I looked him in the eye, no bar between us now, a promise of far more than seven years this time. ‘Cheers.’
Chapter Twenty-TwoSatoshi
Tasting today: MV grande cuvée champagne, Champagne, France.
Traditionally served at the reception where new Master Sommeliers are announced, it’s often said this cuvée tastes like failure, due to the exam’s low pass rate. However, those who pass are usually doing so after several previous failed attempts. This wine tastes like trying again.
‘We’d like you to design and serve a flight for us,’ the Young Somm examiner told me, ‘to pair with the following three-course menu.’
I looked at the menu they’d handed me: scallop ceviche, coffee-crusted loin of venison, chocolate and black truffle pannacotta. ‘Of course. It would be my pleasure.’
There was a message from Fiona on my phone when I got out of the service exam.Just checking in to see how things are going! xx
Quietly confident,I texted back. I’d thought of a better pairing for the venison as I was double-decanting the Priorat garnacha I’d chosen – it would work well, but gran reserva Rioja would have been even better. Otherwise, though, it had gone perfectly. I’d opened the sparkling Vouvray I’d selected for the first course so silently that the examiners hadn’t even noticed me do it, one of them blinking in surprise as I started to fill their glass.Fingers crossed for tasting this afternoon. How are things going with you? xx
About as well as they could be,Fiona replied.The girls took a while to warm up to Nikki, but they’re getting there. And I was positive Lex wasn’t going to say a single thing, but – to my surprise – they’re really making an effort.
I was less surprised. Lex and I had had a conversation in the airport yesterday, when we’d done a drinks run while waiting for our flight to Melbourne.Satoshi, they’d asked,if I try and get along with Dad’s other kids, am I being disloyal to Mum?
I’m not an expert,I’d answered, selecting a couple of juices for the girls,but I don’t think so. It’s not their fault your dad did what he did.
Dr Dell said that too. But it just feels… wrong. Like if I get to know them, then I’m forgiving him somehow.
Have you talked to your mum about this?
Lex shook their head.I don’t want her to worry.
She’s going to worry anyway, pal, so you might as well tell her what’s on your mind.We’d shuffled another step closer to the front of the queue.She’s a strong woman. She can handle it.
‘Satoshi Tsukamoto?’ the exam administrator asked. ‘They’re ready for you in the tasting room.’
Got to go,I sent to Fiona,but tell me all about it later, ok?
She sent back a row of kisses.Can’t wait.
The Young Somm comp had put me up in the hotel where the awards ceremony was being held, and I went back to my room after the tasting exam had wrapped up to get ready. Fiona and I had decided that it was better if I stayed there while she and the kids – and Elias, who’d arrived back in Australia the week prior and decided to come along as moral support – stayed in the AirBnB Matt had rented for them.Lex wouldn’t care,Fiona had murmured to me, fingers sketching patterns on my chest as we sat curled together on her couch,but we need to take it slower for the girls.We’ve only just made the leap to ‘Mummy and Satoshi are going on dates’. There’s a while to go before we can get to ‘Satoshi is sleeping in Mummy’s bed’.
I’d brushed her hair out of her eyes and kissed her forehead.We can move as slow as you need,I’d told her tenderly,as long as we’re moving.
The knock on my door came as I was finger-combing product through my recently re-bleached hair in the mirror. ‘Coming!’
I took a moment to straighten my tie – a conservative black, although my suit was light pink, the colour of a pinot rosé – then opened the hotel room door. ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Sorry that – oh, wow.’
Fiona smiled shyly. ‘It’s not too much?’
I shook my head. I had forgotten every word of the English language, and most of Japanese and French as well.
She looked stunning. She was wearing a simple little black dress, the hem hitting just above the knee, her legs made longer by her strappy silver heels. The sleeves sat off the shoulder, her décolletage unadorned, her cleavage looking fuckingdelicious. ‘Are you sure it’s not too much?’ she asked again, cheeks flushing as I unabashedly looked her up and down. ‘Sadie helped me pick it out, and she really put the hard sell on me.’
‘I owe Sadie a drink.’
‘I still need to do my makeup, though.’ She entered the hotel room, and I closed the door behind her. ‘I’ve tried about fifty times to get this winged eyeliner right, and I just can’t get it even. Plus, it was too hard to concentrate while the girls were all hyped up after meeting Matt’s kids.’
‘Do you want me to do it for you?’
She blinked. ‘My eyeliner?’
I shrugged. ‘I’ve got a steady hand. And I was pretty good at eyeliner, once upon a time.’
