough. What exactly did he do at home, really, other than take a little snack and go to sleep? Nothing he couldn’t do in the office.

Maybe he likes talking to you? a little voice inside asked hopefully.

Tonight, at any rate, he seemed to be in a positively voluble mood — for Heshy, at least.

“So, where are these pictures from?” he asked again.

“Bulgaria. Wanna go?” she asked playfully.

He took her seriously. “Uh, not at the moment, thanks. Why, were you planning a trip?”

She bit her lip. She would not feel hurt, she would not, though her husband ought to remember what she’d told him about the most important thing going on in her life right now.

He suddenly blinked. “Oh, Bulgaria. That’s where your film is set, right?”

Well, it had taken him a while, but it was better than nothing.  She flashed him a smile. “Yeah, and I’m trying to nail down a location for filming. These are the pictures Gabriella sent me from her trip.”

She expected him to nod and leave, but he actually stepped in front of the computer to look. Maybe he felt guilty about his memory lapse.

“Looks like some nice scenery. Anything interesting?”

She shrugged. “Nothing grabbing me right now. But, you know, Gabriella and I have very different tastes. I don’t know what I was thinking, sending her instead of going myself.”

“There must be something here. How about that one? That looks nice.” He pointed at one of the pictures. Rina suspected he might have just chosen at random, but it happened to be a picture of the rustic village Gabriella had been pushing on her.

She frowned. “That was Gabriella’s first choice.”

“So that automatically nixes it, huh?”

(Excerpted from Family First, Issue 626)