Page 33 of Love Hollow at Last
“Chicago,” she murmured.Then she remembered—the college applications she’d agonized over, all the different ones, and the letters she’d spent weeks writing as she begged for acceptance.She had been interested in going to a prestigious school, as she thought that was where she’d find the most like-minded people, but it had to be one with a good scholarship.Or rather, a great scholarship.Her mom couldn’t help much, and she was too scared of debt to rely on loans.She’d finally gotten the scholarship she had dreamed of, and she’d be headed to PHU in Chicago.It had been really exciting when she got that offer, and she’d been thrilled about it for weeks.
But then something more exciting had happened.Though judging from the expression on Noah’s face, Aya thought that more exciting thing was over.
“Okay,” he said.“I just thought that maybe, you know, you’d stick around for a while.”
Aya stared at him.“I mean, you’re not.”
“W-What?”
“Sticking around.I thought you were going to Idaho State.”
He gave a short laugh.He was holding her hands, and she wished he would stop talking.She could accept it if Noah wasn’t quite ready to go all the way, but she definitely wanted the kissing to continue.
“I mean, it’s a lot closer,” he said.“I just think that since you’re about to leave, maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Aya could tell that, if nothing else, he had been passionately interested in where their encounter was heading.He’d brought her to an empty cabin at sunrise, for God’s sake.But now he was looking away, biting his lip.
“Sure,” she said.She wasn’t going to beg Noah for anything.If he wasn’t even interested enough to hook up with her, she couldn’t expect him to make some big declarations about his feelings.She had thought he really liked her, maybe even loved her, their childhood understanding growing into a foundation for something deeper.
But she’d been wrong about guys before—and not just Preston.So she zipped her down jacket up, ignored the lump in her throat, and tried to feel relieved.“Should we go back down to the valley now?I want to get some actual sleep.”
29
Aya
“Okay, here’s what I envision.The festival is inevitably going to disrupt the Pilgrimage.I mean, the stages are truly in our backyard.So I would say the following— just make sure that, during the religious ceremony, there’s not loud music playing.In fact, if you can get people to vacate the grounds during that time, that would be ideal.”
“You’ll have to do that during the morning, then,” said Noah.“Music starts at ten for the early birds, so if it’s completely done by nine, it’s not going to be that loud.Although we will need to be doing sound checks at both stages.”
She shook her head.“That’s absolutely not going to work,” she said.“We’ve had the schedule out for ages.The Shinto guy is only going to be here for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon.He has a wedding planned in the morning and an evening plane ticket.”
Noah crossed his arms.“Okay.Then there’s going to be music during the ceremony.You’ll just have to do it inside.”
The thought of the moving cemetery being forced into a messy room complete with folding chairs made Aya incensed.The sight of deep-blue sky, the mountains, the haunting beauty the internees would have seen—it was all central to the ceremony.
“I don’t understand why this didn’t occur to you,” she said.“That’s what makes me angry.Why did I have to come to you with this?How did you decide to move the festival, not even once considering the museum?”
“I didn’t know what week it was,” he snapped.“I don’t even live here anymore.”
“Yes, that’s part of the problem.”
“I had to l-leave!”he shot back.
She was surprised he was stuttering.Usually, when Noah was angry, he stopped stuttering.It was one of the things that she hated about his moods.She loved listening to the real Noah, the guy who joked and stuttered.She hated the angry, ranting guy with fluent speech.But apparently, that was who she was going to be speaking with, as he was still going on about it all.
“I left because I couldn’t stand to be here anymore,” he said.“And you know what?Given what’s happened to my parents and to the museum, I think I was right.”
Aya clenched her fists.She knew very well what the concentrated campaign to close the museum and demonize the Katos had done.In fact, as the person picking up the pieces at the museum itself, she understood the fallout better than anyone else.But it was senseless to pretend that by running away from Idaho at the first possible chance, she’d had no part in that.
“Noah, those things happened in part because you left.And because I left.And Emi and Celine—I mean Chen and Sheena and all of the dumpling crowd.”
She was so flustered that she’d used the name Chen had gone by before she moved to California and started to embrace her Chinese roots.Aya was irritated with Noah, but she liked that she didn’t have to explain her high school group to him.He’d always understood why the only four Asian girls in their grade had banded together and why the only four Asian girls two grades down had liked to tag along.If anything, he was jealous, as only Nobu had understood what he was going through in high school.
“Why do you think Twyla moved back?”she asked, trying again.“And Nami and me.Who are we if we just abandon this town?”
Noah looked away.“A lot of people did that after Zion Creek,” he said.“And you know what?I think their grandkids are probably doing better than we are.”
Aya sighed and looked out at the valley.Though the summer days were long, she guessed there would only be about two hours of daylight left, and she and Noah still hadn’t reached any kind of agreement.Maybe that wasn’t going to happen.She could just go back down, admit defeat, and let Mrs.Irving fight the battles for her.
