Ayala let out a short laugh. “Sorry, that was stupid of me.” She looked around her apartment. There were toys on the floor and breakfast dishes on the kitchen table. “I guess I was just feeling self-conscious because I hadn’t had a chance to straighten up.”

What was up with her? “Okay, now you offended me again. What am I, a stranger?” Dini winked at her. “Hon, have you forgotten that we used to be roommates? You can’t hide your messiness from me.”

She smiled to herself as she realized she’d pulled a Shuki trick, using humor to diffuse a situation. It worked. Ayala visibly thawed as she shot Dini a fond look. “No way, you’re not getting away with that. I was not the messy one in the room, Miss ‘but-I-have-four-closets’-worth-of-clothes!’”

Dini chuckled. “And you were the only one in the entire seminary who didn’t borrow any of them.”

Ayala waved her hand. “I was too tall and you were too skinny,” she said, even though they both knew that wasn’t the reason.

Dini tapped her knee. “So now that we’ve gotten your noisy kids and messy house out of the way, shall we get down to business?”

Ayala scowled at her. “Ha, ha. I’d love to say that next time we’ll meet at your house, but unfortunately, your house always looks perfect.”

Dini hated when Ayala pulled the money card as if it were some embarrassing flaw. Why did money have to be a thing? Why couldn’t it just be, like, I have blue eyes and you have brown?

She fluttered her fingers in the air. “Go on, say it. It’s because I have a cleaning lady three times a week and a girl who comes every night to straighten up.”

Ayala raised an eyebrow. “You have a girl who comes every night?”

“Yup. New find. Worth every shekel.”

Dini stared at her defiantly. Ayala stared back. At last, she broke into a reluctant grin. “If I had your bank account, I’d also hire a girl to straighten up every night,” she conceded. Glancing at her kitchen, she added, “And every morning, too.”

To Dini’s relief, there was no envy in her voice. “Good idea.” Dini smiled back. “Maybe that’ll be our next fundraising goal. Cleaning help for the Wexlers.”

Ayala looked at her sharply. “Dini, this is tzedakah money!”

“I was joking.” Dini tugged on a sheitel strand, thinking about the event she’d planned for the volunteers next week. What would Ayala say about spending tzedakah money on a cooking demo? She shook her head slightly. You needed to invest serious resources to cultivate serious ambassadors; any marketing professional would tell you that. Besides, the food they’d prepare would go toward meals for Chesed Tzirel families. She’d been proud of her genius pairing of fun and chesed.

Remembering that Ayala was on the program to speak to the women about how to volunteer at a hospital (after Sarale’s disastrous attempt), Dini decided she might as well get the big disclosure over with.

She leaned forward. “I don’t know what you had on the agenda for today’s meeting, but I’ll start with something I wanted to discuss.”

Ayala blinked. “Oh. I—” She frowned at her hands. “Sure, go ahead,” she muttered.

Dini looked at her in surprise. “What’s wrong?” She narrowed her eyes. “Wait, would you like to go first? That’s fine, I don’t care.”

Ayala’s frown deepened. “No, please. You start.”

Dini sighed. This wasn’t an auspicious beginning, but she’d have to make the best of it. She switched on a bright smile. “Well, I wanted to share some great news. Remember we spoke with Temima about organizing a group of volunteers in a sort of club? So I’ve gotten an initial group together, and they’re super excited about it!”

Ayala’s eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t say anything for several moments. Dini shifted in her seat.

“Um, do you want to hear more about it?” she asked, trying to keep the pep in her voice, even as Ayala’s silence unnerved her.

Ayala cleared her throat. “I’d love to,” she said. Her voice was hard. “Please, tell me about this new Chesed Tzirel club that I had to learn about from that girl who fainted in Shaare Zedek.”

Dini pressed her lips together. Ayala had spoken to Sarale? What an all-around mess that girl had made.

“Sarale mentioned it, did she?” she asked, trying to recover. “Yes, she was the first girl I approached. It was the funniest thing, we happened to be sitting next to each other in Waffle Bar one Friday morning, and I just struck up a conversation.”

No need to mention Shuki’s dare, or his ridiculous brochure.

“Anyway, she was very interested, and said she had lots of friends who would be as well. Isn’t that great?”

Ayala looked at her suspiciously. “That’s it?”

Dini lifted her shoulder. “Of course, that’s it. What do you mean?”

