Page 50 of Love Hollow at Last
Noah sighed.“Fine.I can help you.I just have to go into the office after.”
His eyes were so dry that the clock next to him was blurry, but the shapes eventually formed into numbers—6:45 a.m.
“Great,” said Nobu loudly.“You are here to help by cooking breakfast.Thank you!”
He headed out just as Justin, his fiancé, was coming in.
“Jackass,” said Justin, shaking his head at Nobu.But there was only resignation in his tone, not anger.He smiled down at Noah.
“Sorry, man.I told him not to wake you up.But he couldn’t resist.”
“It’s fine.I assume breakfast has already been cooked?”
Justin laughed.“That would be correct.Seems you Katos don’t like going hungry.”
Noah rubbed his eyes.“Great.But let me know if you need help with anything, okay?”
“Just come to the party tomorrow,” said Justin.“And you know, plus-ones are welcome.”
Noah raised his eyebrows.“Word travels fast, huh?”
Justin, who was from Denver, grinned.“I guess so.I don’t know much about small towns, but at least in Love Hollow, the gossip seems to pass from person to person pretty much instantly.”
Noah smiled.“Okay, well, probably, everyone else knows more than I do at this point.”
Silence followed.Noah was thankful that his brother wasn’t in the room anymore.Nobu would have pressed him.He’d always been a good judge of character, and Noah had relied on his opinions for as long as he could remember.When he’d been bullied in middle school for being too into music and other “girl” stuff, Nobu was the one who taught him how to defend himself, both physically and with cutting remarks.He’d also seen to it that Noah made a wider group of friends, which helped him guard against bullying after that.Nobu always had a sharp eye, and he could instantly pick out the kids like Bobby L., the ones who only valued popularity.
“Is your family doing okay?”asked Noah.“What do they think about Love Hollow?”
Justin shrugged.“For my mom, it’s probably rugged.And sort of exotic, you know?Her kind of thing, at least for a week.My dad and stepmom, I’m not sure about.”
“And you have a sister, right?”
He thought he remembered that the dad and stepmom had a kid together.
“Yeah, but she’s in high school.So you know, everything is very uncool as far as she’s concerned.”
“Well, they picked a great time of year to visit.”
Justin started to smile.He looked a bit like their dad when he got that expression on his face, a small smile that was easy to miss.Noah wondered if his brother had been attracted to that somehow, if there was a cliché about gay men marrying guys who reminded them of their fathers.Justin was definitely the calm that balanced Nobu’s fiery personality, so in that that sense, he was similar to their dad too.
“I mean, we planned the party at this time because of the festival,” he said.“So it’s not really a coincidence that it’s your favorite time of year.”
Noah was surprised.“I hate to say it, dude, but does Nobu know he’s going to hate pretty much everything that’s there?We have approximately zero classical acts.”
“Oh, he knows,” said Justin, grinning.“But he really wanted you to be able to come to the party.”
Noah frowned.“I make my own schedule.I could’ve come anytime.”
Pausing, Justin shifted slightly.“Look, I don’t doubt it.But sometimes things come up, you know?They get in the way.”
“Like what?”said Noah.
Justin shook his head.“I really don’t know anything about your industry.”“Between Nobu and me, all we have is the middle school world and the public library world.But it seems like there are studio things.Meetings.Tours.”
“Oh, well, of course I can’t interrupt a tour,” said Noah, his annoyance rising.His family, for some reason, always wanted him to visit when he was in the middle of a series of tour dates that had been booked a year earlier.They regarded it as some sort of insane slight that he couldn’t take a last-minute vacation.
Justin edged toward the door.“Sure,” he said.“You know, stuff like that.”
