Page 35 of Love Hollow at Last
“Winter called,” Grace said.
Noah’s accountant was clever and soft-spoken, seemingly much more conventional than the crunchy parents who had decided to name their three daughters after different seasons.At least they never had a fourth, so there was no Spring.Just Summer, Autumn, and Winter, the youngest.
“Ok-k-kay,” he said.He seemed to be entering another phase of stuttering more.What most of the people around him didn’t understand was that his likelihood of stuttering rose and fell, changing day by day and week by week, often not at all tied to whether he was nervous.
But hewasnervous.Calls from Winter were never a good thing.She lived by her spreadsheets, so it wasn’t great news if she had picked up the phone.
“She’s not thrilled, Noah,” said Grace.“Why didn’t you tell me that the festival was supposed to make up such a big part of your living expenses?”
Noah ran a hand through his hair.He would have loved to say he was staying with his parents to help them out.In fact, that was what he had been saying, especially when his California friends teased him for snoozing in what used to be the bedroom he shared with Nobu.
But the truth was that he couldn’t have afforded lodging, even if the festival and the Pilgrimage hadn’t driven up demand.His credit card bills were mounting, and a good deal of what he expected to make from his albums had already gone into the festival.It would have been okay if they hadn’t had to move the location at the last minute, but as things stood, he was going to be very strapped for cash in the near future.And if they had a lot of cancellations, he would be shouldering a serious debt.
“It’s fine,” Noah said.He never thought he would have ended up in that situation.Before he’d become a well-known artist, he thought his album sales would be more than enough to ensure a comfortable lifestyle.It turned out that unless you were the most famous musician in the country, that was never going to be enough.After he gave everyone involved their cut, he had enough to live modestly in LA, and he was always looking for ads and sponsorships to make up the difference.But they often didn’t like his requirements, which included never speaking more than one word.Just the thought of recording an ad with his stutter made Noah both anxious and angry.
“It’ll be fine,” he said again.“A lot of successful businesses end up being in the red for the first few years.”
Silence followed.“Noah, you pay me well,” said Grace.“But I hope it’s not at the expense of your ability to eat.”
“My parents will feed me,” Noah said.What was left unspoken was that he really hoped they would keep housing him, too, as not having to pay as many bills for his primary residence was helping him stay afloat.The mortgage on his house in LA was insane, in part because he had felt compelled to go to a neighborhood that was “quiet” for celebrities.That part of the plan had worked, but it also meant he was paying for way more square footage than he needed.And though he had gotten a stylish electric car and a high-end espresso machine, he felt so self-conscious about his income that he found himself hiding half his possessions every time his parents visited.
“Well,” Grace said, reading his silence, “how’s the negotiation going?”
“Not.Aya won’t listen to anything I say.She’s gotten so irritated at me for leaving Love Hollow that she’s being completely unreasonable, which is crazy, because she left first.”
Again, silence came from the other end of the line.
“Well, do what you can,” said Grace.“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
It occurred to him after she ended the call that he hadn’t told her he was stranded.Maybe since the darkness was gathering, she had figured that out herself.
32
Aya
When Noah came back in from his phone call, he was reserved.Aya had managed to put together some bibimbap from the ingredients they had as a peace offering.The Katos had never been big on Korean food, but something must have changed over the years.Probably, it was all three of their adult children moving away and discovering the joys of kimchi and gochujang.Aya loved the flavors but still couldn’t quite handle the heat.It was so spicy that she kept a ramekin of yogurt next to her bowl.
“Shall I fry you an egg?”she asked.
Noah shook his head.“I’m going to have a shower and go to bed.Good night.”
Aya heard the shower starting up.That probably wasn’t a bad idea.She hoped he didn’t use all the water.The bathroom had some complicated setup that involved recycling rainwater for the toilet and some other system for the shower.Aya couldn’t remember how it worked, but she did remember the cabin had previously had only cold water.After Noah made it big in the music industry, he had paid to have something that would heat the water installed, and the Kato family owed their warm showers to him.
Aya mixed the yolk of her egg in with her rice.Her bibimbap really was a masterpiece.Good thing she hadn’t added any sauce to the portion she had set aside for Noah.She could eat it herself tomorrow for breakfast before she got the heck off the crazy mountain.
Noah seemed to be taking a long, hot shower.Aya reflected for a bit on what it would be like to easily afford home renovations.Her mother owned her home, but each repair had to be carefully planned.Last time she needed a new roof, the entire process was stressful, and Aya was angry at herself for not helping.Now that they were in their late twenties, her friends were really starting to earn money.Emi was a doctor, Noah was a celebrity, and even Twyla was putting her low salary to work through careful investing.Sheena, of course, was far ahead of all of them, tracking her savings in a carefully balanced spreadsheet so she could retire from a stressful tech job.But Aya was stuck with a salary so low it was laughable and essentially no graduate funding.She thought again about whether she should abandon Love Hollow, but no one would want a washed-up “scholar” who’d whiffed on a PhD in history.Even the people who earned their doctorates often had trouble finding jobs.
At least she was a good cook.She let out a sigh as she finished the bibimbap.It hadn’t been too hard to make, as she had been able to put together several side dishes and cooked vegetables.Aya picked up her feet and rested them on the bottom rung of the stool.Nobu’s redecorating scheme was interesting, but he should have left some rugs around.The floor of the cabin was freezing, and Aya might have to get over her antislipper sentiments and grab some from the rack the Katos kept just inside the door.
She rooted through the desserts and tried to ignore the sound of Noah’s shower ending.For a while, Aya had felt so self-conscious about sweets that she had never eaten them in public.More recently, she had been trying to strike a balance.She had small treats if she happened to go out, but otherwise, she tried to avoid having dessert.She told herself that fruit made up for it and eating something sweeter than a pomegranate was unseemly.
But since Noah apparently wasn’t going to speak with her, she would have free rein in the kitchen.Though she couldn’t get much of the work done that required her to go online, maybe she could get her notebook out and start working on her remarks for the remembrance ceremony.That was usually one of her favorite parts of the whole Pilgrimage, the chance to sit around a fire and hold the attention of people who understood her past.But that year, she’d been so caught up with the planning that she hadn’t gotten a chance to even think about what she was going to say.
She selected achawan, a small plate, that had a cherry blossom design.Onto it she placed one mochi—classic, with red beans as the filling—one gourmet chocolate caramel, and one small piece of matcha-flavored cake roll.There.Variety, indulgence, but not a huge amount of it.
Then she sat down again and began massaging her temples.It was going to be a little hard to enjoy the dessert with the storm cloud hanging over the entire cabin.She hadn’t expected Noah to stonewall her, had thought that she could lean on their old friendship to make him see reason.But everyone always said that fame changed a person, and it wasn’t as if Noah Kato was an exception.It had been a while since he released a new album, and Aya had seen the rumors about that.Apparently, he was too busy dating a variety of gorgeous LA women to work hard on his music anymore.The photos that were taken at a distance were less painful, but Aya hated seeing the ones from social media.So many ladies liked to take selfies of themselves in clothing so sexy it made Aya question all of her life choices.Maybe, if she could only look more like that, she would have a partner—not necessarily a Noah Kato but somebody.Coming back to Love Hollow was strange because she saw lots of her peers who had paired off, even people like her who hadn’t dated at all in high school.
Noah appeared in front of her, and she almost jumped out of her chair.
