Everyone cheered, raised their glasses, and took a drink.
From the opposite end of the table, Chance pointed at me. “This one’s yours, McKenna.”
I took a deep breath and gazed at the faces around me. What felt good now had turned into one of my most stressful afternoons. Right after Grace left for her interview, Benni and I drove to All Day Delivery. Steward had been in his usual spot looking as grumpy as ever. Benni prodded me, and I told him we wanted to speak to Robert.
“Now what?” he grumbled. “Might not have been happy about my situation before, but you made me see how much I’ve been missing.”
His attitude wilted under Benni’s stare and he led us back to Robert’s office. Benni dismissed him and gave me a go-ahead look. Got it. My turn in the hot seat.
“Robert, your crazy old coot of a father needs to be let go.”
He ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair and shook his head. “What did he do now?”
“This isn’t about what he’s done, it’s about his future. Do you even realize he’s unhappy here? He hates this place.”
Robert hadn’t been surprised by the revelation, he just hadn’t known what to do about it. Once we explained about Steward and Claire and how they should have an opportunity to reconnect, he called Steward in. The old boy confessed to how unhappy he was just sitting on a chair all day, and to having demanded I set up a dinner with Claire.
I felt good about the day—actually, almost the entire week. We’d helped a father and son to start talking. Reconnected a pair of old lovers. And a tenant of mine had her life back on track. Now, it was my turn. I clanked my spoon on my water glass a few times. The high-pitched clinking drew everyone’s attention and soon there was silence at our table.
“You know, I just realized I didn’t prepare anything to say in this moment.”
Six pairs of eyebrows went up in anticipation. They were all expecting something great. But I had nothing monumental in my bag of tricks. “Don’t worry. I have nothing profound to say.”
Everyone laughed.
“Do you ever?” Chance shot back from the other end of the table.
Another round of laughter was interrupted by Benni when she held up and wiggled her fingers to show off her ring. “He did once.”
Everyone thought that was pretty funny, too.
“That’s what I wanted to talk about.” I cleared my throat and gazed at Benni. “Helping Grace has made me realize how important it is for me to do something meaningful.” I turned to Grace and added, “Mahalo for coming to me. By helping you, it helped me realize more about myself.”
“You’re welcome. But, I’m the one who owes you thanks. I got myself into a terrible mess, but you and Chance got me out. So, mahalo to you both.” Grace raised her glass and there were murmurs of appreciation.
I smiled in acknowledgment, then turned back to Steward. “And you, you old coot, you made me realize something else.”
“What? That you’re an old coot, too?”
Steward chuckled and Claire slapped him on the shoulder in a mock reprimand.
With a nod, I said, “Exactly.”
The table fell into stunned silence and Benni said, “I don’t think I like where this is going, McKenna.”
I turned to her and took a deep breath. “When I proposed to you on Maui, we were in a romantic location with the perfect setting for making rash decisions.”
The color in Benni’s face drained and the mood at the table darkened. I held up a finger. “Don’t be jumping to conclusions.”
I took Benni’s hands in mine and leaned toward her. “We’ve had some rough days lately and I haven’t exactly been helpful with all the wedding preparations. In fact, I’ve become grumpier all the time. It was when I ran into this character…” I paused and gestured at Steward. “That’s when I realized how I was going through the motions, but not living life.”
Benni’s frown deepened; her fingers trembled in mine. “What are you saying, McKenna?”
“What I’m saying is, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and spent so much time regretting them. I don’t want you to ever do the same. Do you? Have regrets over your decision to marry an old grump like me?”
She sniffled, and a weak smile formed on her lips. “You’re not always a grump.”
Once again, the table rumbled with chuckles.
Leaning forward, she kissed my lips. “No, I don’t have any regrets.”
A cheer went up around the table, but I quelled it with a raised hand.
“In that case, you may have noticed we have one empty chair. I was hoping we were going to need it.” I gazed at Benni and my heart thumped in my chest. “There’s no need to keep you all in suspense. I have someone waiting. I’ll be right back.”
I turned and went to the reception area. Fortunately, Tiffany was working tonight and had agreed to store my little surprise. I took the plastic box from her, exchanged a hug with my mystery guest, and guided her back to the table. Benni watched as we approached, her lips parted, her eyes misting over.
“Everyone, this is Sarah. She’s going to be performing the wedding ceremony. I invited her because I was—well, let’s just say I hadn’t been showing her the aloha spirit she deserves.” I opened the clear plastic container and pulled out the lei I’d purchased for the occasion. With a warmth in my heart I hoped showed to all, I draped the lei around Sarah’s neck and said, “We welcome you with much aloha.”
Benni stood and the two women embraced, then she threw her arms around me and kissed me again. “You did this? Why?”
“Because I’m a fool in love and I was following my heart.”
Her smile warmed me. Gave me hope. Sarah put her arms around both of us and whispered, “You two are going to be just fine. I can tell.”
I hugged Sarah, breathed in the scent of plumeria from the lei, and let myself relax into the moment. For once, I wasn’t thinking, evaluating, or planning, but living. I picked up my glass and raised it.
“So can I.”
AUTHOR’S NOTES
Let’s begin at the beginning. The scam used to fleece Grace Takahashi in The Scent of Waikiki is very real. There are plenty of legitimate opportunities for people to work from their homes, but responding to an ad or finding this type of job via social media is very high risk. While most people know this, they still suffer, as Grace did, from the “you gotta believe” syndrome and ask the age-old question, what if that four-thousand-dollars a week is real?
Grace was influenced by a scammer who knew what she liked, fragrances. The history of fragrances was cited accurately in the conversation with Colin Patel. Island Passion, however, is not a real company. It was deliberately not modeled on a real company because this topic is one that has its believers and skeptics.
The believers include not only the companies who manufacture pheromone products such as colognes and perfumes, hair conditioners, and body oils, but also many of their customers. There are plenty of reviews from customers who paid fifty dollars for a small bottle of product and believe it changed their lives. I have no doubt those people do believe their lives changed, however, the reason may have less to do with the effectiveness of the product than it does the belief in the product.
For instance, here’s a quote from The Scientist, a professional magazine for scientists, in which they cite a quote from zoologist Tristram Wyatt. “The placebo effect is strong. If you have spent $50 on something to add to your perfume, you might go out to the bar with greater confidence, and that’s how an effect by individual consumers could be realized—but it’s not because of anything in the products.”
The fact is, scientists don’t really know if, how, or why pheromones work. The research continues, however, as do the claims from the fragrance manufacturers. What we do know is those ectohormones talked about by Colin in McKenna’s apartment play a strong role in animal behavior and communications. Whether a product is worth fifty dollars or more for a couple of ounces is up to you.
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The Scent of Waikiki (Trouble in Paradise Book 9) Page 28