“I’ll talk to him tonight. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to live on the street.”
“I don’t think it will come to that.”
She left him, promising she’d find a way to help him.
After dropping off the heron with the bird veterinarian, Sedge bicycled back to the ryokan feeling happy about the help they’d given it, but his mind kept coming back to Mariko’s suggestion that he move in with her and Riku. He didn’t want to take advantage of her or hurt her if he struck out on his own eventually, but he also wanted the opportunity to get to know her over time, like he’d had with Nozomi when they worked together for a year at a bilingual arts magazine in Tokyo before they started dating. But was he only using Mariko to replace her, and to salve the scars deep inside himself she had caused? He didn’t know.
Moving into Mariko’s house would be scandalous to those who knew them—a Japanese woman with an American man, the two of them still married to spouses who’d run off with each other. But perhaps he and Mariko would pretend to have a renter-boarder relationship, as people sometimes did. The bigger concern was Riku. Sedge knew the boy liked him, and at times Sedge felt an affection for him, particularly when they came together over some interest they happened to share. But he also knew Riku had violent tendencies and might feel his claim to his stepmother was being threatened.
If he didn’t have to consider the boy, Sedge knew what he would do.
14
Mariko’s offer and Sedge’s deepening feelings for her encouraged him to research what divorcing Nozomi involved. He learned he could do it without her participation, though it would take time and be difficult. It would also cost more money than he had.
Over the next two days, Takahashi and Yuki were rarely at the front desk, though he knew through Mariko that they weren’t necessarily in Kanazawa. Sedge suspected they were avoiding him. Pained by this, he hoped they would all resolve their differences before he left, yet he had come to accept that they probably wouldn’t. He was clearly on the outside of Nozomi’s family now.
He wondered how much Takahashi’s attraction to Mariko had influenced his decision to make Sedge leave. There had been times when Takahashi betrayed his jealousy over Sedge’s relationship with her and viewed him as a rival. Sedge didn’t want to become Takahashi’s enemy, however.
With his departure fast approaching, Mariko came to his room again when she finished work. He let her inside quickly and shut the door. She said she could only stay “a New York minute.” He laughed and asked where she’d learned this expression.
“The other staff taught me. They said it had come up in one of your lessons and they found it funny. They use it with each other sometimes and substitute New York for small Japanese towns like this one. They’ve even used it with foreign guests.”
“I guess my teaching wasn’t completely wasted on them.”
“Not at all.” She looked away from him momentarily, her face troubled. “Can you come to dinner tonight? I want you, me, and Riku to talk.”
Sedge set out for her home two hours later. He arrived carrying a bundle of dried larkspur he’d bought at a flower shop along the way.
Already the dining table was set, and half the dinner Mariko had prepared was sitting on it. Riku, she told him, was tidying the kura to show them both later. She had put a bottle of local Harugokoro sake where Sedge would sit and was pouring ginger ale for Riku and homemade plum wine for herself.
“I’ve never seen you drink alcohol before,” he said as she set the plum wine on the table.
“The chance just never came up. I don’t like being drunk, but I enjoy celebrations. Please don’t let Riku drink. Kōichi used to insist on it, and Riku often vomited all night afterward.”
When Riku came in, Mariko warmed up the food that had cooled while she and Sedge were waiting for him.
“Have you heard from the veterinarian about the heron?” Riku said by way of greeting, sitting down at the table.
“Not today, no.”
“There’s been no news since he told you about its broken wing and vertebra?”
“He called once to say it’s taking food and water, which usually means that, barring a setback like an infection or a new break in what needs to heal, it will fully recover. But it’s still too early to say.”
“And if it doesn’t? Will they put it down?”
“Only if it’s suffering and has no chance to survive. Otherwise, there’s a ‘Bird Paradise’ in Nagano where permanently injured birds can live out their natural lifespans. He said he knows someone there and could get it in if necessary. So far it looks good for the bird.”
“What about my cage?”
“Do you want it back?” Mariko said, serving Riku.
“I want him to keep it if he thinks he can use it in the future.”
“Maybe you can visit sometime and talk to him about it. Maybe he’ll ask you to make more to have on hand in emergencies.”
Riku shrugged, as if his only concern was the heron he’d helped.
When they finished dinner, Riku was eager to show them the changes he’d made to the kura.
“In a minute,” Mariko said. “You know why we asked Sedge to dinner.”
“I don’t know anything,” he mumbled. “You asked him here, not me.”
Mariko watched him, her smile fixed, poorly camouflaging her anger. “Okay, but since you agreed to what I suggested, it amounts to the same thing, doesn’t it?” She turned to Sedge. “If you’ll have us, we’d like you to consider living here. Riku’s about to show us the kura he’s fixing up to live in, and he says he doesn’t care which room you take in the house as long as it’s not the same as mine.”
“Thank you,” Sedge said. “Just so you know, I have no idea how long it will take me to find a full-time job. It could be a few weeks, or it could be longer. I’ve been unlucky finding decent full-time work. Not even souvenir shops here or in Yamashiro Onsen want to hire me.”
“There’s lots of work around the village and town,” Riku said. “Handyman jobs and company drivers, for example. I could help you look for one if you want.”
Riku’s unexpected offer touched Sedge. “Thanks, Riku. But for the next few weeks I’m going to look on my own.”
“Why not let me help?”
Sedge smiled at him. “Because I’d feel better with myself if I did it on my own.”
