” Minako is, of course, hiding her true hopes for the trip. Sakura looks thoughtful and pensive. She is trying to figure out what all this means. It...is Friday afternoon and Minako has invited Sakura to have dinner with her that night. They both live in the same building. It is a Spartan fifteen-story concrete building in a run-down section of Tokyo where the company accommodates a lot of its junior staff. The two young women had been planning to order in some delivery fast food and drink some. She completely understood. Her own needs had grown past the point of self pleasure and now fueled the curiosity and attraction to her best friend. Soon, her thoughts were consumed with the particulars of positions and her imagination began to take control. Paige noticed the silence and studied her best friend’s face. She was no doubt in deep thought. “Penny for your thoughts.” Snapped back into reality, Sydney quickly jumped to her feet and announced, “I think the fire needs another log.” . It was a hot, sticky night, so I sat on the sofa in short pyjamas, watching old movies. She got back a little before twelve, and after asking how the c***dren had been, went to the kitchen to fetch a bottle of wine and two glasses.We sat chatting about the event that she’d been talking about – a charity fundraiser – and then moved on to telling me about her plans for Mike’s 50th birthday party the following month. They had a huge social circle of friends, and people would be travelling from all. “I’m sorry. It’s just that this trip is so fucking stupid. I shouldn’t have to be here at all.” I thought that was all I was going to get, but she went on a few seconds later.“My damn boyfriend has gotten himself into trouble,” she began. As the story came out, I learned more than I wanted to know about the Canadian justice system. Her guy had gone with a friend to help him remove some possessions from the house the friend had shared with his already ex-wife. He was moving out. Well, the split.