Perfume Girl

by Vanessa Fewings

  By the time I arrived in Dunedin, I was close to feeling like a wreck myself. I left the car parked in front of Perfume Girl.

  I ran over to the shop, instantly getting drenched and chilled, and banged my fist on the door.

  This was probably the most reckless I’d been in a while, but then again I’d swam with sharks while trying to rescue a canoeist. And facing off with this storm was me pushing my luck.

  But Raquel was worth it.

  The door opened. Raquel was standing there with red eyes and a weary face. Seeing her like this sent a jolt of guilt through me. Had I caused her pain?

  “What are you doing here?” she said.

  “I was in the area,” I joked, trying to ease the tension.

  She gestured frantically for me to enter.

  Stepping inside, I shrugged my coat off and threw it in the corner. It would leave a puddle on her hardwood floors, but from the racket outside that was the least of our problems. “Have you secured the windows?”

  “Just finished.” She looked over toward the front of the store, which was covered in wood to protect the glass.

  It flashed through my mind that she couldn’t have managed that task alone. “Is Damien here?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Did he offer to help?” I pointed at the window.

  “He wanted to be with Embry.” She raised her hand defensively. “I didn’t want him here.”

  Those were the words I needed to hear. “What can I do?”

  “You shouldn’t have driven in this.”

  “I could say the same about you.”

  “I live here.”

  “Raquel, you risked your life to—” I stepped back to give her some room. “I need to know why you left suddenly. I’m assuming it wasn’t just the storm?”

  She gave me an accusatory look, her expression one of trepidation.

  “You should have called first.” She hugged herself.

  “You didn’t answer.”

  She gave a resigned nod. “Let me get you a towel.”

  Raquel led me toward the back of the store. Taking in the line of bottles and pipettes and all the supplies needed to create a scent, I shot her a look of concern. This was an insane time to be playing chemist.

  “I was keeping busy.” She forced a thin smile. “Come up.”

  Following her, I let out a sigh of reassurance seeing she was okay and I would at least be here to sit out the storm with her. “We’re looking at a Category Three,” I said, “but it feels stronger.”

  “Because we’re so close to the ocean.”

  Yes, I had noticed. My sodden clothes clung to my flesh. “I’m dripping on your floor,” I said apologetically.

  “It’s fine.”

  I followed Raquel into what served as her bedroom—though this was probably meant to be the office space or extra storage for the shop downstairs. Using my best stony-faced expression I feigned no interest in her makeshift bed. The mattress had been dragged away from the window. Her roughing it had been the reason I’d rescued her from here, and I felt another twinge of guilt, worried that I may have had a part in all of this.

  The windows rattled as the wind whistled and whipped outside. Any damage to the store would affect the value of the building. I started to ask about her insurance, but then decided she didn’t need to hear that right now.

  I stripped off my pants, relieved to be rid of the soaked trousers, and then pulled off my damp shirt. My boxers had to come off, too, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen me naked before.

  I looked over at her ready to ask if she had a robe.

  Her gaze swept over my torso and bare thighs. “I’ll grab you a towel.” She spun around and hurried into the bathroom. She quickly returned with one and handed it to me.

  Rubbing the towel over my head to dry my hair, I threw her a grateful smile and then wrapped it around myself. “Do you have a spare robe? I’ll put my clothes in the dryer.”

  “They could shrink.”

  I shrugged. “A risk I’m willing to take.”

  “Of course.” She hurried over to her wardrobe and brought out a blue silk robe with a Chinese design on the back.

  “I can’t wear that.”

  “It’s this or nothing.”

  “Don’t you have anything left over from…?” Yeah, from her expression asking that question was a bad idea. “It’s fine.” I motioned for her to give it to me.

  Dragging my arms through the sleeves, I felt like a complete idiot. It was too small and short at the hem and the sleeves hit halfway up my forearms. This summed up my fucking day. I was standing before her looking ridiculous—and the way she was trying to suppress a laugh proved it.

  I opened my palms in defeat. “Well, that’s the last of my masculinity gone.”

  “You look cute.”

  I chuckled. “I’m willing to risk my clothes shrinking so I can hold onto some dignity. Where’s the dryer?”

  “I’ll wash them for you,” Raquel said, smiling.

  The tension had lifted, and I hoped it might stay this way.

  I held her gaze. “Tell me you’re okay.”

  “I’m home, so yes.”

  Outside came the sound of metal crashing against metal.

  “Hope that wasn’t my car,” I muttered, though in all honesty a car could be fixed. I wasn’t so sure we could.

  “You shouldn’t have risked it,” she said, gathering up my sopping wet clothes.

  “I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Just tell me what’s really going on with you.”

  “I’m working on something downstairs that will explain everything.”

  “That’s not vague at all.”

