The Cost To Play (Slivers of Love) (15 page)

Nearly four days had passed since her intimate relaxation session with Toshi.  In all honesty, she was afraid to be alone with him.  If that man could turn her on like that fully dressed, she shuddered at what he could do without her clothing. As the week progressed, the Wednesday workout went well. He complimented her body on the new definition in her arms and thighs. 

Thursday, he brought lunch to her office and spent good deal of time chatting with Frank about nutrition, work out plans, and water consumption.  Frank’s admiration for Toshi extended to the work completed on the comic book. Jayne showed him a few
of the concepts and layouts telling him she needed to go to press.  Frank made a phone call to a few friends, which changed everything. Jayne was in his debt and physically hugged and kissed the man for his contribution. Things were rolling far better than she had hoped.

On Friday, Jayne surprised Toshi
by taking him on a date to M.A.D. studios where they listened to live jazz with Karen Gordon and the Method. He seemed a bit distracted all evening, until finally she had to ask what was troubling him.

“My birthday is next Friday,” he said in a low voice.

“Okay,” she told him quietly.

He exhaled, almost dreading what he was going to say next. “My parents usually plan a family dinner.” Jayne said nothing as she stared at him, waiting to see where he was going with this statement.  “I would love if you could attend.”

“I’d love to,” she told him. “Can you please pass the pepper?”  The look on his face read as if he expected her to say no.

“You are okay with coming to my parents for dinner?”

“Yes! It’s no problem, I am looking forward to meeting them,” she answered as she sampled some of the shrimp on his plate. It concerned her that Kunio hadn’t mentioned to him that she had already been invited.

“Just like that? You are okay to meet my parents?”

“Sure. Are you okay and ready to meet mine? Which you have to do before we leave for L.A.,” she added with a smile.

“I’m okay with that.” He was smiling back at her.

“One thing though,” she said as she watched his expression grow somber. “I have no real knowledge of Japanese customs and I don’t want to do anything to offend your parents.”

Toshi’s expression was warm, loving, and genuine when he reached across the table to hold her hand. “Just be yourself, Jayne.”

“I can do that.” She smiled back at him.  Jayne didn’t know any other way to be, which worked out flawlessly.

The week sped by and soon Friday was upon her, leaving Jayne as nervous as a Hobbit at the church foot washing. She opted for a simple black skirt, a cream colored twin sweater set, and mid heeled pumps.  Toshi had no idea that they were going dancing later.  Tear drop pearl earrings were added to her ears and the necklace he had given to her for Valentine’s Day. Her hair was put in an up do, with the wispy locks appearing almost managed. A smidgen of gloss was added to her lips.  As she rode beside him in the car, her legs trembled so much, she had to put his present on the back seat out of fear she would shake the wrapping loose. By the time they pulled into the drive, she was so nervous, her bladder felt as if it was going to burst.

The family home was located in Evans in the Jones Creek subdivision.  It was a European style home that Toshi said had only four bedrooms.  The outside of it looked like there should be more.  “I usually park around back, but since this is your first visit, we will go through the front door.” Although she nodded, Toshi could see she was extremely nervous, which was totally unlike the bold confident woman he had spent the better part of eight months trying to woo and win.

“Jayne, relax. They are just parents.” She nodded, but looked as if she was going to throw up. “Tell me what you are so concerned about.”

Her lips were pressed closed as she mumbled that she had to pee. Toshi burst into laughter as he pulled her into his arms after planting a kiss on her forehead. “Come on inside.” He pulled her by the hand into the living room.  Jayne was surprised.  It was very modern, with only hints of Japanese styling.  Kunio was the first to spot them and gave Jayne a big hug. Toshi, she socked in the arm.  “Mom, Dad. This is Jayne. Jayne this is my father, Hirishito Yamaguchi and my mother Eri.”

Jayne kowtowed to them both. “Hirishito, like the restaurants,” she said as she smiled at his father.

“You have dined in my restaurants, Jayne?” Hirishito asked her with his bushy eyebrows raised.

“I have eaten there often Sir, but I had no idea that the chain belonged to you,” she said as her attention turned to his mother. “Mrs. Yamaguchi, you have a beautiful home. Thank you for inviting me.”  Kunio pulled her by the arm to meet her fiancé, Dr. Akira Fujimoro.  It was difficult for Jayne not to stare at the man. He had the largest head she had ever seen on a human. Toshi pulled her to the side and whispered in her ear, “I warned her not to have his children, or she would be ruined for the rest of her life. I told her I wouldn’t claim the big headed little monsters as my kin.”

It was said with such a straight face that Jayne wasn’t sure if he was kidding, until he cracked a small smile.  She playfully hit him in the arm.  His parents called them into dinner.  The dining room was magnificent, but as Jayne peeked around the corner, the kitchen made her catch her breath. Her entire apartment could fit in the open kitchen.  It had the latest Sub Zero appliances and a stove that Jayne longed to cook something on. “Mrs. Yamaguchi, this kitchen is amazing!”

Eri smiled with pride as she asked Jayne to lend her a hand with the food.  She kept her eye on Kunio so she could follow her lead, but dinner was simple. The food was Teriyaki Chicken with vegetables and rice. Just as she was about to relax, she felt Hirishito’s eyes upon her. His mother was saying something in Japanese to his sister and based on Toshi’s facial expression, he didn’t like it.  Jayne was raised by a woman, who didn’t believe in biting her tongue, so it seemed only appropriate to be herself as she had been instructed. “Kunio. Does your mom have a question for me?”

Toshi shook his head and squeezed her leg, but Jayne wanted to know.  Kunio sat like the cat holding the canary and spilled the beans. “Our mother is convinced that you used some black girl sex tricks to hook Toshi.”

