by Cee, DW
He then turned to me and continued our discussion about cooking school. “Have you thought some more about enrolling in the CIA this fall?”
Nick loved this idea.
“I think I’m going to continue teaching this year. I don’t want to go to school anymore. Even though it’s cooking school, I don’t want the pressure, and I’m sure the instructor and students won’t like it if I’m there just for the fun of it.”
Jake tried to convince me otherwise until I told him about my alternate plan.
“But, I think I’ll continue taking informal cooking classes. It’s more casual and I can pick and choose what I want to learn. Depending upon your schedule,” I said to Jake, “I’ll go and take evening courses. I will drive you and myself crazy if I’m home every night with nothing to do, but wait for you.”
All of a sudden, I had a fantastic idea.
“Nick, you want to take these classes with me? I’ll find classes over by the VA and you can join me after work. We can go eat at new restaurants before or after class.”
Nick loved this idea even more. “Cool! Will Jake be paying for all my classes?” He sniggered over to Jake.
“I will treat you, but I expect payback when you become a doctor, OK?” Nick heartily agreed to this deal and we finished our breakfast.
Jake got up to clear our dishes when Nick stopped him with a request.
“Hey, Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you ever going to make up for that botched Masa meal?”
“What do you mean, ‘botched Masa meal’? What happened?”
“After you left Jake standing on a street corner in New York,” Nick started laughing at his brother, “he was in such a foul mood he canceled our dinner. He actually paid the entire cancellation fee instead of allowing us to go and have our meal.” Nick rolled his eyes at his brother and waited for an answer.
“I’ll call that Urasawa and see if they can seat us tonight. I doubt that he will have four seats at the bar on such short notice.” Jake walked into the next room to make his call.
Urasawa was one of LA’s premier Japanese restaurants. It had earned two Michelin stars, and was the closest thing to a Japanese kaiseki meal in America. Hiro trained under Masa and bought the restaurant from him years ago.
“Nick, you’re in luck. An entire group of eight canceled just now. I reserved all eight seats for us at 6:00 p.m. Don’t eat lunch today.” Nick’s face lit up. My face lit up. We gave each other a high-five. We were each other’s biggest food allies.
“Emi, have you been to Urasawa before?” Jake turned to ask me.
“No. We can’t afford meals like that on a teacher’s salary.” I joked. “Why did you reserve all eight seats? Mom and Dad are going to a dinner function tonight with Uncle Henry and Aunt Barbara.”
“I thought we’d take Sarah, Charlie, Peter and Max.”
I gave Jake an appreciative look and called Sarah immediately. We had plans to spend Saturday together, so she was more than happy when I told her about Urasawa. I then called Max’s apartment and Peter picked up the line.
“Hi, Peter. Are you still sleeping?” He sounded very groggy.
“Yeah. We got in a couple of hours ago.”
“Are you on the same schedule as Jake? He too got in this morning.”
“We may be on the same schedule but definitely not on the same pay scale. What’s up? You need to talk to Max?”
“No, I called to see if you and Max wanted to have dinner with us tonight. We have reservations at Urasawa at six.”
Peter salivated at the thought of eating at such a luxurious restaurant, but was unsure that they could get the night off. Listening to our conversation, Jake got on the line.
“Peter, I’ll talk to Carter and make sure that you and Max get a free night. I know he’s been working you. There’s a chance that he may want you to come in this morning instead so be ready.”
Jake got off the phone and jumped off his seat when he realized that he was going to be late. I walked out with him to say good-bye rather than grossing out Jane and Nick.
“I’ll see you tonight at six,” Jake said between kisses.
“You can’t join us any earlier?” I frowned at another day without Jake. “Are you always going to be this busy? I might go get a night job too if you’re going to come home in the wee hours of the morning all the time. It’s lonely without you.”
“I’m sorry, Emi. It should get better when the chief hires a new surgeon. Just think, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be off on our honeymoon and we’ll be together twenty-four hours a day for fourteen days. And finally, I won’t get kicked out of my own bed.”
