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“Yes. But when I first saw you speak and when we first fell in love, your energy was enough. I thought I could ride on that and it would carry me. But now I’m confused. My problems seem to be mounting and I can’t escape them.”

“What problems?”

“You know what. I’m going to lose this house. That’s one of them. I don’t want to get into the others now. I’ll just start crying again.”

“How much do you need right now to ease this?”

“I can’t take that much money from you.”

“How much?”

“I need a hundred thousand dollars. I could pay off several months of the loan and get some breathing room.”

“I’ll give it to you.”

“I can’t take it.”

“Then consider it rent.”

“But you don’t live here.”

“I will if you want me to.”

Kathy looked at him. When people moved in together, it was supposed to be because they couldn’t live apart; that was what she had always thought. Not to justify a loan. “I don’t think you should give up your place. It’s important for you to have your privacy and your work space.”

“I can work here.”

And then Kathy couldn’t believe what came out of her mouth. Sometimes people hold something in and think it’s locked away for good and then, in a moment they least expect, it comes sailing out all on its own. “I don’t want you putting up hundreds of pictures on the walls here. It was creepy.”

“What?”

Kathy wished she could take it back, but now it was out. “I came to your place one day when I was nearby, and I looked in the window. I saw the Sam Mueller wall. I got scared. It looked like you were crazy.”

Max responded very tenderly. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

“No,” she said, quietly.

“Baby, you should have just told me right away when you saw that. It was no big deal. Charts and photos on a wall are not crazy indicators, unless you’re crazy to begin with. Tell me honestly, do you think I’m crazy?” Kathy had to smile.

“A little. It’s why I fell in love with you.”

“Okay, then. So what’s the big deal with having a crazy wall?”

“Nothing, I guess.”

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to give you the money to keep you from losing the house. We won’t tie it in to living together. I’ll keep my place and use it for an office. And when we have more meetings, we’ll do it here. You can consider the money a payment in advance for the meetings.”

“A hundred thousand dollars for a meeting?”

“There will be several.”

“This is a loan,” she said. “I’ll pay you back.”

“If you want.”

“I do.”

“Then consider it a loan.” Kathy started welling up again, from a combination of relief and confusion. She knew she cared about this man, but she didn’t want to think it had anything to do with the money. Was she just replacing one creditor with another? Then she looked on the bright side. At least she liked having sex with this creditor. And that’s exactly what they did that night. They went into the bedroom and had a weird combination of makeup sex with some debt sex and crazy-wall sex thrown in for good measure.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

One of the things that told people that a new Los Angeles was on the horizon was the smell. As the Chinese started arriving, people could smell the cooking in the air near the communities where they lived. Nothing smelled better than sweet rice as it was being steamed. It produced a lovely aroma, some said akin to pancake syrup, and all the other favorites of the Chinese table added something wonderful. That smell alone began to be associated with progress.

A century earlier, dirty smoke filling the skies told people that a city was growing, but now that was replaced by food steamers. Angelenos couldn’t understand exactly what it was about that cuisine that smelled so good. Hamburgers didn’t do that. Eggs didn’t, either. Was it the spices or the fact that the American nose wasn’t used to it? Whatever the answer, it was very welcome.

Shen Li officially took responsibility for the health of the city two months after he arrived. He kept some of the temporary centers the army had set up, but mostly he started on the ambitious plan of rebuilding the hospitals and