Jiro hadn’t just lied. He’d made me look like a fool.
Why?
7
“That bastard!”
I wasn’t ready for that reaction. Miki was the first call I made after leaving the Tachibana house. After hearing what I’d learned, she went off—loud, rapid-fire curses, a tirade about how she wanted to kick Jiro’s ass from here to Timbuktu.
I had to raise my voice until I was yelling just to break through and tell her to stop. I hadn’t even told her the entire story. The last thing I wanted was her anger feeding mine.
“I’m sorry, but I just knew Jiro was still the same person from uni. A freaking lying bastard.”
“But maybe he has a reason for?—”
“Oh my God, Akiko. Please tell me you’re not defending his actions right now.”
“I’m not, but I think I should at least give him a chance to explain himself.”
“For what? We already know what he’s going to say… more stupid bullshit. It’s just like that time in uni when he kept telling you he was studying in the library when in fact he was hanging out with some other girl. Jiro’s always lied. He did it during your apprenticeship!”
“Look, I’m not saying his radio silence isn’t shitty. And yes, he has a history of lying, but a lot of it’s because he doesn’t know how to deal with things. I’ve been with Jiro for a while now. He deserves a chance to explain. When he does, it’s usually the opposite of what I’ve been thinking.”
“I totally get that you love him and he doesn’t know how to explain things well, but what could he possibly say that would make it okay?”
I struggled to answer. I glanced down at my phone, the last text staring back at me like a slap. Call me when you can. Please. The message was still unread.
“Look, I’m not gonna guess what he’ll say. I want to hear his words.”
“How do you plan on doing that? Do you know where he is? Wait—do you think he was secretly watching you from a window? I bet he was.”
“I’m serious when I say I’m worried. Because if we’re wrong, he’s in trouble.”
Miki seemed to grasp the other side of the argument because she stopped insulting my boyfriend.
“If his father did something, that’s a serious accusation, and we have no proof.”
“I know.”
“But what’s making you think this way? Because I’m not seeing it.”
“I can’t explain it. I think it was the way the housekeeper smiled. It looked fake, like she was struggling not to break.”
“Or laugh.”
“Arrgghh!” I yelled. “I don’t know what to do. Should I go to the police?”
“What will you tell them, that your boyfriend’s been lying to you and now he won’t return your calls? Akiko, I’m going to rip the band-aid off. I think Jiro broke up with you, and this was his cowardly way of doing it.”
“Why would he break up with me?”
The second I said it, I knew. All the cracks in the business, my obsession with Reina—God, I must’ve looked totally unhinged. Crazed!
“What am I going to do, Miki,” I said softly.
“You’re going to get your business back on track, just like we discussed the other night. I’m still here for you. This is life throwing another wicked curveball. You got this, girl.”
Miki’s pep talk cracked through the fog in my head. It didn’t fix anything, but it reminded me who I was and who I could be.