  “Once I complete it I’ll be ready to talk more.” She nodded as though thinking this was logical.

  “Did you come up with a new scent? I mean other than the cologne you left at your workstation? You’re concerned I’ll want to own it because it was designed under my roof, and on my time?”

  She gave me a kind smile. “It preceded my time at The House of Beauregard.”

  “The new cologne you left with that note…” I shook my head in admiration. “It’s fantastic, Raquel. It really is.”

  “That’ll pay for the Orris oil.”

  “What Orris oil?”

  “The bottle I stole from your storeroom.”

  “Which one?”

  “From the Lithuanian collection.”

  She’d taken one of the ten five-year-old bottles of oil that we’d perfected—the rare irises that cost a small fortune.

  “Keep it.” I shook my head. “So this has nothing to do with me? It’s all about your ambition to create a new scent?” There was no other way to say it. “I know you want to save your store, but I feel like collateral damage.”

  She let my clothes slip from her arms and fall to the floor. “That’s not it at all.”

  “Then enlighten me.”

  “During the break-in someone stole my ledger that I write all my notes in. And they stole my perfume sample.” She was staring at me as though I might have answers.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “If I can replicate it I can save this place.”

  “It was the one you hoped to license to Dazzle and Bazaar?”

  “Yes.”

  “License it to me.”

  She sighed. “It’s complicated.”

  “I get it. If you created this formula under my roof its ownership would be questionable.”

  “I didn’t want you to believe I spent all of my time there simply working for myself.”

  “I’d have been willing to discuss all of this with you. It’s me, Raquel.”

  She lowered her gaze. “Legally you’d be protected. The formula would belong to you.”

  “So all you needed was a few weeks’ salary and you’d have the funds to see you through to the end of the month?” Is that what we were looking at here?

  Her expression looked conflicted. “No.”

&nb
sp; “Then explain why minutes after leaving a meeting with me and my sister you left?” I gestured, showing my frustration. “Without saying goodbye.”

  “I couldn’t let the meeting continue.”

  “Why?”

  She drew in a sharp breath. “Did Penelope say anything to you before you left work?”

  “She’s eager to see our new formula resolved.” And her passion for once was inspiring.

  “How did she seem?”

  “No different, why?”

  “I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye. I needed the time to resolve an issue.”

  I shook my head. “I’m trying to understand. I thought you and I were going somewhere.”

  “I just got divorced, Astor. I’m still picking up the pieces of my life and I’m not sure I could cope with…”

  “I thought everything was good between us?”

  “You told me you don’t do relationships.”

  “Before you, I didn’t.”

  “I refuse to be the fallout as a result of your reluctance to…”

  “Love?”

  “You don’t strike me as someone who wants that level of commitment.”

  I let the strike of her blow settle in the silence because that’s what her words deserved.

  Finally, I broke the quiet. “People change.” I gestured around the room. “I’m here aren’t I? You told me your leaving had nothing to do with us?”

  “It didn’t, not really, but it’s complicated and right now I’m not ready to tell you everything because the proof of why I’m doing all this is sitting on my workstation waiting for me. That’s what I was doing when you arrived.”

  “Proof of what?”

  “I need a few hours.” Seeing my frustrated expression, she added, “My formula ended up in someone else’s hands.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Trust me, I’m sure.”

  “Let’s get it back.”

  She gave me a rueful smile. “They believe it belongs to them. That it was developed in-house.”

  “Can you tell me who has it?”

  She held my stare.

  “Would Damien do this? Steal and sell your formula on the black market?”

  “He’s not cutthroat. Anyway, that’s why we’re selling the store. So he’d have the money to buy a new home with Embry.”

  “The one in South Beach.” I remembered her telling me that.

  If Damien was trying to impress Embry and was going for a waterfront property, he’d have the motive to betray Raquel. Those homes went for millions. He’d need more than the money he’d invested in this place. “How about an employee?”

  “I had a part-time assistant. Sarah never showed any interest in what I did in the lab.”

  “When she heard you were selling the store maybe she thought you wouldn’t notice?”

  “She was in North Carolina with her parents. She wasn’t in Florida at the time of the break-in.”

  Which was actually a great alibi. “That article about your store in Vogue?” I tried to say it as kindly as possible.

  “You saw that?” She gave a nod. “The publicity was great for the store.”

  “They hailed you as a talented perfumer. Which you are.”

  Her shoulders slumped with realization. “I announced to the world I had a lab here.”

  And she’d already admitted she’d failed to upgrade her security. “I have contacts in the industry. I can help.”

  “I have to face this alone.”

  I waved that illogical idea away. “Afterward, will you be willing to explore the possibility of us again?”

  “If that’s still what you want.”

