The Little Teashop in Tokyo

by Julie Caplin

  After dinner they rose and Gabe held open her leather jacket for her.

  ‘Are you going to tell me where we’re going yet?’

  ‘Soon.’ He tucked his arm through hers and they walked along a few streets, the cool evening breeze ruffling her hair.

  ***

  ‘So what exactly do you do in an onsen?’ she asked once the receptionist at the front desk had handed them the key without so much as batting an eyelid. Surprisingly, at nine o’clock in the evening the place was very busy with families and teenagers.

  ‘Relax. It’s a big thing in Japan. It’s basically bathing in spring water. The water comes from hot springs that contain natural minerals, so different onsens claim to have different properties. But they’re all supposed to be very good for the skin and it’s a nice thing to do. This one is renowned because it’s got a bath with a view. Come on, we’re on the top floor.’

  On the fourth floor, the key opened a door which accessed a private outdoor roof terrace. ‘Oh, isn’t this lovely,’ said Fiona as she stared around the beautifully landscaped garden with its very own steaming mini lake which reflected the snow-covered top of Mount Fuji. The sun had gone down several hours ago and the little terrace was lit by tiny lights along the stone-paved paths and buried among the bamboo planting.

  ‘We have to shower first. Here you have to be clean before you get in the hot spring. And you’ll have to tie up all that lovely hair.’

  As there’d been no mention of swimming costumes, she was guessing that the etiquette was to go naked and despite having seen Gabe up close and personal quite a lot in the last twenty-four hours, she couldn’t help the sudden wave of apprehension. It was one thing to strip off in the heat of passion, quite another to coolly undress and parade about in cold blood.

  But with his usual sixth sense when it came to her lack of self-confidence Gabe rubbed at the tension in her shoulders. ‘Do you want to shower first and hop in. I’ll just take in the view.’ He nodded towards the wooden fencing at the far side of the terrace offering a perfect view of the mountain.

  ‘That … that would be great,’ she said and with embarrassing speed almost ran to the little changing area which she realised also housed a sauna. She couldn’t imagine going in there and lying naked.

  She showered quickly, before Gabe changed his mind, taking care to wash thoroughly as per the rather authoritarian instructions on the wall. Feeling all kinds of fool for being such a Victorian prude, she edged out of the door. As promised, Gabe had his back to her and was staring out at the view.

  ‘I’m in,’ she called as the silky water enveloped her. She found she could sit on one of the underwater ledges and be submerged up to her neck.

  ‘And how is it?’ he asked.

  ‘Heaven,’ she sighed and leaned back, stretching her arms out on either side of her to gain some purchase and stop her floating up out of the water. It seemed more buoyant than she was used to.

  ‘All right if I join you?’

  She nodded, her throat a little constricted. Why, oh why, couldn’t she be more casual about this? Trying her best to relax and not think about Gabe’s long, lean body in the shower, she put her head back to gaze up at the sky. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark, pinpricks of light started to appear, thousands of tiny stars millions of years away. The sight of them and the thought of the size of the universe and how insignificant a human life span was in the scheme of things made her realise that her fears about nudity, about falling in love with Gabe, about not being good enough, were all really quite inconsequential. This time was a gift and she would be daft to waste it worrying about things like the shape of her body and how much it would hurt when she had to say goodbye to him. She’d seized the moment last night and the joy and pleasure would stay with her for a very long time. Surely that was what life should be about, focusing on the good bits rather than the bad bits. Like her mother.

  When Gabe sauntered out of the changing room with lean-hipped grace, her breath caught and all her good intentions about looking away went up in smoke. Embarrassingly, she let out a little mouse-like squeak as she tried to breathe normally.

  He smiled and shook his head as he stepped into the water with total unconcern.

  All she could do was nod, her mouth too darned dry to speak. Life was so unfair – his body looked as if it had been honed in a gym although to her knowledge he didn’t work out. But then she remembered the running shoes she’d had a near miss with in his room this morning.

  ‘Do you run or anything?’ she blurted out.