Jayne blinked several times and swallowed hard as the rosy tinge of embarrassment crept up her neck filling her face with redness. She would not balk. “Mrs. Yamaguchi, I have no carnal knowledge of your son,” she told her as she dropped her eyes to her plate. Every eye at the table turned to Toshi, who shrugged and continued eating his dinner.  Hirishito opened the conversation with the next question. “What made you decide to date our son?”

Jayne slowly raised her head. “He was willing to fight for me.” She slipped her hand into Toshi’s as she recounted his coming over, soaking wet, declaring his intentions.  “He was fueled with a bottle of Sake and on a mission. If there was a man in my apartment, he was going to ensure that poor guy would never reproduce.” Eri’s hands flew to her face while Hirishito began to sit up tall. Jayne continued. “There was no other man. He had it all wrong, but he was willing to fight for me and to call me his own.”  She rubbed his hand. “Before he passed out on my futon, he gave me this on Valentine’s night.”  She showed them the necklace. “Letting me know his heart was open to me.” 

Toshi frowned at her. “I can’t believe you told them that story.” Since there was no sex involved, Eri, now curious wanted to know more. “Toshi. What made you want to date Jayne?”

“She gets me,” he said as he finished his dinner. “She showed up one day, out of the blue and brought me all my favorites for lunch.” Eri fought back her tears and waited for him to say more, but that was all he had to say.

Jayne filled in the gap. “I don’t see how anyone else’s Teriyaki Chicken can compare to what your mother has cooked tonight. This is so delicious Ms. Yamaguchi.” Eri, was also now sitting up tall, feeling the pride of having been praised for her cooking, as well as now knowing her son’s favorite entrée.

Jayne looked at her watch and nodded to Kunio that things needed to speed up a bit so they could meet the others. “I will help you clear the table so we can give Toshi his presents.” Before the gifts were presented, Jayne poured Toshi a cup of tea and he thanked her with a brief kiss on her cheek.  It was such a small gesture to the two of them, but to his parent’s watchful eye, the two shared a great deal of time together.

As the gifts were presented, Toshi’s lack of facial expressions only exacerbated the banality of the gift exchange, which Jayne found completely unacceptable on his part. His mother’s gift of a new shirt was met with a disenchanted, glazed over stare, but Jayne touched the shirt. “Oh, I love this material. This will look really good with your navy slacks or even those black jeans.” Toshi eyed the shirt again. “You’re right. It would.”  The bracelet that was given to him by Kunio, she placed on his wrist, removing the one she had given him for Valentine’s Day and putting it in her purse.  His father gave him a set of cooking knives.  Jayne teased that Mr. Yamaguchi would have to teach her how to make his perfect knife cuts.

“I’ll teach you Jayne.” Toshi added, almost seeming defensive that she asked his father instead of him.

“I know, but he
is
the Master Chef and every woman wants at least one cooking lesson from a Master Chef, just to have the bragging rights.” Her hand stroked his arm as she gave her response. Both father and son saw the validity of her point, with Hirishito nodding. 

Jayne was the last one to present her gift. All eyes were upon her as she handed the box to Toshi, who opened it to find an iPad.  The look of confusion on his face was noticeable, as he eyed Jayne with some concern.  He had a laptop which converted to a tablet, and a MacBook. Why would he need an eReader?

“No, sillyhead. The iPad is mine.  I put it in there to show you this.” Her finger swiped the screen and it opened to an Amazon page.  Jayne made a few taps to the screen and an e-version of
The Vigilantes
came up.  Toshi’s eyes were wide. “It went live two weeks ago,” she told him as she tapped on the screen again, logging into another page. “Since last week, we have sold 270 copies!”  Toshi was still quiet as he stared at the screen, but Jayne was not done.

She pulled up the webpage, the Facebook page, and the Twitter accounts. “You have followers on Twitter, fans on Facebook, and the webpage is just waiting for some more input from you.”

“Jayne, this is amazing, how…?”

“It would appear that Frank is your biggest fan. He made a few phone calls and helped me get these done for you.” She moved the iPad and pulled out the first three editions of
The Vigilantes
comic books. The box was removed from his hands as she gave him the three copies of the books. “Of course, we have some editing to do before final printing, but it is live and real, Toshi. We even have advertisers!”

The room was quiet as everyone watched his face as he opened the page of the first issue.  His mother gasped when she saw her son use his thumbs to flick away the tears which had started to roll from the corner of his eyes. The flow of salty liquid emotions increased as he went from the first issue to the next, and then the next.  Jayne dropped to her knees in front of him, pulling the handkerchief from her sweater sleeve to wipe his face. “Happy birthday baby,” she told him, as emotion filled eyes gazed at her.

“How did you get all of this done so fast?”

“I just threw down the gauntlet and cracked the whip to make this happen for you.”

He dropped the comics and reached down to pull her up into his arms. He held her close, rocking slowly, whispering in her ear.  As suddenly as he grabbed her, he pushed her to the side. His arm flung about her shoulders, speaking to his family in Japanese. Everyone smiled, so Jayne did as well. “I don’t know what he said but it must be something good!”  She looked at her watch. “Doc, Kunio, Toshi. We have to run.” She issued an apology to his parents for having to cut the evening short, promising to come again. Even implying that they would have them over as well.

“Where are we going Jayne?”

“Part two of the surprise Birthday boy. Let’s get going!” As they said their farewells, Jayne puled Kunio to the side. “What did he say?”

She hugged Jayne. “He presented you to us as the woman he has chosen to share his life.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Jayne told her as she tried to quell the butterflies dancing in her stomach.
The woman he has chosen to share his life
. Her more immediate concern was if she was ready to share to his bed. Tonight, she would find out.