We said another round of good-byes, and Jake left.
I finished getting ready and Nick, Jane, and I met Sarah at the department store for a final dress fitting for the ladies. We then walked a few blocks over and fit Nick in his groomsman’s tuxedo. When Nick walked out of the dressing room, all three of us ahh’ed.
“Nick, you look almost as handsome as your brother,” I gushed.
“Only in your eyes, Sis. I’m definitely the handsome one in the family,” Nick joked.
After Nick’s fitting, I finished registering for our wedding gifts. We made a pit stop at the dress shop so I could show Sarah and Jane the wedding dress. I felt like a princess again when they opened the curtain to show the bride.
“Oh, Emily. You look gorgeous! Has Jake seen you yet?” Jane asked in awe.
“No, he hasn’t. He won’t see me till the wedding day.”
“He’s going to go berserk when he sees you in this gown. As it is, he can’t keep his hands and lips off of you. Yuck! I shudder at the thought.” Jane literally shuddered at the thought. It was funny.
We had some time to kill so we walked into random shops and looked around. Without my knowledge, Jane and Nick had purchased a whole luggage set for us as a wedding gift. Since Nick was unemployed, Jane most likely paid for most of it. I was grateful for their generosity and love.
“Thank you both,” I said from the bottom of my heart. “I couldn’t ask for a better brother and sister.”
“We love you too, Emily. I’m glad that my brother found such a cool wife. You’re a great addition to our family,” Nick uttered while giving me a hug.
Going from an adult orphan to a big happy family, my less than stellar luck with family finally reversed itself.
With six o’clock fast approaching, we put half the suitcases in Jane’s car and the other half in Sarah’s car. They barely fit, but we got them all stored away before we walked to dinner.
We walked through the sliding wooden door into Urasawa and found Jake waiting for us at the sushi bar. There were only ten seats at the sushi bar and one table of four at this restaurant. The chef and owner would serve anywhere from twenty-five to forty courses during this one seating.
My walk hastened to a sprint toward Jake in this tiny restaurant. We embraced and I sat right next to him, holding his hand.
“Geez!” Jane and Nick commented on our affectionate hug. I could feel their eyes rolling without actually seeing them. Within minutes, Charlie walked in and he and Sarah had a similar exchange. Peter and Max were the last to walk in. We all sat, Charlie, Jake, myself, Sarah, Jane, Max, Peter, and Nick. Hiro started with the appetizer courses, and we all broke into our own conversations.
Charlie spoke about his movie star architectural project, but still wouldn’t give us a name. Jake, being an architecture buff, enjoyed listening to Charlie. Though the two of us didn’t talk much tonight, any time we weren’t eating, Jake held my hand or caressed my back to acknowledge my presence. Sarah and I discussed wedding details. Peter and Nick mainly talked about med school and college life. Those two were in the same fraternity so they had lots of mutual friends. Surprisingly, Jane and Max appeared quite engrossed in whatever conversation they were having. They didn’t look away from each other unless one of us spoke to them. Sarah a
nd I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
“What’s going on over there?” Sarah whispered.
“I don’t know.” I had to admit I was slightly perturbed at his attentiveness toward Jane. Obviously, he wasn’t that afflicted that I was getting married. What happened to his love for me—the one who got away?
“They look like they are smitten with one another, don’t they?” Sarah continued to stare at them.
“I guess,” I answered curtly.
Sarah looked at my face and laughed. She read my annoyance immediately.
“Be nice. You did turn him down and accept another man’s proposal. Let him move on.”
“I never said he couldn’t move on,” I answered most defensively. I couldn’t look Sarah in the eye. It was a strange feeling, Max showing interest in another woman. I knew I was being childish and unfair since it couldn’t be easy for him to watch Jake doting on me. All the same, I wasn’t used to him giving another girl so much attention. My feelings were unjustified.
Dinner lasted four hours. After seven kaiseki courses and twenty-five sushi courses, our chef graciously bowed and inquired about my favorite dish of the evening. Among the thirty-two courses I could pick out my favorite instantly.
