Red Noon (12 page)

She would admit the magazine was growing in a positive way. She was proud of the progress and glad to be in on it, but she was also a woman of comfort. Once she found a spot she was good at with work she wasn’t the person trying to climb the invisible ladder. She was content where she was and branching out of that was upsetting her zone, but she could get comfortable with this too she guessed.

“With the work you put into this place I’m surprised the food doesn’t cost twice as much.” It’s not that the food was cheap because it wasn’t. If a person were barely living paycheck to paycheck this wasn’t the place for them, but it was still comfortable in the price range that a night out for a special night could be doable if they saved for it, and those living more comfortably could come once or twice a month without breaking their bank.

“I wanted classy, affordable, but still I wanted to have a certain clientele. I hope that doesn’t make me sound uppity, but I really wanted good people in here. Clean, considerate, good tippers for the staff.”

She laughed. Yeah, because no matter how great the place looked she was sure they weren’t exactly paying more than the usual waitressing hourly rate to their staff.

“Tips are important,” she nodded.

“Very. I worked through college being a waiter so I know how hard it is. But I also understand being an owner of a restaurant now, how hard it is to pay everybody what they think they deserve.”

She nodded. She had read up on him and knew he had worked for one of the Tempe seafood restaurants years ago.

“Here is the ladies’ room.” He smiled as he opened the door and switched on the lights. “I don’t come in here when there are ladies in here,” he joked. She didn’t find it funny but she smiled anyway. Maybe she smiled more so because he looked uncomfortable being in there.

She walked down and took a look at each of the stalls. Black toilets, which she loved, contrasted with the same slate stone that was in the main hall and dining area. “A bidet,” she lifted her eyebrows.

“Nothing but the best,” he nodded.

She couldn’t believe he had one in every stall. This man had spared no expense at all. The countertops were marble, the sinks a very beautiful black, the mirror beyond clean. She loved keeping her house clean but she wasn’t sure she had ever kept the bathroom mirror that spotless. The lighting was softly beautiful yet bright enough to be safe. Perhaps what she loved most is that it wasn’t that annoying florescent lighting. Yes, she could see a lot of pictures being shot here too.

“The men’s bathroom,” she said as she walked toward him. She had to see everything. He seemed happily eager to show her everything too. Every section had been pristinely clean and beautiful. Of course she knew they had cleaned it with extra care since they were having a visitor, but the high quality of the place told her they kept it cleaned like this often. She hadn’t missed the two chairs in both bathrooms where the attendant would sit. She knew what it was, but he had explained anyway. There was always an attendant sitting there. In the women’s bathroom it was a woman and in the men’s bathroom it was a man. She hadn’t pictured it any other way, but she didn’t mind listening to Paul as he raved about his place. If it were hers she would rave about it too.

The kitchen had her giddy because it was more magnificent than she could have imagined. It looked like it should be on its own celebrity style cooking show. She hadn’t walked into the freezer area because that was not something she needed up close and personal with, but she did look in from the outside since the door was ajar. Apparently they were taking some things out and somebody had missed closing it. They got a gentle tongue lashing when they came back too.

“And this is only a small part of my staff. We have Chef Gloria Rider. She studied in Paris, but has traveled the world. We were lucky to get her.”

Gloria smiled innocently as she pushed her brown with caramel blond highlights back from her face. “And she’s beautiful too, so she would look great in the pictures.”

Both women laughed. She, herself, already knew they were going to have models in the pictures because it was about fashion and style along with eating here, but she could imagine if they wanted to do more with the article they could give a picture of the owner, the chef and the staff. She wasn’t sure on that so she wouldn’t say so here and now. The woman was beautiful though. She was at least five nine, beautiful soft brown skin with cat eyes, a shade of hazel that just looked perfect on her. Yeah, if Justin or Eddie saw her they would probably want to put her in a designer gown and add her to the photos. She was model perfect in so many ways.

