Page 13 of Love Hollow at Last
Aya looked skeptical, but at least Grace’s assurances got her to leave.
But as soon as Aya was out the door, Grace turned slowly to him.“I don’t know why you didn’t bring this to me.I already told you this festival cannot afford negative publicity now.”
“I didn’t want to bother you with it.”
“Well,” she said, a hard edge of sarcasm in her voice, “now it looks like I’ve put my name on an event that will be a failure.And my reputation is on the line, because anyone who finds out about the bad PR for this festival is going to associate it with me.They will be especially surprised that we’re fighting with an Asian American history museum.And since most people won’t figure out that Grace Kim is a Korean name, they’ll think it’s some kind of internalized racism bullshit.Or just gross incompetence.”
Noah couldn’t argue with her.She was right.
“W-What do I need to do to make it right?”he asked.
“You can’t,” she snapped.“But you can leave those for me,” she said, pointing at the papers.“And you can leave.”
He couldn’t ever remember having an argument with Grace that couldn’t be talked out.Or one with Aya, for that matter, until that night in high school.
“Are you sure?”
“Noah.Just.Go.”
12
Aya
It took Aya some time to connect with Emi again, which was unusual.Her texts went unanswered for hours.But she didn’t have time to waste with actual phone calls.She spent the whole afternoon trying to get the museum in decent shape for all the guests who were about to descend.Though real estate prices in Love Hollow were relatively low, Aya felt like she would never be able to afford a house.But if she ever bought one, she’d probably make a pretty good homeowner.A lot of what she dealt with at work seemed to fall into the home ec category.The septic system was unreliable, every fresh paint job seemed to look scuffed and worn after a mere six months, and random repairs that the internet hadn’t prepared her to handle popped up regularly.Because they were trying to save on cleaning, that fell to Aya as well, so the bathrooms in particular needed to be deep cleaned.She didn’t manage to fix the dryers, but she did put the paper towels she’d ordered in rather attractive piles, and she added fresh flowers to her list of things to buy.
Emi didn’t arrive at the museum until it was almost time for dinner, and Aya tried to keep from scolding her.
“Everything okay?”she asked, and Emi nodded quite vigorously.
“Absolutely.I just needed a walk.It’s supposed to rain later, so I took advantage of the weather.”
Aya wished she could have taken advantage of the weather rather than be stuck inside, though she didn’t say it.The morning had actually been beautiful, and her bike ride to the elementary school had contained scenic vistas that would likely make the tourists drool in a week’s time, but she hadn’t been able to enjoy any of them.She led Emi over to the all-purpose room, where she had taken out some of the leftovers from an exhibit they had done on local maps.
“Any news on the music festival front?”asked Emi, looking over a topographical map of the surrounding area.“Did you get a chance to speak to Noah?”
Aya shook her head.“I spoke to his assistant, which was definitely more useful.She’s clearly the brains behind the festival.”
“Aya,” said Emi, “Noah’s smart.”
“Well, not about these things.Grace seemed really great.”
“So what’s she going to do?”asked Emi, looking around the all-purpose room for a chair.Not finding one, she sat with her legs under her on one section of the floor with a small amount of carpet.Aya, who had always hatedseza, traditional Japanese seating, sat cross-legged beside her.“I don’t know.She didn’t specify.”
“But you think she’ll do more than Noah was offering?She’ll move that one stage you hated?”
Though there wasn’t any doubt in Emi’s voice, Aya started to feel angry again.“Grace didn’t commit to anything,” she said.“She probably won’t do anything!I just fell for her whole act because she was responsive.She has better manners than Noah.”
Emi shrugged.“I didn’t mean to imply anything like that, Aya.She might be great.Who knows?”
“No,” said Aya, standing again.“If this is going to work out, this has to be an actual battle.And I’m going to need help from everyone who’s going on this Pilgrimage.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?”Emi was still seated, looking like she was about to do a tea ceremony, not go to war.“At this point, none of the Pilgrimage guests even know, right?”
Aya shook her head.“They’re absolutely going to know when we try to do the opening ceremony and there’s a whole screaming crowd right behind them, stinking of cheap beer.”
That only made Emi smile.“I’m sure some of the beer will be really good, actually.I heard they have partnerships with microbreweries.”
Aya couldn’t laugh.“I have an idea.Are you coming or not?”