  As if he knew exactly the tangent of her thoughts, he lifted his eyebrows and one side of his mouth lifted in a twisted wicked smile.

  ‘I run and do a few weights every now and then. Why?’

  ‘Just wondered.’ Her attempt at being blasé came out high and squeaky.

  Gabe laughed but immediately stepped down into the water, coming to sit opposite her. Now all she could see was the dark hair in the vee of his chest, much to her relief.

  They sat in silence for a while and she went back to stargazing.

  ‘I should do this more often,’ observed Gabe idly, lifting his toes out of the water and pushing his shoulders back. ‘I’m not sure I want to go back to Tokyo tomorrow.’

  Fiona sighed; she definitely didn’t want to go back.

  ‘We could ask Kaito if we could have the room for another night.’ Gabe looked at her as he said it, a question on his face.

  ‘I’d really like that, but I ought to get back. I still need to take pictures of the tea house and I provisionally agreed tomorrow with Setsuko. I don’t want to let her down.’

  ‘You’re right, I have work to do too. The Sunday Times has suddenly decided I’m flavour of the month; they’ve offered me a couple more jobs and so has a film studio in LA. I’m hoping I’ll be able to coordinate everything so that I’m not flying back and forth all the time. Jet lag to LA’s a killer.’

  ‘I wouldn’t know,’ said Fiona practically. LA sounded glamorous and exciting.

  ‘You could come with me. Be my assistant again.’

  Startled, she glanced at his face, surprised by the sincerity she read there.

  ‘I get the impression you can work anywhere.’

  ‘But … I’m going home soon.’

  ‘They have planes from London.’

  At his quietly sincere words, her heart seemed to think it was doubling up as a Mexican jumping bean. The water was probably rippling around her chest.

  ‘They do,’ she acknowledged. Expensive planes probably, but that seemed a minor thing to bring up when he … he was wanting to see her again.

  ‘I’m in London quite often. My agent is always badgering me to spend more time there. I’ve been asked by a gallery in Dover Street if I’d like to put on an exhibition. They’ve refurbished the building and have a new space. I’m thinking about it. Been thinking about it for a while, except I didn’t think I had any decent material. I was going to do a retrospective.’

  Gabe gabbling was cute and she wasn’t about to rescue him.

  ‘And of course, I’ll come to your exhibition. You could stay at my place if you like. That’s if you wanted to …’

  He finally petered out.

  ‘I’d like that,’ she said softly. Amused and touched by his unexpected diffidence, she moved towards him. It only took two short strokes before she stood before him and cupped his face with her wet hands. ‘I’d like to see you again.’

  His hands reached for her waist and he pulled her forward to kiss her. ‘That would be good then,’ he said as if everything was all sorted, which she guessed it kind of was when you were dealing with two people who lived in two different countries. It was far more than she’d expected.

  Chapter 24

  Real life bit hard on the way back. Gabe’s phone seemed to be ringing non-stop and he spent most of the journey darting out to the deck between the carriages. Apparently 4pm in Los Angeles was a good time to do business. With a seventeen-hour
difference, Gabe explained, it was difficult to find a better time to talk.

  Fiona regretted losing her own phone and prayed that it was back at Haruka’s because if it wasn’t she had no idea where it could be, unless a pick pocket had stolen it, but from what she read before her trip the crime rate in Japan was low – definitely in comparison to Britain.

  Having uploaded all of her photographs from her camera she turned on her laptop. She began selecting some of the more recent ones and putting them into her folder marked Exhibition Possibles. Once she’d decided on the pictures, she would be handing the file over to Kaito and his team who would be responsible for staging and the final curation of her exhibition. She was hoping to go through her favourites with Gabe before she made the final selection. If he wasn’t too busy.

  He spent more time on the phone than he did in his seat and even when the train finally drew to a standstill at Shinjuku he was nowhere in sight.

  ‘Thanks. I feel like I’ve put in a full day’s work already,’ he said, reappearing at the very last minute as she pulled their bags down from the overhead shelf. ‘Sorry for abandoning you.’

  ‘It’s fine. You were working and I got quite a bit done.’

