Page 22 of Love Hollow at Last
“Do you really think Mr.and Dr.Flores end the whole thing with a huge solo?”
She wasn’t sure how old the couple would be, but they at least had grandchildren.Mr.Flores owned a trucking company, and Dr.Flores was a respected OB-GYN at the local hospital.Presumably, she’d had to work.But why would her husband have skipped the rehearsal?Usually, as the owner of a small business, Mr.Flores would be fairly free so late in the evening.
One of the other older dancers raised her eyebrows at Noah.“Well done, young man,” she said.
Noah nodded, grinning.“Th-Thank you.”
Aya realized he wasn’t embarrassed by the praise.The old Noah always hated hanging around after their performances.Once, he had bought her a carnation, but as soon as he gave it to her, he ran off.They both should have stayed after the Love Hollow Unplugged event, the alternative they’d organized to the boring school-wide “Talent Show,” but she had ended up soaking in the praise without Noah.He really couldn’t stand people telling him what a wonderful job he had done, and having to suppress his stutter in every interaction usually took away the high of the show.
But now he was accepting the praise as if he’d expected it and adding in words of thanks.
“So glad I didn’t miss it.Great to be d-dancing in this studio again.”
He was working the crowd.And Aya couldn’t help but find it sexy.
“Oh mygod, you were amazing,” said a familiar voice, and Aya shrank.A tall, skinny blonde was loping over to them, staring at Noah.“Noah Kato, what the hell are you doing here?”
He bowed out with a smile, turning to a pair of older ladies who were asking after his mother.Aya realized the new part of Noah must also be a result of his time in show business.He was able to get out of the attention more gracefully than he ever had.
Carson Cobb, the blonde, had always been thin.Back in high school, she gave lots of details on how many inches she needed to lose off her already-tiny waist in order to get the kind of modeling contracts she wanted.When she’d gotten married to J.P.Wilmer, son of one of the richest and most influential Love Hollow families, her wedding was the biggest the town had ever seen.It seemed like everyone in town was either working the event or attending as a guest.Carson had even appeared on a reality TV show, “Something Blue for I Do,” which seemed to be all about ways to spend insane amounts of money on something that was going to be worn once.In Carson’s case, Aya recalled, it had been a sapphire toe ring.
Carson’s smile fell away when she turned to Aya.“So,” she said.“I heard this was the last time you all were doing that old-people event.”
Aya felt a chill.“No.We do them every year.As you probably know.”
Carson had lived in Love Hollow her whole life, but perhaps she ignored the crowds.And as part-owner of one of the largest hotels in town, she really should have known more about local events.
“I thought this was the last one,” she said.“But maybe I heard wrong.”
“Yes.We’d be happy to use your hotel for some of the bookings.Next year, that is.There wasn’t anything available this year.”
Carson grinned.“Oh yes.We’re all booked up with the festival.Noah is doing wonderful things for this town, aren’t you?”
Noah had returned, and Carson gave him a dazzling smile.She hung on his arm, praising him, and all Aya could think about was how young she looked.She was only four years older than they were, but she almost looked like she could have been a teenager.Her skin was perfect, her makeup expertly done, and the wrap she was wearing over her dance clothes made her look like she was modeling for a line of dance clothing.Which was strange, in a way.Why is it necessary to sit in the wings, dressed for dance, to pick up a cousin who almost certainly has her own car?
She was saved from any additional reflections as Emi and Twyla came up to the group.
“Carson Leary,” said Emi, leaning in for a hug.“Tell me how you’ve been!It’s been years.”
“But it’s Carson Wilmer now, right?”asked Twyla.“So hard to keep track of everyone’s names these days.”
“Oh, it’s Carson Leary,” said the blonde, folding her arms.
Twyla snapped her fingers.“That’s right!The divorce.See?I told you it was hard to keep track of names in this town, Emi.”
Aya gave a small wave to the group and melted away toward the parking lot.She thought that the board had been doing a pretty good job of keeping the museum’s funding situation private, but if someone as far removed as Carson had heard rumors that they would have to close, that wasn’t a good sign.It made her shudder to think of closing up everything and letting music festivals and hiking trails beat down the only relics of the war era the town had left.
Noah was on her heels.“Hey,” he said.“Sorry about that.Fans can be a little pushy at times, you know?You get used to it.”
“Carson’s always been pushy,” Aya said, wiping her eyes.“It’s not that.”
“Hey.What’s going on?”
“Just thinking about those old dances,” she lied.“You know, that was all Jiji would ever to say to me about the camp.That he got to dance with lots of beautiful girls, like Baba.And she would laugh and pretend to scold him.He never told me more, because he wanted to shield everyone, you know?”
His face fell.“They talked about it together,” he said.“Your grandparents and my grandparents.Not when they thought we were listening, but they did.”
He hugged Aya, the force of her grief and the thrill of the embrace taking her breath away.She kept her head buried in his shoulder, the soft fabric of his shirt letting her hide her face.As soon as she raised her head, she was conscious again of where they were standing—just a small dark bank parking lot, where students and volunteers were making their way to their cars, quietly heading back to their homes for an unexceptional weeknight.
