“I got you into The Little Beach House, a members-only club next to Nobu. Go ahead and get moving, and I’ll let them know that you’re on your way. I’ll have Brook meet you there.”
I turned to Haru.
“Do you mind if my girlfriend joins us?”
“That’s a great idea. I’d like to see her again.”
“Thanks, Lexi,” I said. “We’ll pick Brook up. How was the party?”
“Good. They catered it, and we combined the party with Frank’s people.”
That made sense because we shared office space with IDC – Public Relations.
“Enjoy your time off,” I said, and we said goodbye.
I told Manaia to swing by the house so we could drop off Hana and pick up Brook. Hana had other plans with Jiro. We then drove to the restaurant.
Color me impressed. The Little Beach House’s building was stone and exposed wood and had a Frank Lloyd Wright vibe. The dining room had floor-to-ceiling folding slider doors that were open; they led to a covered patio area that overlooked the beach. At one end of the room was a large fireplace. The whole place had an upscale, modern feel.
Once we received the menus, I wasn’t surprised to see the prices were on the higher side. Tsuyoshi Nomura, my Japanese mentor, had shared that it was a treat to go to lunch with me because I picked places they wouldn’t usually eat at. More likely, couldn’t afford. I didn’t tell him that Lexi was responsible for picking out the different restaurants. I’d just told her I wanted to try something new each time.
“Lexi told me this is a members-only club,” I shared.
“My grandmother got us in. This is part of the Soho House clubs. She’s a member of the Chicago one. Grandma said lunch is on her,” Brook said.
When I’d been here last year, I’d been to the one in West Hollywood.
“I was worried David was never going to ask me to lunch. I wondered if he was still mad about what my boyfriend pulled,” Haru explained.
He’d about broken my arm in a fight scene that turned real in an instant. I could live with never running across him again.
“If you promise to forget what you saw at the nightclub, I think we can call it even,” Brook offered.
Good call. We’d been a little adventurous while in Japan, and Haru had probably seen too much when Brook and I got naughty at a club.
“Deal,” Haru said, acting relieved.
After we ordered our drinks and appetizers, a manager came out.
“I wanted to talk to you about possibly becoming members.”
“I think the closest one to me is in Chicago, and that’s nearly a two-hour drive,” I said to slow down his sales pitch.
He smiled, and I realized that we were talking LA and their traffic. I sometimes forgot how good I had it. He obviously wasn’t put off by my response.
“Soho House is geared toward people like you, namely, creative souls. We’re not like other members’ clubs, which tend to focus on wealth and status. The original club was founded in the UK in 1995. We now have clubs in London, Chicago, LA, New York, Miami, Berlin, Istanbul, Barcelona, and Toronto. We offer a special membership for people under the age of 27 that can be just for this house. Or you can upgrade and have a membership to all the houses around the world,” he pitched.
“What makes the under-27 membership special?” Brook asked.
“It’s half-price. A local membership would be $1,000, and one for every house would only run $2,350.”
“That’s less than my dad’s country club,” I shared with the table.
It turned out Soho House offered more than just dining. They had bedrooms you could rent, beauty and grooming, and in London, they even had a theater. While it wasn’t cheap, you would be pampered in style. Brook pointed out that it might be nice for when I traveled to be able to stay there instead of a hotel. It was also a great place to take people for dinner. Before I realized it, I’d given him my debit card and ID so he could sign me up.
We spent the rest of lunch doing what I intended, getting to know Haru better. She was born and raised in Tokyo and had wanted to be an actress since she could remember.
“Why would you do that?” Brook asked.
“Because I wanted to work with David again. My agent and publicist are over the moon that he is in this show. The buzz of him taking us all out to American parties is big news back home.”
“I know, you’re big in Japan,” Brook said as she rolled her eyes at me.
“I can’t help it that they understand my star power better than they do here,” I teased.
Haru nodded and then blushed.
“Would it be okay if you took some pictures of him and me together?” she asked Brook.