  ‘Want to come back to my studio?’ He laid a hand on the small of her back and she leaned into it, relieved by the small touch of intimacy. She’d be lying if she didn’t feel a sense of loss that they were going back to real life. As if he knew how she was feeling, he pressed a quick kiss on her mouth. ‘And that’s not a euphemism, although there’s a serviceable couch in there.’

  ‘Yes, but I need to pop back to Haruka’s and dump my stuff.’ And look for her phone; it had to be there somewhere.

  ‘No problem. We could pick up a couple of bento boxes, have a working lunch, and go over your photos.’ They walked through the vast Shinjuku station hand in hand and made their way to the Yamanote line. With Gabe holding her hand, resting loosely on his thigh, the journey home on the suburban train felt very different to the one out. By mutual design rather than spoken agreement, Fiona pulled her hand from his when they came in sight of the teashop and Gabe gave her an understanding nod. Whatever their relationship was, it felt too private to share and Fiona wasn’t ready to discuss it or let it be discussed by anyone else, especially not by people who knew Gabe so much better than she did.

  Setsuko called a cheery hello from the doorway of the teashop as they wound their way into sight from the local railway station.

  ‘How was Fuji?’ she called from the doorway.

  ‘Wonderful,’ said Fiona and felt the brief butterfly brush of the back of Gabe’s hand against hers. ‘Absolutely beautiful.’

  ‘Full of tourists,’ said Gabe with his usual teasing grin.

  ‘He loved it really.’

  ‘Did you take lots of pictures?’

  ‘Just a few. I’m going to drop off my things and then we’re going to the studio and I’ll come back later. Is that okay?’

  ‘Okay, Haha is out but the door is open.’ Setsuko bowed. ‘I must get the shop ready for a tour today. And,’ she added with one of her serene smiles, ‘for the photographs.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll be over later.’

  Fiona couldn’t imagine what the other woman had to do as the shop was always immaculate.

  ‘It’s all about the ritual and the preparation,’ murmured Gabe in her ear.

  ‘Sometimes I think you’re a mind reader.’

  ‘I’m an observer of faces. Plus it’s not difficult – you have a wonderfully expressive face.’

  ‘You mean I’ll never play poker and not lose the shirt off my back.’

  ‘That too.’ They’d reached Haruka’s door. ‘Come on over when you’re ready.’

  ‘Okay, I won’t be long.’

  ‘See you soon.’ And before she could take the step up into the genkan he looped his hand through her arm. ‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ He pointed to his lips and puckered up.

  She laughed; it was rather sweet. ‘No idea what you’re on about.’

  He swooped in and kissed her firmly on the mouth with a mock growl.

  ***

  There was no sign of her phone in her room which was odd and slightly perturbing. Fiona racked her brains. Where the hell had she last had it? Mentally she retraced her steps. That morning it had been a rush. She remembered stuffing it into the pocket of her bag thinking she would message her mother on the train. Damn. It was looking increasingly likely that it had been stolen. The other faint hope was that Haruka had found it and put it somewhere safe, but surely that would be Fiona’s room?

  What a pain. Everything was backed up on the Cloud but the phone was on contract and only half way through the eighteen-month period. Now she was going to have to report it stolen to the police and try and claim on the insurance which she knew she couldn’t do anything about without some kind of crime number, and she had no idea how to do any of that. She hoped the thief came out in hives or got worms or something worse.

  Her mother would be frantic by now. Had probably called the British embassy and reported her daughter missing. Fiona dropped her head in her hands. She really did need to persuade Gabe to let her use his phone. Surely there was some way of blocking the number when you phoned someone. Or she could lie and say she was calling from a public telephone box – that was a thought.

  With her head still buzzing about how to deal with her mother, she walked around to Gabe’s building and climbed the wide-planked steps to his studio. In daylight it was a lovely airy space with clear bright light filtering through the shoji doors.

