And in fact she was not all that disappointed . One reason was the terrible arguments she had had a few days earlier with the boyfriend who was supposed to be with her that night . They had been going together since school . The argument had started from nothing much, but it had taken an expected for the words and it become a long and Peter shouting match -one bad enough,she was pretty sure, to have snapped their long standing tiles once and for all . Something inside her and died. He had not called her since the flow up and she was not going to call him.
Herbert place was one of the better known Italian restaurants in the chic Roppongi district of Tokyo. It had been in business since the late sixties, and while it's cuisine was hardly cutting edge, its high reportation was fully justified. It had many regular customers and their were never disappointed. The dining room had a calm, relaxed atmosphere without a hint of pushiness. Rather than a young crowd the restaurant due and older clientele that included some famous stage people and writers.
The two full time waiters worth six days a week . She and the other part time waitress were students who took turns working three days each. In addition there was one floor manager, and at the desk a skinny middle East women who supposedly had been there since the restaurant open literally sitting in the one place, it same like some gloomy old character from Little Dorrit.
She had exactly to functions : to accept payment from the customers and to answer the phone. She spoke only when necessary and always wrote the same black. There was something cold and heart about her : if you set her afloat on the night time sea, she would probably sink any boat that happened to ram her.