“From the kaiseki menu, I loved the shabu shabu trio of scallop, goose foie gras, and Wagyu beef. And from the nigiri menu, it’s a tie between the Otoro and seared Kama toro. I love the way Otoro melted in my mouth, and the meaty, creamy charredness of the Kama toro stayed on my taste buds for a long while. I can still taste it.” Even after thirty-two courses my mouth watered just thinking about our meal. I added one more comment. “I think I could eat the tamago as a dessert rather than a nigiri. I’d love to learn how to make this savory sweet sponge cake.”
Both chuckled at my dinner nostalgia.
“Dr. Reid, you’re going to have to perform many surgeries to keep up with your future wife’s palate,” the chef teased.
“That’s why I work such long hours,” Jake poked fun at me as well. I pretended to put on a sour face.
After dessert and tea, Nick and Peter got up to leave for a frat party.
“Aren’t you a bit old for this, Peter?” I asked.
“No way. This is how I keep myself young.”
We waved good-bye and the rest of us finished dessert. Jake took care of the bill and we confirmed our wedding menu with the chef as the others went to the garage to retrieve all of our cars. Charlie hitched a ride with Peter and Max, so he got into Sarah’s car. The valet brought up Jake’s car and to only my surprise, he’d brought his two-seater.
“Jake, how am I supposed to go home with you if you bring a two-seater?” Jane let out a weak complaint. We all caught a glimpse of their—Max and Jane’s—giddy mugs. Annoyance clouded my perfect evening.
Our car scenario played out like a bad TV movie. Jake and I were paired, Charlie and Sarah were together, and guess who had to ride home with each other? Max and Jane. Sarah got into her car quickly before busting up with laughter. I gave Sarah a cross look. Jake quickly got me into his car, and we left as well. Once we were out of the garage, Jake, too, started laughing.
“What are you laughing at?” I asked, irked.
“You sound a bit agitated,” he answered and started to howl.
“What?” I asked.
“Well, I don’t think that you have to worry about Max. He obviously isn’t as devastated as you think he is about losing you. But, I worry about you, as your ego appears quite deflated.” Jake’s smug face continued to snigger.
I stayed silent the rest of the ride home.
When we got home, I furtively surveyed the house for Jane. Jake carried me upstairs and whispered in my ears, “She’s not home yet. We don’t do bed checks in this house.”
Perturbed, I got down and walked into my room with Jake in tow. We got ready for bed and he jumped into my bed before I got there, but I was too disturbed to be torn about whether or not to hop into bed with him. I grabbed my pillow and opted for the guest room.
“Emi!” Jake protested. “Don’t be mad. I thought this whole night with Max and Jane was comical—weird, but comical. I don’t know why you are so upset by this situation. Are you jealous?” Jake’s mocking voice disturbed me even more. “You’re making me jealous and insecure now.” His roar continued.
I left my, his, our bedroom and walked up another flight of stairs to the guest bedroom. Right now, I was more agitated with myself than with the situation. Why was I acting so foolishly about Max and Jane? It wasn’t as though they were getting married tomorrow. They hadn’t even started dating. Plus, it was none of my business that my ex-boyfriend might like my future sister-in-law. Ugh. I was still annoyed.
Jake’s run up the stairs forced me to close my eyes and pretend to sleep. The fact that I pulled the comforter over my head didn’t stop him from picking me up off the bed, flinging me over his shoulder, and flopping me onto our bed. He didn’t mock, he didn’t laugh. He did what he does best. His mouth pounced on mine and rummaged all he wanted. His lips, his tongue, ran over my body as if it were a map he needed to read. I shivered in delight, but shuddered at the thought of reigning in my self-control to stop him. Self-control waned as the wedding date got closer.
“Jake?” My voice was weak.
“Hmm?” His voice, suggestive.
“If you are planning on sleeping here tonight with me, you need to behave,” I spoke, unconvincingly.
