It was Jiyeon’s turn to apologize. She promised to wait for Jeannie next time, then summarized the meeting with Prism. As he listened, Eunjae’s mortification intensified. They were forcing her to take tours? Even worse, it was his mother’s idea? No, this wasn’t right. He’d go back and read Jiyeon’s contract again. He’d find a way to get Leila on a plane and out of this country.
“Don’t send her away just yet,” Jiyeon replied. “I need her to come with me.”
“Yeon-ah.”
“I mean it. Trust me on this.”
A chuckle from Jeannie. “Gonna grill her, huh?”
“You bet I’m grilling her. What if she knows how to find Vivian?”
“I’ll ask, then,” said Eunjae. “You shouldn’t have to deal with that.”
“It’s fine. If Leila’s messing with me, then she has less time to mess with you.”
“Messing with you is exactly how she messes with me,” he argued. “She knows it. She’s figured out that it’s the best way to upset me, when she won’t fight me directly, when she goes for you or Ezra instead.”
Scooting out the door, Jeannie whined that she was bluffing, they could never break up, she’d never be okay again if that happened. Meanwhile, Jiyeon’s parents returned from the evening grocery run. Denny strode in behind them, carrying Lowell’s bags, arguing with their father.
They sounded like a pair of thunderstorms dueling for supremacy. Joey defended his choice to decorate the dining room with life-size cardboard cutouts of Apollo, sent by Prism earlier in the week. Denny wanted these removed, pulped, and recycled into something functional. Napkins, for example.
“We need napkins. Wedon’tneed effigies of Ryan and his associates.”
“Effigies,” murmured Eunjae.
“You heard him.”
They got up to help, unloading egg cartons and orange juice, milk jugs and whipped cream. Starting this week, Wanna Waffle would be open on Mondays again. It was the only way to ensure that regular patrons could continue to reserve tables for their bingo nights and committee meetings. Every other day brought a deluge of Apollo fans, leading to long lines and a dire shortageof space. Prism loved it, the agencies loved it, and the production loved it even more. Interest in the show kept soaring to new heights. Business was better than ever, but at a price.
They got the groceries stowed in record time. True to form, Denny cast about for something more to do. The group’s hectic schedule meant that he wouldn’t be back to Wanna Waffle for almost two weeks. “If nothing else, this latest round of shenanigans kept Eric distracted for a while. He almost forgot to ship the merch for that event he wants us to host.”
“Sorry, Den. I’ll talk to them again.”
“Don’t worry about it. This will be over soon enough.”
The lights clicked off. Denny and Joey resumed their squabble in the twilight, the argument going strong right up until the former left in his SUV. That was when Lizzie came to Eunjae with an envelope. “How’s little brother? Having fun? Good actor?”
“Well,” said Eunjae. “Better than me.”
Jiyeon pointed at the letter. “Does everybody have a pen pal? Am I the only one who doesn’t?”
“Yes, yes. Give it to Ezra. When he was here, we talked about Jane, yeah? Her letters. Writing letters all the time, that lady.”
“Jane. Ah, you mean Janie? In Spain?”
“No,” said Jiyeon, passing him the car keys. “Jane Austen. They’re on a first name basis.”
“Makes sense.” He slid the letter into his pocket, taking care not to bend it. “Thanks for writing to him. You didn’t need to do that when you’re so busy here.”
“He wrote to me first! Of course I’m writing back!” Lizzie explained that they’d received a thank you note from Ezra, mailed out from Monroe weeks ago, but the shop was indeed very busy. She’d taken forever to write her reply. “Likes to write letters. Told me they have no phones at school except weekends. Computers just for class, homework, that kind of thing. So,the kids write to each other instead. Sent you a card for your birthday, didn’t he? That’s a very sweet boy, same as you.”
Eunjae went quiet again, waiting while Jiyeon locked the shop’s back door. She didn’t know it at the time, but they were both mulling over this new detail about Ezra, and her mother’s words as well.That’s a very sweet boy, same as you.
It was long past sundown. The city had stripped the palm trees on the boulevard, preparing to install lights for the coming holiday season, so the darkness was more complete than usual.
“Yeon-ah.”
“Hmm?”