“That there is Hank. He does the heavy lifting when needed. And of course you can’t miss Tony there who really handles our freezer and the refrigerator sections. He’s the guy who knows produce like he invented it.” He laughed. “But Jessie, now she’s our meat girl. She would have been here, but she had to go to the hospital with her father. He’s having his colonoscopy today.”

She nodded. “Family is more important,” she affirmed. “Besides, this really was just getting to know the place and from what I see I definitely think this would be the perfect spot. From the photos I’ve taken I’ll show them to the bosses and the final decision is theirs to make, but I like it.”

“Wonderful,” he said. “Now you have to stay for lunch.”

“Oh, no. I don’t want to put you all out.”

“No, no. I had Gloria come in just to cook for us. I insist,” he chuckled.

“So do I,” the dark voice came at them so fast it cut off all the laughter when they saw the gun in the man’s hand. “Now, why don’t you lovely people go take a break in the freezer,” he stated, not asked as he pointed the gun at them. They started to file in and she was behind Paul getting ready to go in too.

“Not you,” he said to her as he motioned for her to step back.

“Yeah, you’re ours.”

She didn’t need to look to know that voice. It was Ike, and she knew that, but her head still snapped to his direction to see the gun he held in his hand too.

She watched as the other guy closed the freezer door. She saw the worry on their faces and heard the latch close over the door. They wouldn’t be able to get out. There wasn’t a stitch of glass in the pane so they couldn’t see out and she couldn’t see in. What she could see was the guy lowering the temperature gauge. He was going to freeze them to death. She didn’t need to question that. They had seen his face at least so they would be able to testify against him.

Ike laughed. “Second time’s the charm.”

“You,” she took a step away from him trying to find her escape route. She just had to get out and get to the road where she…what, got lucky if a car drove by so she could get help? No, this road wasn’t busy during the day, and probably not all that busy at night either, which is why this cozy elegant restaurant fit perfectly there.

She watched them both place their guns to the side, one on the counter behind him and the other on the ledge with the decorative flower jars. They weren’t going to shoot her. They both obviously thought the two of them could beat her to death or something, and she was certainly sure the skinny guy was better at fighting—or at least good enough to inflict damage. He had hit her over the head from behind so maybe he wasn’t as good as she thought. But they wouldn’t be one on one. She didn’t know him, but she knew Ike. She knew he had been in the Army which meant he had been Army trained and that meant he knew how to fight in ways she didn’t. But thank God he wasn’t a Marine. She had heard they knew over a hundred ways to kill with their bare hands. She hadn’t heard that about Army men so maybe she could get an upper hand.

Ike was the first to come at her, pushing her back so hard she hit the back of her shoulder on the edge of the wood cabinet. It hurt, but she didn’t have time to think about that before he pushed her into the counter and started taking off his belt. “I heard you got messed up with a belt the last time. Gotta love the Internet. You can find anything there.”

He was so busy gloating that he hadn’t noticed, and the other guy obviously hadn’t either since he was watching Ike like he was his lover in action, that she had grabbed a butcher knife out of the knife block. When Ike came at her she didn’t think, she didn’t hesitate, she just jabbed it into his stomach, ripped it out and sliced his brachial since his arm was in the best spot for that.

Of course while she was taking care of one the other guy got her from behind and threw her across the counter. He kicked her in the stomach as she tried to get off the floor and then he sunk his hand into her hair and yanked her up, ripping out some strands of hair with the force of his actions.

“You will die for that!” He twisted her around by her hair and punched her in her stomach and then in her face. Then he grabbed her and threw her across another counter.

She saw the silver without knowing what it was she picked it up so when he came back and grabbed her she was armed, even though she didn’t know with what. She jabbed it into his stomach and ripped it out then went for his chest. He pushed her back but she couldn’t be stopped. She kicked him in his knee cap and then she jabbed the meat timer into him again, and again. She just kept stabbing him in the chest and right into his heart on the last jab. She wasn’t sure how many times she stabbed the man because she just functioned like a wild animal afraid for survival and willing to do anything to make sure survival was a definite.

