Chapter 6

I want this, thought Jared, stunned by the good taste and luxury before him. His job in television had shown him how the other half lived in Manhattan—the high-rise penthouse parties and the late-night chauffeur rides across town—but Jared had never seen this, the classic, old world beauty of Jewish Brooklyn.

Jared had grown up in his mother’s two-bedroom apartment in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They had been comfortable, but never so visibly wealthy. Jared’s mom had spent all her money on his education, sending him to summer camps and a small private college in New England.

The party was already picking up, with family and neighbors all chatting and moving about the living room, hugging and laughing, delighted for this break from real life and happy to connect with the ones they loved. The comforting smell of fried foods poured in from the adjoining kitchen.