Page 124 of Prelude To You

To this day I still didn’t know the reason for the rift between my father and Nakamura. I made it my mission to one day establish a Belmont Hotel in Tokyo, for no other reason than that I wanted to do something my father wished to do but never could.

It was late afternoon in Tokyo, and I messaged Kayla to see if Nakamura was willing to have a chat. I was not my father, and that might make Nakamura more willing to bury the hatchet.

While I was waiting for Kayla to get back to me, my thoughts wandered back to Isabel. Where in the world was she? Why hadn’t she seized the opportunity to go back to Le Petit Chateau? For a few seconds, I indulged in an outrageous fantasy, and it had nothing to do with sex. I imagined Isabel making a French pastry as I watched from the chef’s table in Le Petit Chateau.

I wondered if she thought about me as much as I thought about her.

My phone beeped. It was Kayla. Minoru Nakamura had agreed to talk.

34

ISABEL

The Uber driver who picked me up after my shift at Le Petit Chateau happened to be the same guy who had the flat tire the night of the kiss. Which was the reason I decided to take the bus. Which was the reason I walked past the bookshop. Well, almost past. He offered his sincere apologies and said he hoped it hadn’t put me out too much.

“Oh no,” I said, lying through my pearly whites. “I wasn’t put out at all. Everything was fine.”

Except for this tiny problem I have patching back the pieces of my broken heart.

We had to drive past the bookshop. But we didn’t pass it because, good driver that he was, we stopped at the red light.

I looked to my left, and my heart almost leaped out of my chest. The bookshop was closed for the night, the lights dimmed. But not so much that I couldn’t spot the scene of the crime. The only thing missing was a chalk outline of my body on the floor.

The Uber driver noticed me looking at the bookshop. “I love that place. Have you ever been?”

“Yes I have,” I said. “In fact, I went there the night you couldn’t pick me up.”

“Cool,” he said, smiling. “So your night wasn’t completely ruined.”

“No, my night wasn’t ruined.”

Only my fucking life, thank you very much.

By the time I arrived home, I was exhausted. I fell into bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. For five hours my sorrows vanished, and I dreamt of sleeping in Roman’s arms.

When the alarm woke me at 7 AM, it almost felt like all I had to do was turn around and he’d be right there next to me. The reality was less kind, and much as I wanted all thoughts of him to vaporize into thin air, that wasn’t happening. Yet.

Meg and Felix were whispering in the kitchen. The smell of coffee and burned toast drifted into my room. I could hear faint giggling, and Meg sounded so happy I decided to pretend I was much better today.

Which I wasn’t.

There was still the tiny problem of this persistent ache whirling around inside me, which showed no sign of leaving any time soon. At some point I’d have to get tired of thinking about the man. Of his kisses, his touch, the way he held me and the way nothing else mattered when he was inside of me. All I knew was that evicting those thoughts was crucial for the sake of my sanity.

Meg must have heard me get out of bed because she shot into my bedroom, beaming. “Good morning, Sunshine!”

That brought a spontaneous smile to my face. “Good morning! You look way too happy for this early in the morning.”

“Guess what?”

There were only a few possibilities I could think of. I started with the most obvious.

“You’re pregnant!”

Meg’s smile slid off her face. “Ohewno. Why would I be happy about that?”

“You’re engaged!”

“Okay no, not that either, and don’t give Felix any ideas.”

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