“She made it sound like there was already some club going on.”

“I haven’t done anything behind your back, if that’s what you’re implying,” Dini said defensively. “All that happened is that I asked her to reach out to her friends. I invited them to my house one morning to feel out what kind of interest there was.” She held out her hands. “Obviously, I didn’t want to waste your time meeting them, when who knew if they’d even be interested.” She flashed a winning smile as she went in for the kill. “Especially since I know that socializing with a bunch of girly young marrieds isn’t exactly your cup of tea.”

Ayala stared at her for a moment and then laughed. “You got me,” she admitted. She twisted her ring around her finger, eyes narrowed. “But I’d still rather know. I don’t like the feeling of being kept in the dark. It’s… been happening too much recently, don’t you think?”

Dini opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. Ayala was right. “Yeah, it has,” she agreed, eyes lowered.

Ayala looked up at her. “Can we agree to stop? To let each other in on our plans before they happen?” Her voice was soft, and Dini felt herself melting. Why, exactly, had she been treating Ayala like a competitor she needed to beat?

She held out a hand. “Deal,” she said. Ayala, after hesitating for a second, grasped Dini’s hand and shook.

Ayala was still thinking about her meeting with Dini when she got into Bracha’s car later that day for their weekly shopping trip.

“I very nearly canceled on you today,” Bracha commented. “I hope your family really appreciates the groceries.”

“I’m sure they will,” Ayala murmured. She leaned against the headrest and closed her eyes, thoughts whirling.

“Feel free to take a nap, no prroblem,” Bracha said, rolling her r like an Israeli. “Just tell me where you’d like to go, geveret.”

Ayala’s eyes flew open and she laughed at Bracha’s cab driver imitation. “Sorry for being rude. I’ve just had an intense morning.”

“Join the club,” Bracha muttered, so quietly that Ayala almost didn’t catch it.

“So Dini and I have started having weekly meetings; her idea, of course. And she acts as if she’s in charge, she’s setting the agenda, when I’m—”

She paused suddenly, as Bracha’s words finally hit her. “Wait, what happened to you this morning?”

Bracha blinked. “Nothing. Go on.”

Ayala looked at her in surprise. She didn’t sound like herself. In a softer voice, Ayala said, “You just said you also had an intense morning. And…” she remembered to ask belatedly, “why did you nearly need to cancel?”

Bracha clenched her teeth. Then, in her normal voice, she said, “Aw, enough about me. Let’s talk about you.”

Ayala stared at her friend in concern. Bracha took her eyes off the road to flash her a smile. “Ayala, you don’t have to solve everyone’s problems. Really, it’s fine. Go on about Dini.”

Ayala hesitated for a moment and then continued. “Well, she once again decided to start a program without consulting me. She’s put together a whole volunteer corps of young Ramat Eshkol marrieds.”

“How cute.” Bracha smirked.

“Adorable, right? I mean, not that it isn’t a good idea,” she added fairly. “Just, why couldn’t she have included me in the planning? Why does everything have to be behind my back?”

“Maybe she wanted to be the leader herself. You know, have those starry-eyed newlyweds look up to her as the most awesome thing ever.”

As always, Bracha’s unwarranted antipathy made Ayala rise to Dini’s defense. “Please, like they won’t anyway. You think she’s worried they’ll think I’m cooler than her?” She rolled her eyes. “No, Dini has never sought that kind of attention. It comes to her naturally.”

Still, there was clearly something that Dini did need, and Ayala hoped she’d figure it out soon before Dini ruined their organization — not to mention their friendship — in the process.

Ayala sighed and rubbed her forehead. With all her time spent helping others, it was so nice to have Bracha as a steady sounding board.

“So now I’m feeling guilty, because I made a big fuss to Dini about how we must promise to be open with each other in the future about our plans, but then I realized that I had a plan of my own that I want to keep secret.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to bring someone else into the organization, and train them to do what I do. It’s too much for me to handle alone.”

“And you don’t want it to be Dini.” Bracha said it as a statement, as she shot Ayala a quick, shrewd look.

“I don’t think she’s cut out for the job,” Ayala said slowly.

“No need to explain yourself to me. I totally get it. So do you have someone in mind?”

Ayala was silent for a moment. No, she hadn’t really thought about it yet, but now the answer seemed so obvious she couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to her beforehand.

“Yes.” She flashed her friend a wide grin. “You.”

To be continued…

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 878)