“Well, then, we’d better see what it’s all about,” I said. Then I turned to everyone else. “You go on. I’m going to take her around to the back entrance.”
“You’re not going to walk the red carpet?” Joni demanded. “That’s the best part! We might even get our pictures on Page Six!”
But I just shook my head. “We’ll be fine. Have fun.”
Sofia and I waited for everyone else to exit the limo. To my surprise, Matthew and Nina remained in the car with me, apparently wanting to keep their own presence discreet as well.
“I’ve done enough of those for a lifetime,” Nina said kindly. “You’re not missing anything, I promise.”
The driver took us around to the back alley, where a door was open onto the street, leading into the kitchen of the restaurant. Feeling a little like a stowaway, I followed Matthew and Nina through the kitchen, ignoring the irritated looks of the staff until we had found our way to a pair of swinging double doors through which servers were running in and out with trays and other things balanced on their shoulders.
Then we were inside. And I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Xavier had designed a dream. Chie sparkled with tiny droplet lights hanging from a black-blue ceiling, over sophisticated black tables and chairs clustered throughout the large space that seemed to tunnel into the city. A long glass-topped bar wound through the room like a starlit river, beginning near us, where a live band played music to a small crowd of dancers. The bar eventually reached the other end, where a hostess stood imperiously at the front entrance.
Every other inch of the place, however, was pink and purple. Camellias, cherry blossoms, and lilacs bloomed on nearly every inch of the walls and ceiling, as well as on the table tops and arranged in vases as tall as me. It was a color scheme borrowed directly from Sofia’s bedroom.
The restaurant was jam-packed, so we grabbed the first space we found—a bar style table near the dance floor surrounded by four high stools—but only after Matthew found the others at a table and a booth on the other side of the room.
I picked up one of the paper menus sitting in the middle of the table. On the back, I spotted a small children’s section decorated with a tiny drawing at the top—a flower I would have bet my life had been drawn by Sofia. Beneath it was a few simple Japanese dishes: Somen Sofia, Okonomi Sofia. They were all named after her. As I read through the ingredients, I recognized bits and pieces from some of the meals he had made her over the last few months.
This wasn’t just a restaurant. It was Xavier’s love letter to his daughter.
“Want something?”
I jerked and turned to find Xavier standing next to us, a shy smile on his face. Even through his nerves, however, he still projected dark confidence, several inches taller than most of the people in the room and lording over this little world he had created in an exquisitely tailored black suit with satin lapels.
“Daddy!” Sofia yelped, launching herself off her stool and into his arms without a thought for his fine clothing.
Xavier didn’t seem to care either.
“What do you think, Sof?” he asked her as he bounced her lightly on his hip. “Like it?”
She looked around the restaurant with the discerning eye of a food critic. “I do,” she told him. “Especially the colors. You did what I said.”
“Pink and purple, just for my girl,” he told her. “Did you see the menu?”
“Daddy, don’t be silly. I can’t read.”
I held it up so they could both see it.
“That’s my flower!” Sofia squealed. “And that’s my name!”
“That’s right,” Xavier said. “And see right there? It’s the dish we made. Somen Sofia, just for you, babe.”
“With the uni sauce?”
“Absolutely. Just for my girl.”
Sofia grinned so hard it looked like her face might break, and Xavier grinned right back, their twin smiles and sapphire eyes practically lighting up our small corner of the restaurant.
Something deep in my chest tugged. Hard.
Sofia kicked her little legs, begging to be let down. “I wanna go show the boys,” she said. “They didn’t believe the restaurant was mine.”
She snatched the menu from me and trotted off through the crowds like she owned the place. Xavier and I watched until she had reached the booth where Lea and her family were. Then Xavier turned back to me and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something. But nothing came out.
I frowned. “You okay?”