The Flavor Of Love (8 page)

“
Nothing is wrong with you! Man, I'm not saying anything is wrong with you. It's just everything seems to be a business transaction with you and I'm not down like that,” Etta explained. “I'm more carefree and when it comes to my personal life, I don't plan anything. Not anymore. I think if you plan for the future, you’re jinxing the outcome. If whatever happens, it happens. You know what I mean?”

“
That’s absurd,” Keigo scoffed. “Why leave things to chance when you can make preparations? Has it occurred to you that the jinx occurs because things weren’t planned appropriately? It’s hard to secure a future with such haphazard thinking.”

“
See, this is exactly what I’m talking about!” Etta let him have it back with both barrels of volume. “We can’t even agree to disagree! This proves my point. We wouldn’t
fit
.”

“
There is nothing wrong with a couple arguing at times and there is nothing wrong with an imperfect fit when it comes to relationships,” he continued to argue.

“
Please! Relationships are hard in general, so it stands to reason that a common ground would make things go more smoothly like a well oiled machine,” she countered with a slight smile of defiance.

They both froze in a stunned picture.

What was wrong with this picture? Keigo went over the argument in his mind. Satisfaction pursed his lips. He threw back his head and laughed.

She sat there, blank, amazed and tongue-tied.

“
I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s come over me,” he blew out a deep breath. It felt good to laugh like this again. “Do you realize what just happened?”

Etta voice rose in surprise. “God help me. I finally pushed you too far and you’ve completely flipped over the edge. I’m definitely going to be put under the jail for sure.”

“
No, maddening woman,” Keigo commented. He wondered why she only understood what she wanted to understand. “You claim that we don’t fit, but we just changed sides in mid argument.”

“
I don’t get it,” she huffed. “What’ your point?”

“
Etta, I became the idealist and you became the realist.”

“
No way,” she waved her hand as if swatting at flies. “There isn’t an idealist bone in your fine body.”

She likes my body?

Keigo’s grin grew wider.

“
Oh way,” she released a girlish giggle, reached out and hit his hand before placing her fingers over her mouth. Her expressive eyes grew wider and he realized she finally got what he was trying to say. “Oh, my God. You are so right. How did that happen?”

“
I was a lawyer before I became a Judge,” he stated as if it excused everything.

“
What does that have to do with what we were discussing?”

“
It’s a habit for me to argue the opposing views. Too many years of going from debates to courtrooms, I suppose.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what your excuse was.”

“
Me?” Etta winked at him. “I have no excuse. I just like being right.”

They laughed in unison, the earlier disagreeable tension evaporating out of the room and replaced with a more intimate tension that comes with the joy of being in the company of someone you find attractive.

“
Keigo," she said his name once again and he realized he had called her Etta earlier and wondered when that had happened.

When did she stop being Miss Jones and simply became
Etta
to him? It probably was when she said, 'if she was a witch, she would turn him from a frog into a prince.' How endearing could one woman be? It was refreshing to meet a woman that easily said what she was thinking. He didn’t feel the need to be anything other than himself with her; his old self, before his world turned upside down.

“
Yes? Did you want to ask me something?” He decided to get another bottle of water. “Would you like something to drink?”

“
You have alcohol in here?”

“
No.”

“
Too bad,” she muttered. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

“
Bottled water, it is.”

She turned in her chair as he walked to the mini fridge. He could feel her eyes on his back.

“
What I wanted to ask was. You said you were a lawyer before you became a Judge. Was being a District Court Judge always something you wanted to become?”

“
District Court Judge, no.” Keigo offered her one of the bottles of water and she accepted.

Standing in front of her, he half stood half sat on the edge of the desktop. “I had loftier dreams. I was going all the way to the Supreme Court. I was striving for my goal and doing everything necessary to continue an impressive resume.”

He twisted off the cap and took a sip before continuing.

“
Until a few years ago, I was a member of the Superior Court and for personal reasons I thought it was best to change over to District Court and from there to being televised. Now, I’m just another one of the television judges that they do comedy skits about on late night television.”

“
Ah, albeit a successful one,” Etta chimed. “Cheers to you,” she lifted her bottle of water in salute.

“
Not to my peers,’ he muttered and held up his bottled water cheering, “
Kampai
! Cheers!” He tapped his bottle against hers. “Look how far the mighty has fallen!”

Keigo tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but from the sympathetic look on Etta’s face, he wasn’t being successful.”

“
It sounds like you miss overseeing the more major crime cases. I suspect listening to petty squabble cases is boring in comparison,” she said matter-of- factly.

“
Yes, but it’s for the best,” his voice broke with huskiness. He cleared his throat of the lump that had lodged there during his reflection of dreams lost. He had quite a few of them.

“
Best for whom?” She asked softly. “I mean, when you chose your profession, I'm sure you chose Superior Court Judge because the thought of it thrilled you. What changed?”

“
I suppose…I changed,” Keigo said blandly.

“
How so?”

He shrugged his shoulders. Keigo didn’t know why he suddenly felt chatty with Etta, but it felt good to speak about his lost dreams to someone who didn’t have a vested interest in the outcome of his life. With that in mind, he forged ahead.

“
When I started out, I really only had myself to consider. Of course my parent’s opinions were important to me and I was fortunate that they weren’t so tied to the old Japanese ways that they didn’t leave room for me to have my own dreams. My father was an accountant and he was disappointed that I wasn’t going to follow in his footsteps.”

“
Did he get pass it?”