When she calmed, when she finally looked at the body on the floor she realized he wasn’t breathing and with the amount of blood coming out of him she would say he was dead. The other guy, Ike the devil in Scottsdale, was definitely dead.

Instead of focusing on the dead bodies in front of her she ran to the freezer and pushed the heavy latch up and opened the door. They ran out, shivering, shaking, teeth chattering. She hadn’t called the police, not because she hadn’t thought of it, but because her phone and other belongings went flying with the first line of attack.

“Phone,’ Paul’s teeth were still chattering as his shaking finger pointed at the wall. She ran to the phone and called 9-1-1. She felt the tears in her own voice trembling, but they hadn’t come to her eyes. It was like she was relieved that it was over. The guy who took her the first time, and the guy she didn’t know was involved but he was, were now both dead. They couldn’t stalk her, hunt her like a dear, and hurt her anymore.

Cops were in and out, the media had apparently started gathering outside, and her bosses were just getting through the line of yellow tape, but not the second line bordering the kitchen. They had to shout their comforting words to her. They apologized for something they didn’t do, but she guessed with it being Ike, their employee that they vetted before hiring, she could understand how they felt as if they dropped the ball somewhere. They hadn’t and while she wasn’t permitted to go to them she did give them a nod of acceptance, a way of trying to tell them this was not their fault.

The cops told her there was nothing she needed to fear because it was self defense and that’s how they were writing it up. Paul thanked her for saving their lives before asking if they could still do the magazine article there because any press was good when it came to business. She told him to talk to Eddie and Justin, and since he seemed happy with the request she watched as the cop let him under the yellow tape so he could go do what he wanted to do.

She rolled her eyes. People, it was always about money and press to them. It was never about the person, their feelings, their life.

She watched as the others were questioned and allowed to leave, but stood there wondering why she wasn’t allowed to at least leave the kitchen while they worked on working with the collection of evidence and note taking.

It wasn’t until she saw Takahiro clear the yellow border that she understood. They had called him and they were guarding her until he could come and guard her himself. Cops were like one big family. The good ones were willing to fight to help each other when they knew the other person was in the right. In this instance, they were willing to protect his woman—his…yeah, she was his, and she thought of him as being hers too.

He came to her swiftly and pulled her into his arms, holding her like tomorrow wasn’t an option, like today, this moment, was all they needed. Live in the moment, she remembered her father’s words. “Live in the moment, live the best you can and be the best you can.” That is what he always told her and at the moment it was just sage advice from a father who loved her unconditionally. But now, she understood it, she understood every word because the moment was all anybody had. Tomorrow might not come, five minutes from now might not come. There was no way to live for the future and still live. One had to do the best they could in the present moment, and in doing that, maybe, just maybe, their next present moment would feel like a little slice of heaven.

“I killed them,” she said to him.

“I know. You were protecting yourself. You saved your life and theirs.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s just that I killed them both and I’m not sorry I did. What does that make me?” She looked up into his eyes.

“Human,” he said to her. She wrapped her arms securely around him and held on to him. She didn’t break her hold as cops and MEs worked around them, moved around them like they were an anchored stove unable to be moved. She held on to goodness and finally said goodbye to hell.

Chapter Eight

T
akahiro walked into the kitchen and inhaled the smell of the vegetarian spring rolls he knew she was making. She didn’t make them anything like Chinese food, and for that he was thankful because he couldn’t stand them, but she used phyllo crust, baked the concoction in the oven and left out the cheese and sauces that made his stomach turn. She was actually good at this vegetarian thing. Being with her had pushed him away from meat. She didn’t cook meat so while she would cook everything else, including having some of his favorite sushi prepared for him, she wouldn’t cook meat. “You’ll hate it if I even tried,” she had said. He got to a point where he didn’t see a need to fire up the grill to make it so why bother. Marrying the woman had been the best decision he had ever made. The day after that last attack they had gone in, with a few of his friends from SWAT—or more like the entire team—as witnesses they had taken their vows. He still needed to get a minute off work for a honeymoon though.

