The nightmare had been a bad one. Christina couldn"t remember much of it, but a lingering feeling of fear enveloped her. When she forced herself awake she found herself halfway atop Ulf, and to make it worse it was the half without any clothes that lay atop him.A familiar and very pleasant sensation stirred in her. "I"ve got to stop this, or we"ll end up in bed for real." She rolled off him and sat up in the darkness. By her side Ulf was a sleeping shadow, and she could make out the outlines of Yukio"s and Ryu"s futons in the darkness closer to the windows. "You guys are the best. Not a word of complaint, and hardly any leering at all." She sighed. "You"re teenagers! I couldn"t possibly be angry with you two if you tried to undress me with your eyes."
So dark. The lamplight from outside barely managed to paint the ceiling in a pale shimmer. It was still too early to rise. Reluctantly she dug around the futon for the T-shirt she knew lay hidden somewhere. Her bra could wait. Sleeping in one was just painful anyway.
A little more decently clad she looked at Ulf"s sleeping form. It looked solid, and safe. Memories of sleeping close to him told her he was hard in all the wrong places with muscles in places she had forgotten could have those. Safe was a far cry from comfortable. Still, his closeness gave her a sense of safety she had never known she wanted. Her first love all those years ago had been much too young and far too afraid himself to offer it. Her second one, well he was best forgotten; his very essence being the opposite of safe.
Christina giggled silently. With Ulf close she could laugh at the cheating b.a.s.t.a.r.d. "I love you. Bony and full of hard muscles. I love it all." And that was it. She loved him despite his looks. Good looks were a dime a dozen in her world. She loved him despite knowing he was probably broken somewhere deep inside. She loved how he somehow cared more for those around him than himself. "I love you for being Ulf. I love you for allowing me to love you."
With a sigh Christina touched his hair and let her fingers trace his cheekbone down to a chin that would never look very manly but still belonged to the man most important in her world. "For now you"re mine." She curled up in a ball and nestled close to him. This time she left some of the covers between them.
When she awoke for real the morning sun glared into the room, and she heard Yukio and Ulf murmuring a silent conversation from the chairs by the windows. They had drawn the curtain to the room to disturb her and Ryu as little as possible. Three futons littered the floor with covers sloppily pushed aside by the boys when they woke. In Ryu"s case he must have felt the morning warmth and thrown off his bed clothing. Now he lay sprawled halfway outside his own futon.
She got up and put on her yukata. It took a little longer than last morning since she didn"t need a repeat of how she had showed just a little too much skin to everyone in the room. Taking a bath with friends in an onsen was one thing. Walking around naked in the room was another.
Christina grinned at the memory. It had taken Yukio and Ko-chan some time to feel comfortable, but in the end luxurious heat must have won them over.
It was the second night in a row Christina hadn"t gone back to her own room, and she didn"t care anymore. This was their last morning here, and after breakfast they would all start the long journey home. First by taxi to the station, then a regional train to Nagoya and this time they planned to jump on a Shinkansen despite the cost. There were hours to be saved that way.
Another three days, and then summer break would come to an end. With a bit of luck she could share them with Ulf, or at least one of them.
She slid the door open and saw Ulf wave at her. She waved back, got into her slippers and left the room. First thing in the corridor she b.u.mped into a back.
"Who? Grandpa?"
"Tina? This isn"t your room."
"d.a.m.n! Is he going to be angry?" Fifty, it didn"t matter that she was fifty. This was her grandfather, and for him she was only a small child. Would probably always remain one.
"I just popped in to wake them up," she lied.
He looked at her with a frown in her face. Disappointment replaced the frown and all of a sudden she received a stinging slap that brought tears to her face.
"I already approved of him," he said. "If you sleep with him or not is your business, but don"t lie to me."
Christina wiped away the tears and looked down. Now she remembered how he had always hated lies, hated them with a pa.s.sion. She felt ashamed and elated at the same time. Ulf had pa.s.sed. As far as her grandfather was concerned Ulf was good.
"I"m sorry. I love him so much and I was afraid."
"That I wouldn"t approve?" She could hear a silent laughter bubble in his voice. "Tina, you moron. You"re fifty. It"s your life," and his voice turned serious again, "but your lies hurt me. Especially if you feel you must lie to me."
"I"m sorry." "No one else can make me feel this small." "I won"t, again."
"Good. Now go get changed and help me prepare breakfast."
She looked up and on a sudden impulse she hugged him. "Grandpa!" He was from another world in more than one sense. One where loving your children meant giving them a good slap when you felt it was deserved. She would never accept that, but he was still her grandfather. "Yeah." She ran off to her room. Memories from a life long gone rose in her. From when she had been a child messing around in a kitchen together with her grandfather. She had loved those times.
A little more frantically than she wanted to admit Christina got into some clothes better suited for kitchen work, left her room and ran down the stairs. A question by the lobby later she was let into the restaurant kitchen and went in search for her grandfather.