The call I'd missed was from that Belle Bondurant--remember her? The "almost Oprah" who'd loved our Seoul Food?

I was too intimidated to just call her back. So I texted, "So sorry I missed that call. May I call you back?" Trying to be chill but also considerate, knowing how busy she had to be all the time.

And I have to admit I was shocked when she called me right after I sent it.

Chirped, "Hey, listen, this is Belle," like she was family or an old friend checking in.

I sputtered, "Oh good! I'm so sorry I missed you before," and winced because the text had said that already.

"Look, I'm literally running to a plane right now, so here's the deal. Where are you headed next with that truck?"

"Sedona. Big artsy event this coming weekend that—"

"Perfect! They're not that far from there. Event got a catchy name I can pass on? They'll find you, no worries."

"It's at this really fancy sort of mall called Pueblo Gardens. It looks like one of those adobe villages over in Taos."

"Well, I'm going to send a crew, but I won't be with them. Can't say much more than that right now, but just... I've been thinking about you ever since—yo! No, I need that bag and—hello? You still there?"

I laughed and said, "Oh, I'm still here, no worries. Where are you going?"

"Can't say right now. But you'll hear all about it soon. Just be on the lookout for the crew and make me proud, okay? I'm counting on you!"

"Wait, what's going—"

"Life's life-ing, girlfriend. And if it lifes right, you can thank me later. Talk soon!"

She was gone before I could stutter out anything else. So I just sat there staring at my dirty martini pasta trying to recover.

That pasta was one of the trendy dishes at the equally trendy little restaurant Hae Won had decided we just had to check out. After she'd damned near bought out all the merch in a couple of new boutiques in town.

She'd begged me for a break from prepping. And the only thing I could think of that was even remotely "Wonish" was the gentrified main drag.

She'd left me at the table to check out their extremely ostentatious salad bar that I'd rolled eyes at on the way in. They'd lovingly and artistically laid out all kinds of delicacies only the newbies would love.

And there was caviar on ice with fancy spoons and whatnot next to the "do-it-yourself" poke bowl fixin's and seafood tower full of creatures my aunts would've run from.

Word had it that the celebrity chef's snobby place was losing customers to this newer one that drew a younger crowd.

That part, I liked. Given that him and his wife had pushed me out of a job...

Hae Won came back with two heaping plates--I'd forgotten how much she could eat. She was like one of those mukbang babes who could eat the whole menu of a restaurant and never gain any weight. Damn her.

I wasn't sure whether to tell her about Belle or not. So I was relieved when she sat down, speared a little octopus tentacle with her fork and said, "Talk to me about your ex being here. Make it make sense."

I swirled some pasta around the tines of my fork trying to act nonchalant.

"Oh, that's easy. He fucked up like always. Only this time somebody fucked him up worse. Literally. You saw."

One of her perfectly plucked eyebrows went up. "And he ran to you with or without permission?"

"I forgot he knew all the places I hid the key when I was gone. But AJ's cool with it."

"AJ would say he was even if he wasn't," she said. Giving me a little "How stupid are you?" kind of frown.

"I don't think so."

"You have no idea how much he wants this thing to work. Your thing. The two of you."

That kinda rubbed me wrong.

"Are you saying I don't?"

She ate the tentacle, sighed, and said, "Look, I've never been in love like that. I don't think anyone in my family has ever truly loved anyone—my grandfather, maybe. But the rest of them can't let themselves really care about anyone too deeply. They train us women to be like that preying mantis thing. Lure him in, suck him dry. Unless he turns out to be more shrewd in the boardroom than he was in the bedroom."

"Yikes."

She squinted, pointed her fork at me and said, "We were talking about you, though. And that...what's his name?"

"Blaine."

"But is that his name? Sounds too perfect."

"I've actually seen his birth certificate. The real one. So, yes."

"And you let him stay because..."

"Well...I guess, karma caught up with him, let's just say that. He's got heart issues. Had them all his life but he's not a kid anymore, so it's starting to mess with him."

"What kind of heart issues?"

"The emergency room doctors freaked out because it was beating so slowly or something. Tried to convince him to do something about it, but he doesn't have insurance. Never has insurance. And of course, there's no savings or anything. Which is partly on me, to be honest. I borrowed from him a couple of years ago, when he finally had a regular salary for a little while. He owed me, but..."

"Forgive me for this, but, Eboni he's so...Ken."

"I was waiting for 'white.'"

"That, too. That Ralph Lauren ad kind of good looking. You know how they're always out on the yacht or picnicking somewhere in the country. The rich folks' kind of country. Connecticut...Kennedy family country."

"But he comes from the opposite kinda country, though. Iowa farm boy."

She gaped a little bit and said, "Seriously?" but in Korean. It kind of sounds like "Chin-cha?"

Which meant she was sincerely stunned because she almost never code switches. People always assume she grew up in Europe like a lot of the super rich Korean kids do. She has this almost Katherine Hepburnish "accent." Speaking of "Connecticut...Kennedy family country."

So I said, "Yep! Started drivin' a tractor before he could walk good. Ran away as soon as he saved up enough to hop on a bus. They never forgave him, either, his folks. He's dead to them."

"They had mirrors, though, on the farm. So he knew he was the prettiest thing for miles around, right? Possibly pretty enough to turn heads in a city full of pretty?"

"Yeah, but then two of his friends actually got TV shows and another one made a couple of movies back to back and...it just did something to him, seeing how their lives just completely changed. One paycheck could buy a Lambo or something. And they were getting them every week. But it just wasn't happening for Blaine. He just...didn't have it. Whatever 'it' was."

She reached for whatever kind of drink she'd ordered like she didn't need me to finish that sentence. And I paused to think about all the ugliness that little speech had brought up to the surface again, suddenly.

Which led me to...

"He just got weird. Scary weird. Started doing things he knew he shouldn't do with people he knew he shouldn't do them with. And now he's older. Not old, but old news. In a business that craves fresh meat. So the gatekeepers pick up on the desperation. Makes them squirmy. Cause the ones who survived the #metoo thing are always afraid some guy like him will use them to get that five minutes of fame."

"Wow."

"Wow?"

"He's a male me."

"Really?"

She dug down into some of that salad bar stuff and found a piece of some other kind of sea creature. And said, "I'm worse. I had the connections. I had everything he wished he had. And I still couldn't cut it."

"Golden parachute, though."

She smirked and said, "Maybe that's why I didn't die with my friend that day, huh? Because I knew I could just...float away..."

Snapped my head back. Her referring to the day she almost jumped. A day that was now part of the rumor mongering AJ was dealing with...

"I wasn't thinking about all that, actually."

"I know. It's the cynic in me, talking. Who also isn't sure you don't still have feelings for farm boy. Not necessarily those kind of feelings, but..."

That scared me. Because she loved AJ like a brother she'd decided she needed 'way more than another lover. Would she start giving him little "hints?" Or outright meddling?

I took up my salad fork and started poking around in the mounds on those plates she'd brought back. Trying not to tip my hand.

And she sat back, smiled and said, "He wants to come along this weekend, your ex."

"He's just going stir crazy. And I think he's got PTSD, too. Being back out in the country."

She took a little sip, mostly for show. Said, "Might be interesting..."

And when I just glared, she reached into the edamame bowl and said, "Peas in a pod, him and me." Before gutting the little beans out of a one with a thumbnail.

Perfect preying mantis behavior.

Interesting, indeed...