“
Yes,” he nodded and took another drink from the water bottle. “He told me the only reason he didn’t object to my choice is because I chose a profession that could make positive changes in the world and he was proud to have a son that upheld the laws in a country he had come to call his home.”

“
Your accomplishments
are
his accomplishments,” Etta replied. Her voice was tender, almost a murmur. “I would be proud of you too. I’m certain he still is proud of you, regardless of the turn your path has taken.”

He stared with complete surprise on his face.
She understood
. New and unexpected warmth surged through him.

“
It wasn’t a decision I made likely but I had risked all for the dream. I was so selfish that I never considered the potential dangers that came with these dreams, until it was too late…” his voice trailed off into silence. Guilt pressed hard in his chest.

“
Late how?” Her lips puckered with annoyance. “You’re still a young man. It’s never too late to pursue a dream. In your case, it would be a continuation; you’re just taking a break because you’re still in the same field.”

“
Aren’t you the same woman that told me I didn’t have the stomach for this business?”

“
Yeah, I was talking about the television business,” she said. “It’s obvious you don’t care that much for this business. You don’t even know how to play your best side up to the cameras. A day like this would be a Reality TV whore’s dream. Instead of thinking how great your ratings would be you were thinking what a pain in the ass I was being.”

Keigo shook himself. “Speaking of, that brings us full circle to why you’re here in my chambers.”

Etta moaned and took a drink of water. She pulled the bottle away from her lips. “You would think by now I would learn to leave well enough alone.”

“
No, don’t think of it that way,” Keigo declared. “I’m hoping now that we’ve had the chance to get to know each other a little better, you will consider my offer.”

“
You never told me what the offer was,” she reminded.

“
I’ve been trying for the past hour.”

“
I suppose we should get on with it.” Etta moaned, placing a hand over her stomach. “Hey, are you hungry? I’m so hungry I can feel this cold water making its way down. How about I cook for you tonight and you can tell me what you have in mind?”

“
How about we discuss this, come to some sort of agreement and if you’re still speaking to me or not locked up downstairs, we can discuss dinner.”

“
Always the party pooper,” she pouted. “If it will speed up this process, then, okay I agree to whatever.”

“
How can you agree to something you haven’t heard yet?” He stared.

“
Easy.” Joy bubbled in her laugh and brightened up her eyes. “Over here I have the alternative and over here I have thirty days in jail. Well, I thought I made it clear from the beginning. I have no intentions of going to jail. So yes to the alternative.”

Keigo suppressed a grin watching her kick off her shoes. She drew her knees up towards her breasts. The voluminous skirt completely covered her bare feet. Folded in the chair, she nursed the nearly empty bottle in one hand swinging it back and forth.

“
The alternative is a month at Bent Arrow Camp. You will be in charge of handling the kitchen. We get three squares a day with desserts, anything else you decide to kick in will be up to you throughout the day.”

“
Won’t your regular chef mind?”

“
Not this year,” Keigo stated. “His wife is overdue and they plan on inducing labor the week he was set to come up.”

“
I get to do all the shopping and I don’t do can goods.”

“
Too late for you to create a garden and the nearest market is about an hour drive,” Keigo supplied. “Can good’s will keep better, fresh goods spoil and that’s wasted food.”

“
Not in my kitchen,” she pursed her full lips in deep thought. “Since we have to get what we need before we leave anyway, then let me do the shopping. I have connections for organic vegetables at a steal. We get what we need from here and I will can my own goods the old fashion way with natural preservatives. Do you have a freezer?”

“
Huge walk-in sub-zero.”

“
Perfect. I can do some vegetable mixes and soup stocks that will keep in the freezer. I also have homemade preserves and apple butter in my pantry. We can get a leg of smoked ham and hang it. That way it will last all month and because it’s cured, it will keep well. Any vegetarians, allergies, special diets I need to know about?”

“
Slow down,” Keigo smiled. “I can see your wheels turning. I will make sure Nan gets all that information ready for you and an open expense credit card so that you can get what you need. Once you have it all together, just let us know. We have refrigerator truck that will take everything up.”

“
Wow, I can’t wait.” Etta’s face glowed with excitement. “It will be like the old days traveling with the carnival. Being in the outdoors; definitely have to throw barbecues. Oh…oh! Maybe every Saturday we can have a bonfire and do smores. It’s okay to build a fire, isn’t it?”

“
Private property and I have a bricked in place for the fire to help keep it contained.” He frowned, shoving his hands in his front pocket. “I don’t think you will be able to do it every Saturday. Its rainy season, the showers can be quick, hard and unexpected and in certain areas, flooding and mud slides. We find it’s safer if we don’t allow anyone to go outside certain parameters if there is a weather report of potential flash showers.”

“
No worries, I will make sure I always have a backup plan.”

Keigo enjoyed, watching this side of her. For someone who went with the flow of things, when it came to her kitchen, she seemed to do a lot of planning. Seeing Etta like this was like meeting a new person. Even her expression changed, taking on a serious engrossed appearance. He silently admitted he found her thought process extremely sexy.

“
I’m glad you’re on board,” he voiced. “I can’t think of anyone better suited.”

“
Aw, that’s so sweet,” she crooned. “You need me, don’t you?”

“
Huh?” He blinked once. Twice. He noted her smug smile and decided to knock her down a peg or two. How easy it was for her to forget why she was going. “I suppose I should have said, I couldn’t think of anyone better suited at such short notice and free of charge,” he revised his statement.