  Humming lightly to herself and already picturing the soft smile on his face when she saw him again, she walked through the main studio space into Gabe’s work area. Her face went slack and she stopped dead. Gabe was seated at his desk and next to him was Yumi, leaning against the desk massaging one of his shoulders. Her musical voice was saying something that brought a whimsical smile to his face and Fiona was almost felled by the instant surge of jealousy. It punched her in the stomach and she thought she might be sick.

  ‘Hey Fi.’ Damn. Gabe had spotted her before she could back out.

  Yumi wore a khaki-green wrap-around dress that emphasised her delicate figure and little stiletto ankle boots on her tiny feet. With her porcelain skin and red lipstick she resembled a very pretty china doll.

  She pushed herself away from the desk with a lingering smile at Gabe.

  ‘Gabriel says you’ve been to Mount Fuji.’ She made it sound impossibly tedious and as if she had every sympathy for him.

  ‘Yes. It was’—she schooled her face into a polite mask—‘interesting.’

  Gabe turned away and she felt even more sick. Yumi was examining her with careful disdain and the only thing Fiona could be glad about was that she’d left her hair loose. Gabe had intimated several times that it was her crowning glory and he’d seemed unable to leave it alone, even on the train on the way home this morning he’d pushed a stray strand from her face and stroked along the length of it with a gentle hand.

  Yumi was tapping her foot, a little staccato beat that gave away her irritation about something. Gabe was absorbed in something on the screen but looked up as Fiona made an uncertain movement, unsure as to whether to stay or go.

  ‘Have you got your memory card?’ he asked, all brisk and business-like, holding out his hand.

  ‘Yes.’ She stood, shifting her weight from foot to foot for a second. Stay or go. Make an excuse and leave. Her skin prickled at Yumi’s sharp-eyed perusal and the tiny sniff as if she’d been found wanting. Even though inside everything was telling her to retreat, she deliberately lifted her chin, her hair rippling down her back. It was her bed Gabe had shared last night.

  Gabe caught the movement and his expression softened, a faint smile playing around his lips as he beckoned her over and patted the seat next to him. ‘Come on, let’s see what we’ve got.’

  Yumi gave an impatient huff. ‘So you’re going to work this afternoon.’
>
  ‘Yes,’ said Gabe patiently, ‘but only until four.’

  ‘And then you’ll take me to Albatross?’

  ‘And then I’ll take you to Albatross,’ he said with an indulgent smile as if appeasing a child.

  Yumi still didn’t seem particularly satisfied. ‘I suppose I can go and do some shopping until then.’ She smoothed the fabric of her dress over her enviably tiny waist. Unless you studied her closely, Fiona decided, you would have thought her face devoid of expression but there was something there that reminded her of the portrait in the photographic museum, the one with Yumi in the white silk dress and the expression of inviolate triumph. It was there now in the tiny twist of her lips, the knowing look in her eyes.

  ‘I will see you later then.’ She snatched up her Mulberry bag and stalked out.

  Her footsteps rang out on the wooden steps but Gabe gave nothing away. He held out his hand for the memory card. A sense of deflation hit Fiona. He might have said he wanted to see her again in London but he was still tied to Yumi and nothing was going to break that bond.

  ‘Do you want a coffee or anything?’ he asked, loading the photos, the thumbnails of which were flicking onto the screen one by one like little soldiers reporting for duty in strict formation.

  ‘Yes, shall I help myself?’ she asked, regretting the stiffness in her voice.

  He lifted his head from the screen and reached out a hand to pull her nearer. ‘Sorry about that. I didn’t know she was in Tokyo. She just dropped in.’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Although she tried to sound blasé, she knew her smile was wooden. Making a fuss, which wasn’t her style anyway, would make her seem petty and demanding.

  ‘It doesn’t mean anything, I promise.’ He rose and took her into his arms, his fingers rubbing up and down her upper arm which was actually quite irritating, as if she needed placating. ‘I’m only taking her out for a drink and I won’t be long. You said you wanted to get some more pictures of Setsuko and the teashop. I’ll be back before dinner. Her husband’s away again and she’s lonely. She hasn’t got anyone else.’ She detected a wariness in his tone as if he was unsure how she was going to react. ‘I could text you when we’re done and meet you back here.’