Chapter 23 - Tokyo, Again
Tokyo looked different when I arrived rested.
The first trip had been conferences, operating rooms, fluorescent lecture halls, and exhaustion.
This time there were children arguing over vending machines.
Walter photographing everything.
June apologizing to strangers for Walter photographing everything.
Hannah laughing more than I had heard her laugh in months.
We checked into a hotel in Shinjuku.
Not the one Rebecca and Sophie had used before.
That mattered.
Ethan and Sophie arrived later that evening.
I saw them first in the lobby.
Sophie held a paper shopping bag and wore a ridiculous cat-ear headband.
Ethan carried three smaller bags.
“You look financially defeated,” I told him.
“She discovered stationery.”
Sophie held up a notebook.
“It has tiny ramen bowls on it.”
“I withdraw my criticism.”
Their first day had gone well.
No missed plans.
No work calls.
Ethan had turned off his business phone.
That fact impressed Sophie more than any attraction could.
The next morning, all of us met at a park.
Walter insisted on feeding fish.
Ben almost fell into the pond.
June caught his jacket.
Walter claimed this proved school principals retained reflexes after retirement.
By lunch, Sophie and Owen were teasing each other again.
Then the mood shifted.
It happened because Ethan’s phone rang.
His business phone.
The one he said was off.
He looked at the screen.
Sophie saw him.
Her face changed instantly.
Not anger first.
Fear.
Ethan noticed.
He silenced the call.
“It’s okay.”
Sophie stared at him.
“Are you leaving?”
“No.”
“You said that before.”
The air around the table seemed to stop.
Ethan put the phone face down.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Then why are they calling?”
“Because work exists when I’m on vacation.”
“You said you turned it off.”
“I did.”
“Then how did it ring?”
Ethan opened his mouth.
No answer came fast enough.
Sophie stood.
“I knew it.”
She walked away.
Not running.
Important distinction.
Ethan started after her.
I caught his arm.
“Give her ten seconds.”
His eyes flashed.
“She’s my daughter.”
“Yes. Which means you don’t need to chase every feeling out of her.”
He looked ready to argue.
Then stopped.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen.
Sophie stood near a stone wall, arms folded.
Ethan approached slowly.
We stayed far enough away not to hear.
Whatever he said, she did not respond immediately.
Then he took the phone from his pocket.
Turned it off.
Held the power button long enough for the screen to go black.
Then he handed it to Sophie.
She stared at him.
He said something.
She shook her head.
He said something else.
Finally, she accepted the phone.
Walked back to the table.
Set it in front of Walter.
“Guard this.”
Walter straightened.
“At last. Responsibility.”
Ethan returned.
His eyes were red.
Nobody commented.
At lunch, Sophie asked him whether he had planned to answer.
“Yes,” he said.
Rebecca would have appreciated that answer.
Not the behavior.
The honesty.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve spent twenty years teaching people that I’m always available.”
Sophie frowned.
“I’m people.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You’re my daughter.”
“What’s the difference?”
Ethan stared at her.
Then smiled sadly.
“I’m still learning.”
That evening, Sophie video-called Rebecca.
The adults tried not to listen.
She showed her the notebook.
The cat ears.
A keychain shaped like sushi.
Then she said, “Dad almost answered work.”
Ethan froze.
Rebecca’s voice came through the phone.
“What happened?”
“He didn’t.”
Silence.
Then Rebecca said, “Good.”
Not sarcastic.
Not suspicious.
Just good.
Ethan looked away.
After the call, he stood on the hotel terrace alone.
I joined him.
“Don’t make this weird,” he said.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“I almost answered.”
“I know.”
“I wanted credit for not answering.”
I laughed.
“That’s very human.”
He leaned against the railing.
“I spent years thinking providing money was the same as being present.”
“Money matters.”
“Not enough.”
“No.”
Below us, Tokyo glittered.
The city had witnessed the beginning of one family’s worst year.
Now Ethan said, “Rebecca was right about some things.”
That sounded painful.
“I’m sure she’ll enjoy hearing that.”
“I’m never telling her.”
“Coward.”
He smiled.
Then Walter stepped onto the terrace.
“I heard cowardice mentioned.”
We both turned.
He held up Ethan’s phone.
“It’s vibrating.”
Ethan stared at it.
Then at the city.
Then back at Walter.
“Let it.”
Walter nodded.
May you like
For once, he did not make a joke.
And somewhere inside the hotel, Sophie laughed.