“Can I sleep here?” His face lit up.
“You can if you promise to behave. My wall of defense is crumbling by the day. You need to help me at this point. OK?”
“OK,” he said casually, knowing that he had the upper hand now. He stopped his adventure quest on my body, content just to hold me close. I fell asleep in his arms, but woke up to find Jake’s lips and hands grazing liberally. I softly moaned and went back to sleep.
Sunday was glorious for many reasons. Finally, I had slept soundly with Jake lying right next to me for the first time since we got back home. My eyes didn’t automatically open at 4:00 a.m., and I wasn’t cold at any point in the night. Also, Jake had the entire day off. We didn’t get out of bed till it was almost lunchtime. We had both slept the morning away. When we finally awoke, Jake went downstairs to fix us something to eat and brought it up to our room. We ate, watched TV, checked e-mail and happily spent a lazy morning in our room.
The front doorbell finally coerced me out of the bedroom. Sarah and Charlie came by to drop off the suitcases that were left in her car last night. I invited them upstairs and we hung out for a while.
“Wow, this house is huge,” was Charlie’s first comment upon entering.
“Wait till you see Emily and Jake’s bedroom,” Sarah commented.
We walked into our room and immediately Charlie and Jake started playing video games on the giant TV. Sarah and I sat next to the boys.
“Hey, where’s Jane?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we take her to the airport?
“Jane left already,” Jake answered with his eyes glued to the game. “Mom said her boss called last night and wanted her to come in to work today. She left this morning.”
“How’d she get to the airport? I feel bad. I would’ve taken her.”
Jake cautiously answered, “Um…maybe she had a car service pick her up.”
“And maybe they have a driver named Max,” Charlie added, and all three busted up laughing.
They immediately stopped laughing once they saw that I found no humor in his comment.
“Lighten up, Emily,” Charlie quipped. “You broke the guy’s heart. Let him mend it with someone else. Who better than your future sister-in-law? Maybe you two will finally end up as family, though I’m sure this is not the way you or Max envisioned it to be.”
Jake only exacerbated the situation by adding, “Emi, will you be upset if you see Max and Jane coming down to breakfast together once she moves back home?”
“Ugh!” I sta
red at Jake dumbfounded. “Are you kidding me?” was all I could ask as they broke into a guffaw at my expense again. Annoyed, I walked out of the room to grab some drinks. When I got back, Charlie and Jake were having another disturbing conversation.
“So, Jake, have you and Emily started living together?”
“Seriously? Have Sarah and Max never told you about my fiancée?”
“I know the deal, but I thought maybe since you’re almost married, and since she’s living in your house, she might…”
“Charlie. Let’s not go there,” I warned.
Jake complained to both my friends. “I sleep in Nick’s room while she stays here. I’m counting down the days till I don’t get kicked out of my own bed.”
This conversation made me uncomfortable so I looked over to Sarah for a little help. She jumped in and asked if we wanted to join them for a movie and dinner.
I answered, “We would love to,” and kicked them out of the house.
After they left, I turned to Jake and said, “I can’t believe you and Charlie today.”
“He asked,” Jake said defensively. “Are you mad? I didn’t tell him about last night.” His face was too smug. I had created a monster.
“Well since Nick is back at his apartment, you can go back to his room till we get married.”
“Aw come on, Emily. Last night was fantastic, wasn’t it? Didn’t I behave?” Jake’s face was pleading for another hall pass for tonight.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice your hands and lips all over me in the middle of the night.”
Jake shot back at me. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you enjoying my hands and lips all over you in the middle of the night.”
I ran up the stairs trying to hold my lips together from breaking into a smile.
Chapter 21 The Rehearsal
The next week and a half were a blur, as so many people came in and out of the house. Gram finally arrived from London and stayed in the guest suite up on the third floor. I thought she might have a difficult time getting up there, but soon found that the house was equipped with an elevator for her. My job was to keep Gram entertained while Sandy and Barbara finished up all the details of the wedding.