He kissed her shoulder as she prepared her roasted vegetable salad. “The great thing about having my wife at home is food every day I come home from work. I know you quit that magazine, and I’m glad for that. And I know you started your own, but home cooked food never tasted so good,” he kissed her shoulder again and then stepped back to lean against the other side of the nearly u-shaped lanai so he could watch her work on the other side. He realized she worked from home and this strictly fashion magazine she was now running on her own with freelance personnel was perfectly time consuming for her, but since it was an online magazine at least she didn’t have a need to have an office set up with printing capabilities. She was working from home and still cooking every night. He cooked the nights when he hadn’t pulled a nearly double duty shift, but she really was the cook around there now.

“Well,” she looked at him. “You’re going to have to cook for yourself tomorrow, and the day after that too.” She twisted her mouth and looked at him in one of those ‘don’t even think of saying no’ kind of ways.

“What? Why? I have to work tomorrow and the day after that.”

“So do I.”

“But you work from here.”

“Yeah, and I think as the mother of your baby I deserve a couple nights of rest.”

“I…wait, what?”

She smiled and dried her hands before reaching down to the small shelf attached to the lanai. She pulled out a picture. “And baby makes three.”

He walked to her, pulled the ultrasound out of her hand. “Wait…wow, this is ours?”

She laughed. “Yep. I kind of thought maybe, but I was still having a period, still am actually just not heavy. I went to the doctor, they ran a test, and we’re pregnant.”

“But…I thought…”

“Yeah, it’s a girl. I’m farther along than I would have thought.” She looked down to her stomach. “I guess my poochy stomach isn’t just being bloated.” She shrugged.

“Yes!” he circled the corner of the lanai and grabbed her, pulling her into his arms. “Yes, baby, yes!”

She laughed hard. “I guess that means you’re happy, huh,” she kept laughing.

“Beyond happy.” He dropped to his knee and kissed her stomach. “I’m going to be the best father I can be to you. Your mother is an amazing woman so I know you’ll get that from her, but I will guard you, protect you and keep you safe.”

“I guess those boys better go running.”

“Unless they want to get shot I would suggest they stay clear.” He stood up and hugged her again while she laughed.

“I’ll be sure they know that when they come knocking at our door.”

In the course of a year he had met the woman he could love forever, married her, and now they had made a baby together. What could be better than that?

“Ah, man, I need to go get a nursery started. I think our room is big enough to put a bassinet, and a crib and…”

“Don’t go there. By the time she needs an actual bed you so better have a bedroom ready for a little girl or you won’t be getting through the southern gates.” She pointed downward and he knew what she meant.

“Okay, by the time she needs a bed I’ll have a room ready for her right next to ours so we can hear if anything goes wrong. Oh, maybe I’ll have the wall restructured so we can have them join with a door where you can just go straight through. Yeah, this is perfect,” he felt the wheels turning. He was happy to see she was leaving the details to him as she returned to her salad making.

She smiled at him. “Happiness is a choice,” she said. “I’ve decided to choose it. I think once I started to heal the nightmares stopped assaulting me. Now, even though I’ll never forget what they did to me, I’ll never let it haunt me either. I’m happy. I’m happy with you, with our life, with our home, and with the baby that grows inside me. I am so happy we found each other no matter what brought us together I think we were always meant to be.”

“I know we were,” he said as he hugged her once more. “You’re the only woman I want forever with—the only woman I have ever wanted forever with. You’re right. Happiness is a choice, and I’m choosing it too.” He kissed her sweetly thinking about the goodness that had come into their lives, the life that grew inside her, and the moment they shared together now. Happiness didn’t even being to cover the full depth of the emotions he felt right now. His woman, she was everything to him. He would never let anybody take her, or that baby growing inside her now, away from him. She was always meant to be his home, and of that he was certain.

He pulled her into his arms again and held her tight. There was nothing better than coming home to Sheila Nakamura every night and waking up to her every morning. Yes, this was his heaven on Earth, and she was the angel sent to reside there with him.