Myra’s Big Mistake – Chapter 6

My alarm blares in my ear again. I hate that damned thing. I wave my hand in a giant circle and accidentally knock it off the nightstand. It crackles to silence, broken. Well, at least it’s quiet now.

“Myra!” Ruby calls out. A sharp bang-bang-bang echoes through my tiny apartment. “Myra, you better be awake! I have bags of groceries sitting out here!”

Oh no. What time is it? I push the sleep mask up, and my apartment is blinding with late morning sun. The light is a knife to my brain. I groan as I roll over and search for my alarm clock on the floor. Its case is busted, but it still tells the time, eleven thirty-four AM.

So, I got about five hours of sleep? That’s it?

Pulling myself from the bed, I open the door to a red-faced Ruby, three bags of groceries, and Nosh eating a carrot out of one of them. It’s a good thing I gave her the code to let herself into the building, though she hardly ever uses it. I must have slept through her initial calls.

“Why don’t you ever remember when we’re supposed to be doing stuff together?” She huffs as she blows past me into the kitchen. “I got everything on your list for cookies.”

Cookies. Right.

I slide out of the way, plop my butt on the bed, and stare into space as Ruby unloads the bags. She has to move almost everything off my kitchen table to fit the two dozen eggs, flour, and chocolate chips. It’s like we’re living in different worlds right now. She’s going about her day, and I’m replaying my night in my head.

“Myra, hello?”

I snap out of it to see her hold up a half kilo of butter.

“What’s wrong?” Finally, she’s figured out I’m not with it, that I’m not really here. She dumps the butter in my tiny fridge and crosses the room to me. “Dear gods, what happened to you?” She gestures to my hands and knees before she tips up my chin. “Your eyes are bloodshot. Did you go on a bender or something?”

Nosh leaps from the bag and joins Mochi and me on the bed. He climbs into my lap, and I smile down at him. We can’t communicate, but I know he cares.

I shake my head as I pat the bed and yawn. “Sit here and let me tell you about my evening.”

I recount the entire tale, from my late shift to Mochi spraying the guy in the alley to Nosuké’s vague proposal.

“Whoa. Sorry about getting pissy with you when I walked in. You should just go back to sleep.”

“No, we’ll bake the cookies together, and when they’re done, I’ll eat and take another nap.” I pull the sleep mask from my head and toss it next to Mochi. “I’m going to brush my teeth and wash my face while you make coffee and tell me what to do. How do I fix this?”

“Me?” she asks as I head to the bathroom. “This is way beyond me.”

“Come on, Ruby. You dated the guy. Tell me how to make him go away.”

I let her think about it and brew the coffee while I pull myself together. I should change out of my pajamas to bake, but these clothes should go in the wash, anyway.

“Well, obviously, you have to date Nosuké,” she says, when I emerge from the bathroom. She hands me a steaming cup of coffee, and I spill it all over the floor with a hearty guffaw.

“Oh shit.” I look down at the puddle with a sigh. I snag a towel from the kitchen and drop it on the spilled coffee. “I’m such a klutz. And a fuck-up. It’s hilarious that you think that. Me? Date Nosuké Maeda? You must be joking. He’s a better mate for you than me.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” She nods once. “And yes, I’m kidding. Maybe I will go out with him again, and that will get him off your case.” She raises her eyebrows, and my stomach sinks. I actually don’t want that to happen. Not again.

I finish cleaning up and chuck the towel near the sink.

“Let’s get back on track here. The issue is he wants me to go to bat for him against my father, and you know I can’t do that. But I also can’t pass up an opportunity for something good to happen to me… for once.”

I pull my stand mixer out and set it on the table. It’s one of the few things I’ve splurged on, and I barely have space for it. “So, let’s really consider this business proposition from the yakuza boss, hmm? Crack these eggs for me.”

She cracks eggs into a bowl while I measure flour. “He’s not a yakuza boss. He never was. He’s a casino owner. His father is a little on the dodgy side.”

“Like father like son,” I murmur. “He’s a multi-billion-credit casino franchise owner who can command anything he wants.”

“Except for your father.”

