A bright smile lights Akiko’s face as I approach her table. Her eyes curve into crescents, which I find sweet. She’s in an elegant ivory top and navy skirt, and I’m glad I dressed up.
“Hello, sweetheart, so good to see you,” she says, and pulls me into an embrace.
I hug her back. I always thought I was small, especially compared to my runway model sister, but Akiko is even more petite than I am. “Same. Did you wait for long?” I glance at the line as we sit down.
“Oh, no.” She seems to find the notion amusing. “I’m one of the four investors, so there’s always a table for me.” She winks.
“Really?”
“Mm-hmm. I always wanted to bring Japanese-style desserts to America, and it just seemed to make sense. But before we order, are you allergic to anything else?”
“Other than seafood? No.” I think for a moment. “Please don’t tell me this place serves a pufferfish parfait.”
“Ah, no. That’d be a little too exotic for my taste.” Akiko laughs as she picks up the menu. “I’ve had their Imperial Strawberry parfait before. It was quite good. But their Deutsche parfait is pretty good, too.”
I study the options. The Deutsche featurestwenty-sevenlayers of chocolate in various forms—cream, shaving, brownie, meringue, syrup… “I’ll go for the Deutsche,” I say, then almost swallow my tongue at the price.Is that a typo?
“I’ll get the cherry one. It looks really good, doesn’t it?” Akiko says it with so much enthusiasm, I can’t do anything but nod. I’m sure that asking if there’s a typo on the menu isn’t the right way to go.
The server comes over and takes our order. Akiko orders caramel apple tea for us, saying it’s a treat I have to experience.
The waiter returns with our drink. Inside our cups are thin apple slices shaped to look like rosebuds. The server pours hot tea. As the fragrant liquid fills our cups, the apple slices unfurl like a blooming rose.
“Wow, that’s gorgeous,” I say breathlessly. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Akiko merely smiles. “Perfect for teatime, isn’t it?”
I nod. Her casual happiness reinforces that we’re from two very different worlds. My idea of “fancy” is a porcelain cup with a saucer, but for Akiko, it’s apple slices blooming like flowers ina teacup so elegant it probably cost more than my entire month’s pay.
The waiter returns with two stunning parfaits, each one big enough to be a meal in its own right. And the chocolate is way too pretty, with gold flakes glinting on top.
“This is…art,” I say, actually kind of awestruck.
“Delicious, too.” Akiko takes a bite of her cherry parfait.
I scoop up the top layer, along with the gold flakes, then moan softly. The most intense chocolate flavor coats my tongue, without being overly sweet or bitter. It’s perfectly balanced—the best chocolate I’ve ever had.
Given how small of a portion she served at dinner, I thought Akiko wouldn’t want to polish off all this dessert, but the bright smile on her face says she plans to indulge thoroughly. My mother would never allow me to devour this many calories in one sitting without saying something about my paunch and how I need to lose some weight. “Not asking for the moon here,” Mom told me often. “Only about twenty pounds or so.”
“I wish I had the patience to create something like this.” Akiko sighs.
“I’m sure you could. Your food was amazing.”
She laughs. “It’s just a little hobby.”
“Practical, though. I’d love to be able to cook like you.”
“Why?”
“To feed Josh? He loved the yakisoba I made. Lareina and Fiona forwarded me your recipe.” I shrug helplessly. “I just want to be a better fiancée.”
She tilts her head curiously. “Most women say they want to be good wives.”
Oops.I didn’t say “wife” because I couldn’t. I’m not going to make it to the wedding stage. I clear my throat. “Well… You have to be a fiancée before you can be a wife.”
“True. But seriously, Josh doesn’t need anything as complicated as what I make. And you have a busy career.”
The earnest way she speaks shocks me.Me? Have a busy career?My work keeps me occupied, sure, but most people don’t speak about my job like this. My parents have always thought I’m wasting my life at Huxley & Webber, and Katt pities me for not doing better. But Akiko, a woman who looks like she was born to money and has lived in wealth and luxury all her life, speaks like my job’s critical and deserves to be respected.
