Page 10 of Love Hollow at Last
“Excellent,” snapped Aya.“I look forward to doing business withGrace.”
And with that, she was gone.
9
Noah
“I have a c-confession to make,” Noah said to Grace the next morning.It was time he came clean with his assistant.She was going to wonder about the document he was asking her to send to Aya.
Unless he didn’t send them.Aya’s sarcastic comments about her lack of help were still ringing in Noah’s ears.
“That’s nice,” said Grace.“And I have a problem for you.A rather large one, as it happens.”
He looked up instantly.They were in the space downtown that they were using as a makeshift office.It looked great on the surface, a series of unoccupied rooms in what used to be an elementary school.But Noah had quickly realized it was a magnet for autograph seekers, so he and Grace had made friends with one of the managers and always dashed in and out of a side door.It was only a matter of time until that became public knowledge, too, and Noah would be stuck spending hours signing copies of his first album—the one where he had a ridiculous Mohawk—for people he couldn’t remember.
Grace was used to solving problems.So when she came to Noah with something, it usually meant it was something rather large.
“Booker Cadence passed on Ella’s next album.”
Noah tilted his head, inhaling.Though he had never been the best Japanese language student in the Kato family, he found himself using it to respond whenever he didn’t know what to say and didn’t want to stutter.It was perfect, as it expressed some sort of reaction without committing him to anything.
“I h-heard that album,” he said.“It’s not a huge surprise that they passed.”
“No, but it does mean that Ella’s about ready to jump ship.”
Ella Chang, one of the daughters of the couple who owned Love Hollow’s only Chinese restaurant, was the other kid who had “made it” in the music industry.She’d gone to Nashville as soon as she graduated, eventually following Noah out to California and to his label.Booker Cadence Records had money, reputation, and a great deal of experience.Things had worked out for Ella for a long time.
But like Noah, she had begun to chafe against the limitations that Booker Cadence put on her.They were particularly harsh with the female stars, ruthlessly regulating both their appearance and their politics.Noah, as a skinny man, didn’t tend to get a lot of lectures from them about how he looked, though they liked him to starve himself before every photo shoot so that his muscles would look better.But Ella heard about pretty much everything she wore in public and even the outfits she put on just to leave the house.
“Does she want to be part of the festival too?”
Grace looked at him with pity.“She was the first one you asked, remember?And she said she didn’t want to do it.”
He nodded.“Something about not wanting her parents to get caught up in all of it?”
Grace nodded.“Yes.There will probably be a couple of pieces about their restaurant, but if she’s not performing, business will be great for a week, and the customers will get more attention than the chefs.”
Noah went over to the window.An elderly woman across the street seemed to be installing at least five wind chimes on her porch.The cacophony was interesting, and he wondered if he could use it in one of his songs.Of course, it would have to be a more avant-garde piece of music than Booker Cadence would allow him to make, so he didn’t mention it to Grace.
“Ella’s successful,” said Grace.“She’s brilliant at self-promotion, better than any team she’s ever hired.And she’s ready to shop this album around.”
“I can’t help,” said Noah shortly.“She knows what the bosses want, and if she’s not doing it, that’s her choice.”
“Yes, but what label will she go to?”asked Grace.“Nothing quite meets her needs, especially if she doesn’t want to move.She needs a creative partner.”
Noah got the same feeling that he always did when his mom asked him to come to yet another baptism or mass—guilt combined with a nearly crazy desire not to do what was being asked of him.
“I can’t help her, Grace,” he said.“But I’ll talk to her.How’s that?”
“Fine.Now, what were you going to talk to me about?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled.“There were some issues with the local Japanese internment museum, but my family cofounded that place.I can handle it.”
“Sounds like a good thing for me to do,” said Grace briskly.“You always get weird when it comes to your family.”
“No,” he insisted.“I can take care of it.And if it gets worse, I’ll let you know.”
She gave him a mock salute.“Fine.Because the last thing we need at this point is bad publicity.If everything goes perfectly, we’ll manage to break even but only just.”
