She was always - always - so composed, he remembers, and he can see it now, in the way her face remains so carefully smooth. The memories are flooding back now - all of the little things he learned about her in their time together - as he walks slowly across the restaurant to where she is standing by her table.

He bows, low and deep - and that sets the waitresses to muttering again: who is this foreign woman, that he should show her such respect? And when he straightens again, he says, "It's been a long time."

It comes out in Japanese, of course, and the realization makes him laugh. There were no communication problems between them, back then. Still, they've come this far. So he smiles and tries again, in English this time - his English is passable, thanks to his many years working here and there, occasionally needing to translate for foreign customers, with barely a hint of an accent.

"It's been a long time."