the Olympic site.
‘This is a prime piece of real estate,’ says Alice, excitedly. ‘Look how close it is.’
Nathan smiles. ‘I know. It may look like a dusty car park, but this is going to be in such huge demand. I can’t actually believe that we’re getting it for such a good price.’
Alice looks over to the towering blocks beyond, where columns of mirror-like windows appear seemingly endless against a blue sky. She feels a knot forming in her stomach. Can they really take on the big boys in a country so far away? In a culture so far removed from their own?
‘We can do this,’ says Nathan, as if reading her mind. He looks at his watch and tugs gently on her hand, beckoning her back to the waiting car. ‘We’re going to be late if we don’t get a move on.’
The chill of the air conditioning hits her as she gets in and the suited chauffeur offers her a cold towel. She accepts gratefully and lays it gently on her face, careful not to disturb the make-up she’s so meticulously applied. She’d caught sight of the platinum ring on her right hand as she put her mascara on earlier, its diamonds no longer an indelible link to Tom, but a nod to his affair with Beth. After all, who’s to say it hadn’t been meant as a present for her?
As Alice had acknowledged that she would never know, she’d ripped it off and thrown it carelessly into her handbag. She had somehow felt different without it, as if something had changed within her. How could it not have? The realization that she’d lived a lie for most of her adult life – the ten years spent with Tom and the ten years spent without him – hit home. A life based on deception and deceit. But now she was finally stepping out of the shadows, a complete woman, no longer peppered with holes that the bullets of the past had left.
She checks her reflection in her compact mirror and wipes the merest hint of under-eye smudging away. Her bright-red lipstick, that matches her blouse, still stands the test of time.
‘You look gorgeous,’ says Nathan, taking hold of her hand and giving it a squeeze.
By the time they reach the lawyer’s office, on the twenty-fourth floor of one of the skyscrapers Alice had seen from the Olympic site, her carefully applied mask of confidence is on the wane.
‘Don’t desert me now,’ says Nathan, noticing. ‘We can do this.’
She runs her tongue around the top of her teeth, the dryness in her mouth threatening to stick her lips to her gums.
‘Mr Nathan,’ says a petite Japanese woman through a face mask. ‘A pleasure to meet with you. Mr Yahamoto is here. Please come this way.’
They’re ushered into a corner room where its occupant is pacing the floor with his phone at his ear. He offers the merest of smiles before signalling for them to sit down at the glass boardroom table.
Feeling like a child playing in an adult’s world, Alice forces herself to inhale, long and slow. She shifts her stance, sitting taller and pushing her shoulders back, hoping that the gesture will give her more of a presence.
‘Hai. Hai,’ says the man in front of them, in a clipped tone, before abruptly ending the call.
‘Ah, Mr Nathan,’ he says whilst bowing, ‘a pleasure to meet with you finally. And this must be Miss Alice.’
Alice smiles and offers as much of a bow as she can from a sitting position.
‘How are you enjoying Tokyo?’ he says, handing them both handleless cups. ‘Please – some green tea.’ Nathan eyes the murky liquid dubiously, whilst Alice accepts gratefully.
‘So, is everything good to go?’ asks Nathan. ‘Are we ready to exchange?’
‘Yes, I have notification that we are almost there,’ says the lawyer.
Nathan taps his hand against the side of his chair impatiently – Alice can hear his wedding ring knocking the metal arm.
His obvious agitation is making Alice even more nervous than she is already. She tries to bat away the uncomfortable sensation rising within her, the creeping tentacles that are snaking up from her stomach and into her chest. Can we just get this over and done with before I change my mind? she says silently.
‘Ah-ha,’ says Mr Yahamoto in answer, making her jump. ‘The email is in. We’re ready to go.’
The printer in the corner of the room spews into action and he goes to it, retrieving the document he was waiting