Instead of relief, Penina felt her heart sinking
Penina Wasser felt a little rush of pride as Mr. Hirsch finished reviewing the expense report for July and August.
“No one does it better than you, Mrs. Wasser,” he said grandly, as if he’d gone through tens of office managers until finding her and couldn’t get over his good fortune. In truth, she’d been there since before her wedding, never working anywhere else, and no one else had ever held the position.
It was almost three-thirty, and she had to leave back to Lakewood. She didn’t want to have the conversation, but it was inevitable.
Back when she was on the verge of getting engaged to Sholom, she’d updated her boss. His moustache had been a rich brown then, and Mr. Hirsch pulled at it as she proudly told him that she was marrying a talmid chacham. Yes, it was a bit different from what her family expected, it’s true, but they would all grow to respect Sholom, she was sure of it. Three weeks before the chasunah, she came in to speak about the fact that she was moving to Lakewood, ready with a pitch about opening a Lakewood office — many businesses were doing it. He hadn’t seemed interested, though, and she’d let it go.
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