Page 4 of Love Hollow at Last
“You don’t need to say anything,” she snapped.
Twyla winked.“I get it!No comment.Speaking of which, do you think you could get that sizzling celebrity to agree to be interviewed on camera?”
“He doesn’t do interviews on camera,” said Aya.“He’s self-conscious about his stutter.He’ll let you record him but only if he trusts you not to use it.”
“Wow, you sure do know a lot of details,” said Emi.“Are you sure you haven’t been in touch?”
“Everybody knows all that,” snapped Aya.“It’s all over social media.”
Twyla and Emi gave each other a look.
“Oookay,” said Twyla, putting down her chopsticks.She always ate quickly.Aya put it down to her status as a thin person.Twyla never ate slowly, took small bites, or pretended to have a delicate appetite.Why would she?
Aya, on the other hand, had learned that so-called “curves” were perilous in the real world.When she had dessert, it was in the privacy of her home.She only ate well with friends, not with colleagues, and definitely not on dates.In fact, a few years ago, she had deleted all of her dating apps, feeling a sick sense of satisfaction as the last one disappeared from her phone.What’s the point of giddy vulnerability anyway?She had tried falling in love, and it had ended poorly.Besides, there was little point in aiming for marriage as some kind of end goal when it statistically would mean lots of stress and a shortened life expectancy for her.Only the constant successes she found in academia had been a balm for her brief foray into serious dating in high school.There was no dignity if you had to leave your study carrell and go scramble around, trying to make yourself attractive and uncomfortable.
“If Noah’s not going to be interviewed, I at least need some sort of local interest puff piece,” said Twyla.
“Why aren’t they having you do the hard news?”Emi asked.
Twyla shrugged.“I was on sports before this.If I have to go to one more Rangers game, I can’t answer for the consequences.”
The Love Hollow Rangers were the high school football team, and Aya gave a weak smile at the thought.“If I got you on camera insulting the Rangers,thatwould be a local-interest story.”
“Then I wouldn’t have to quit my job.I’d be fired.”
“Or killed,” Emi agreed.
“So, an interview?An exclusive with the fabulous and gorgeously single Noah Kato?”asked Twyla, fluttering her eyes at Aya.
“Don’t you have a conflict of interest?”asked Aya.
Twyla and Emi grinned at each other again.
“Not as much as you do.Tell me—are you going to wear something nice when you go meet your high school sweetheart?”
Aya shook her head.“No idea who you mean.As you may recall, I was perennially single in high school.Oh, and what a coincidence!I still am.”
Emi, the newlywed, had apparently turned into an old matchmaker as soon as she finished saying her vows.“You and Noah were perennially crushing on each other in high school,” she said.“Weren’t they, Twy?”
“It was disgusting,” confirmed Twyla.“Way grosser than if you’d been in an actual relationship.”
Aya finished her noodles.As dignified as she liked to seem, she never had any restraint around Mama Chang’s cooking.Even in high school, when she was mortified by her appearance, gathering with her friends to make dumplings in the Changs’ kitchen always made her feel better about it all.
“I need to get back to work,” she said.“Twyla, find another interview subject.And Emi, stop grinning.It makes you look ridiculous.Come help me unpack the shirts for the Pilgrimage.”
“Ooh, are you going to wear one later when you meet Noah?”shouted Twyla as they walked away.
Aya pretended not to hear.
4
Aya
As they were leaving, they came across a young family.A woman with a sleek brown bob was shepherding two boys and a husband, all in polo shirts, along Main Street.
“We should get Chinese,” her husband said.“I’d love some egg foo young.”
Emi smiled at the family.“They’re closed today,” she said.
