that?"
"Where is my husband?"
"Oh, well, I don't really know. He left shortly after we came home from rehearsal." He paused. "That was a pretty serious argument the two of you had this morning."
"You heard?" Shaundra asked.
"Yes, we were listening at the window," Satoshi admitted.
Shaundra frowned at him.
"What? We don't have lives."
Shaundra chuckled and shook her head.
'I don't think I've ever heard you raise your voice to him."
"I've never had the need to before, but he pissed me off."
"I think hurt his feelings."
"Tough," Shaundra said. "He'll get over it."
"You've been shopping?" Satoshi asked, peeping at her bags. "Lingerie."
"How do you know that?"
"I recognized the name on the bag. I've shopped there a couple of times."
Shaundra raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Is there something you want to confess?"
Satoshi shook his head. "It was for Cristal. For her trip with Yi-jun."
"Liar," Shaundra said.
Satoshi took the bag from Shaundra. "This is nice. The color will bring out Ichiro's eyes."
"That is not for Ichiro," Shaundra said, used to him teasing her husband about his prettiness. "It's for me. I was in the mood for something sexy."
"Then it is for Ichiro too. What is it, a makeup present?"
"Hell no. I like the feel of silk against my skin."
"I thought Harper brought all your underwear."
"Not all. Just the slutty stuff. "
A slow blush stained Satoshi cheeks.
"Dig a little deeper, there's also some nursing gowns from after the babies are born. Etsuko reminded me today that I haven't done a thing to prepare for their births."
"You saw Etsuko? Where?"
"At the restaurant. I had lunch with her and Hana."
"And Daichi?"
"No, but he was there. He just came out to say hello and to bring me my food."
"He prepared it for you personally?"
"Yes. He knows I can't have salt and didn't trust the chef to remember. One of the waitresses wanted to do it for me, but Daichi insisted that he do it himself."
Satoshi handed her back her bags. "A waitress offered to cook for you?"
Shaundra nodded. "She's a chef-in-training. Her name is Eri. Do you know her?"
The embarrassed look on his face told her that he did.
"Daichi is a very smart and observant man."
"Yes, he is," Shaundra said heading up the stairs. "So are you."
Chapter Ten
"How long have you been cooking?" Eri asked Ichiro.
"Since I was a child," he told her as he prepared the sushi.
"Then I became the official cook for Aomori." He chuckled.
"Originally it was Masaaki, but he sucked at it."
"He's your manager, isn't he?"
Ichiro nodded. "Yes. He's like a big brother to us. He's a nice guy, and he looks after us."
"How long have you been signing?"
"You're very inquisitive tonight," Ichiro told her. "You should be paying attention to what I'm doing."
"I am," Eri said with a laugh.
She has a nice laugh, Ichiro thought. It was kind of girly and not as sultry as Shaundra.
"I saw your wife today."
Ichiro stopped making sushi. "You saw Shaundra? Where?"
"Here," Eri said. "She came to have lunch with your sisters. Why didn't you tell me you were going to be a father?"
"Because it never came up in conversation," Ichiro told her.
"She's very pretty and Daichi went out of his way to be nice to her. He even prepared her meal personally."
"Daichi did?"
Eri nodded.
"She's on a no-salt diet." He wondered why Shaundra did not mention that she was having lunch with his sisters.
"I did notice how swollen her ankles were. When is she due?"
"In a couple of weeks. We're expecting twins."
"Have you two been married long?"
"Almost a year." He would be in Europe for their anniversary. "We got married in the United States while I was on tour there." He went back to preparing the fish. He didn't know why he felt comfortable talking about his life with Eri.
"Is that where you first met her?"
"No. I met her in Tokyo. She was helping my boss and hers open a new publishing company, and Mr. Niigata dragged Aomori into the promotion."
"Why did you marry an American?"
"Because I fell in love with her. How do you say it? She swept me off my feet."
"That sounds so romantic," Eri said. "That's how I want to be romanced."
Ichiro handed the knife over to her. "Here, you try this now." He hadn't thought about that night in a long time. The memory of he and Shaundra sitting under that cherry blossom tree on the side of the farmhouse came back to him in a full blast. He knew at that moment that she was the woman for him and he wouldn't let anything stand in his