“Right.” I finish prepping all the dry ingredients. “And that’s an impossible task. My father won’t listen to me. He never has. He hasn’t respected me or my life since I flunked the Interstellar Agency entrance exams.”

I sigh and sit down, rubbing my face with my one clean hand.

“I’m a failure to him and always will be. I flunked the exams twice. I barely graduated from culinary school. Remember what happened with Mrs. Martin? Embarrassing as hell. I’m a line cook, not even a chef. I can’t go against the grain anymore. Look at Suri. She’s almost a pariah now.”

We work in silence for a bit. Ruby’s eyes are far off as she adds chocolate chips to her bowl.

“You can say no.”

“Something tells me I can’t say no.”

She shakes her head. “Nosuké can take no for an answer. He always respected me when I said no.”

I shrug. “Would your ‘no’ cost him millions?”

Ruby is quiet for a moment. She knows I speak the truth.

I chew on my lip as I consider the tug of war inside my head. I could say no, and maybe after saying it a few times, Nosuké will give up, and I will go on with my boring life. Or I could say yes, and something new and exciting could happen to me, plain ol’ Myra.

“But if I say no, then I may be giving up a possible cool opportunity.”

Ruby snaps out of her daze.

“Okay, then.” She hands over the vanilla extract. “Drug them.”

“My family?” I ask with a laugh. “Possibly illegal.”

“Um, tell your father you’ll disown him and make a scandal out of it.”

“Nah, Dad doesn’t succumb to that kind of negative pressure. It has to be positive.”

We work quietly — folding, mixing, stirring — until the dough is ready enough for Ruby to do all the scooping. I set my tired butt down on the bed and sigh. My coffee went cold ages ago, but I drink it anyway. I’m going to either need food or a nap soon. Or both.

“Myra, you need to ask yourself if it’ll be worth it,” Ruby says, sliding a cookie sheet into my oven. She’s baked here enough times to understand how to work everything.

“What?” I ask, a little dazed with fatigue.

“Getting involved.” She sets the oven mitt aside and starts a timer before sitting down at the table. “You’ve never once been interested in politics or negotiations or anything your father does.”

She grabs the bowl and crosses the room to sit next to me. I swipe my finger into the leftover cookie dough and let it explode across my tongue. “Mmmm, my favorite. Look, how long have you known me?”

“Since we were in diapers,” she says, resting her head back and peering at the ceiling.

“Right. I wanted to be a scientist and go into space. The Interstellar Agency was the most popular place to be.”

“That didn’t happen,” she fills in.

“So I thought maybe I’d try volunteer work.”

“Total disaster.”

“And then I just traveled for a year.”

“You came home with fleas.”

Gods, yes, that was awful.

“Then I got into culinary school.”

She sits up and nods. “A much better choice for you, except for those few weird guys you dated.”

“Yes, except for them.” I laugh because how could I not? “But was it the right choice for me? What if I was meant to be in space, and I blew it?”

I’m currently in a dead-end job with no hope of advancement, and I’m not even sure if I’m good at what I do. I blew my chance at a real career. I know it.

“Myra…” Ruby’s voice is soft and caring. “This is not the end for you. I promise. You have a great job and a promising future ahead of you. Don’t get sidetracked now by something shiny and new.”

It’s like she can read my mind. She’s the positive one; I always see the dark side. My big mistake has always been giving up before I could get anywhere.

“But I love shiny and new.” I try to lighten the mood with a smile, but she’s not buying it.

“Shiny and new are the things that get you into trouble more times than not.”

I throw my head back. “You’re right. Totally right. I should say ‘no’ to the wealthy and influential man who wants to give me something shiny and new for poking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“That’s the spirit,” she says, snapping her fingers.

My tablet jumps to life with an alert. Someone is at the apartment building’s door, asking for entry.

“Whaaaaat?” I breathe out, leaning in to look at the screen closer. Is that…?

I tap the speaker button. “Can I help you?”

Ruby’s head snaps around to me, realizing that I’m talking to my tablet, not her.

“Miss Kimura, it’s Tobito. I work with Mr. Maeda. I have a delivery for you.”

