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and only their grandparents would have seemed familiar to Hiroko. There were lots of non-Japanese at the party too. And she felt lost amid all of them. She barely even knew her cousins. And after she had helped clear the buffet, she stood alone in their backyard for a time, looking up at the sky, and thinking about her parents.
    “It must seem like a long way from home,” a voice said softly just behind her, and she turned in surprise to look at the man who had spoken to her. He was tall and young and had dark hair, and by Western standards he was very handsome. And then, just as quickly as she had looked up, she put her head down so he wouldn't see that she was crying. She was homesick, and so lonely.
    She stood looking down in mortified silence as he introduced himself. “My name is Peter Jenkins,” he said, holding out a hand to her, and she shook it. And then she slowly looked up at him again. He was even taller than Kenji. He was very long and lean, with soft brown hair, blue eyes, and an air of solidity about him. He seemed very young, but he was actually twenty-seven, and Tak's assistant. He was an assistant political science professor at Stanford.
    “I went to Japan once. It was the most beautiful country I've ever seen. I especially liked Kyoto.” He knew that was where she was from, and he really meant it. “This must all seem so foreign to you,” he said gently. “Just coming back from Japan was a shock for me. I can't even imagine what it must be like for you, never having been here.” Seeing his own culture through her eyes made it all seem very odd even to him, and he smiled at her warmly. He had a friendly face and kind eyes, and even without knowing him, she liked him.
    But Hiroko lowered her eyes again in embarrassment, and smiled hesitantly. He was right. It was a shock. She had been trying to wrestle with all the new impressions and experiences that had assaulted her since that morning. Even her cousins had been different than she expected. And there seemed to be no one here that she could really talk to, at least not for the moment.
    “I like it very much,” she said softly, staring at her feet, and feeling that she should have bowed to him, but Reiko seemed to think that she shouldn't. “I am very lucky,” she whispered, trying to look up at him, but unable to do it. She was simply too shy to look at him again, but he knew that. She was like a little girl, and yet very much a woman. And despite her age, she was nothing like any of his students. She was so much more delicate, so withdrawn, and yet at the same time, one sensed something quietly strong about her. She was an interesting girl, and apparently a bright one, but she had all the exquisite delicacy and gentleness of her culture, and just looking at her in the backyard, Peter Jenkins was bowled over by her. She embodied everything he had loved about Japanese women when he'd visited Japan. And all he could do now was stare at her, as she stood trembling before him.
    “Would you like to go back inside?” he asked gently, sensing that he had cornered her there, and she was too embarrassed to flee him. She nodded, and barely glanced up at him through dark lashes. “I hear from Tak that you're going to St. Andrew's in September,” he said as they walked slowly back to the house, and he silently admired her kimono. It was lovely. A moment later he found Reiko chatting with two friends, and he left Hiroko there with her cousin, who smiled at him and introduced her easily to the two women.
    Hiroko bowed low to them, showing her respect for the Tanakas' friends, and the women looked faintly amused as they watched her. Across the patio, Peter was telling Tak that he had just met their cousin.
    “She's a sweet girl, poor thing, she must feel so lost here,” Peter said sympathetically. There was something about her that made you want to take her under your wing and protect her.
    “She'll get used to it.” Tak smiled, holding a glass of