“Uh, okay. I’ll buzz you in.”

Yeah, I thought he looked familiar. I unlock the outer door for him downstairs and watch him climb the stairs before I hustle over to greet him. Oops. I belatedly realize that I’m a mess with slept-on hair in a chaotic bun, flour all over my old culinary school t-shirt, and ratty pajama pants. Too late. Can’t fix it now.

I open the door, and Tobito smiles at me.

“Hello again. These are for you.” He hands over a giant bouquet of cut flowers and a pastry box with an envelope on it. I take both of them.

“Uh, thanks?”

Tobito gives a jaunty salute and steps back. “Have a good day, miss.”

I shut the door on him and turn around to a stunned Ruby.

“Are those from…?” She circles her finger at the items in my arms.

“Yeah. I think so.” I hide a smile away. I shouldn’t be giddy about getting presents from someone like Nosuké.

But, hey… It’s been a long time since anyone gave me gifts or attention. Even if it’s for the wrong reason, I’ll take it.

Ruby snaps the envelope off of the pastry box before I can set it down.

“Let’s see here,” she sing-songs as I dive to grab it from her hand. She snatches it away.

“Oh, come on. Let me have it,” I whine.

“Nope.” She laughs as she leaps over my body and holds the envelope up in the air. Both Mochi and Nosh are awake now.

“What? What’s going on?” Mochi asks, stretching and yawning.

Before I can protest again, Ruby opens the envelope and pulls out a simple piece of white card stock. Her eyes coast over the writing, and her lips fall into a frown.

“What?” I ask, insistent. My heartbeat soars, looking at her sad face.

She hands it over. “Nosuké wants to have dinner with you tomorrow night at Kisetsu.”

My forehead breaks out in a cold sweat as I read the card.

“Miss Myra Kimura, I hope you got some rest. Please have dinner with me tomorrow night at Kisetsu, 7PM. We have much to talk about. Nosuké.”

Tomorrow night at his kaiseki restaurant? The most famous restaurant in town? The one with a waiting list over a year long to get in?

I suppose all the sweat on my forehead used to wet my tongue because my mouth is so dry I can’t swallow. This is a daring invitation.

“What? What is it?” Mochi asks his front paws up on my leg. “Myra, you don’t look well.”

Ruby folds her arms over her chest. “He never took me to Kisetsu. Or sent me flowers, for that matter.”

Uh oh. Ruby’s pinched lips tell me she’s jealous. She has a thing for Aki, but they aren’t dating. At least not yet. Nosuké is a recent enough ex that she really may still have feelings for him, feelings she’s trying to deny.

I glance at the invitation again and try to calm my racing heart. I won’t hurt Ruby, no matter what. So I only have one choice here. If Nosuké wants to talk to me about my dad, it’ll need to be all business. It can’t look romantic. At all. Flowers, fancy pastries, and dinner at Kisetsu look like a date. At least, to Ruby it does.

Right. Anyway, this is not a date. This is no big deal. He’s only asking me so he can pump me for information about my dad.

“He’s not taking me to Kisetsu either,” I say, flipping the notecard over. On the back is his personal mail address. I’ll write to him later and decline. “I have to work.”

Which is true and very convenient right now.

I take the flowers and the pastry box and dump them in the trash.

“There. No big deal.”

Ruby opens her mouth to protest, but I raise my hand.

“No big deal,” I repeat.

No one but my father has ever sent me flowers. But whatever, right?

I don’t need this kind of drama in my life.

Still, I tell the ache in my chest to go away. This is not genuine interest, Myra. This is some kind of emotional blackmail. He’s trying to woo me, to get me on his side against Dad, and then what? He’d probably dump me like a burned cake and move on.

The sweet smell of chocolate chip cookies permeates the air, and we both inhale at the same time. My stomach is empty, but I’m too tired to do anything.

“Keep an eye on those cookies. I’m going to take a nap.”

“How can you nap when this smells so good?”

I cross the room and climb into bed with Mochi and Nosh. “When you’ve had the kind of night I had, you can sleep just about anywhere.”