  I walked toward her and cupped her face in my hands. “I’m here right now. Doesn’t that mean something?”

  She peered up at me, her face sweet and trusting.

  Being this close to her again was all I wanted, all I needed, and I tried to convey my feelings to her. “I’m good for you. I know this with every part of me. And you’ve broken through my defenses. You see me. And you help me trust what we have.”

  “Astor, what happened to you to make falling in love so hard?”

  I broke her gaze, unwilling to bring all that poison into this special moment. “Just tell me there’s a chance for us. If you say there isn’t then I promise to never mention it again. I will leave here after the storm and you won’t hear from me again.”

  “Promise you’ll have an open mind.”

  “With you?”

  “With how we began.”

  “I’m more interested in what we can become.”

  She looked conflicted, but then gazed up at me with hope in her eyes.

  “I’m here to chase away your fears. I’m particularly good in storms.” I gave her a comforting smile. “I’ll keep you safe.” I hugged her.

  Being under siege from the weather would be the cruelest strike of all if I wasn’t going to be able to touch her. Realizing I was probably overwhelming her, I let her go and stepped back. “Do you want me to leave?’”

  “It’s not safe for you to go.”

  “And if it was? If there was no storm?”

  She gave a resigned nod. “Stay.”

  “Let me help with your formula?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, I’ll find something else to do. Show me the supplies.” I needed to get my hands on a flashlight in case the lights went out.

  “They’re downstairs.” She picked up my wet clothes again and walked into a closet, dropping them into a washing machine. She added detergent and started the cycle. I just hoped we’d not have a power outage before she’d dried my clothing or I was destined to wear this silly robe for the duration of my time here.

  She shut the closet door.

  “Go on then. Work on your perfume. I’ll make dinner.” I strolled over to the fridge and opened it. “I can’t get over how small this thing is.”

  “It’s meant to be temporary.” She crossed her arms.

  “As far as I’m concerned it is.” And being here was going to provide the time we needed to talk.

  “Astor, thank you for understanding.”

  I turned to face her. “I’d do anything for you.”

  Her expression softened. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “So am I,” I said, walking back over to her. “Let me prepare the emergency supplies in case we need to bolt.” If the storm turned we’d need to evacuate and fast. “We’ll keep the Weather Channel on.”

  “Let’s avoid the channel with you know who on it.”

  “I don’t know, seeing Embry battered by a merciless storm might be entertaining.”

  She gave my arm a playful punch. “The good news is I have enough supplies to last for days.”

  I winked at her. “I always loved hurricanes.”

  IF ASTOR WAS HERE TO look for my ledger, he was never going to find it. Yet he seemed sincere. The fact that he’d driven all this way meant everything.

  I watched as he knelt in the corner rummaging through the emergency supplies. He found two flashlights and set them aside.

  I handed him a mug of tea. “There you are.”

  He wrapped his hands around it. “Thank you.”

  I took a sip of mine and the warmth soothed me. “Astor, I want you to know that this isn’t about me choosing my profession over us. This is more complicated than that.”

  He stood. “I thought I was obsessive, but you really are the perfume girl.”

  Maybe my obsession had caused a chink in my marriage just big enough for Embry to wedge through. I had to make sure I didn’t ruin another relationship because of this. “I suppose I can be a little obsessive.”

  But surely, if he had been the right man for me, Damien would have supported my passion as I had his. After all, that’s what people do when they love each other. They care about what makes the other come alive.

  Astor stepped forward. “I love that about you, Raquel. I love that you have a passion.”

>   His words made me beam with happiness. “I love that about you, too.”

  He seemed to mull that over. “I was thinking about the person who stole your scent.”

  “Oh?”

  “Do you know them?”

  I swallowed hard, wondering where he was taking this conversation.

  “You didn’t want to look at the file in my office,” he said. “You don’t believe I stole it, right?”

  “No, I…” All I needed was a few hours and Astor would be right here to see it. “I thought it best not to look at anything you were working on.”

  “I can’t shake the feeling that I’m somehow involved.”

  I decided to change the subject. “Are you hungry?”

  He nodded. “I’ll finish preparing the supplies and then cook for us. You do your thing.”

  “The stove’s upstairs.”

  “How does ravioli sound?”

  “Perfect. There are more snacks in the cupboard if you get hungry.” I stepped into his arms and hugged him. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Me too.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “More than you’ll ever know.”

  He picked up a flashlight and headed upstairs.

  I made my way into the lab and set to work. This was my happy place, and even though the world out there seemed chaotic and full of danger, in here, alone, I could lose myself in the process of creating.

  While waiting for Damien outside The House of Beauregard, I had used my iPhone to photograph the last page of my ledger to record my formula. I trusted Damien but if I lost that notebook it would take me weeks of work to formulate the ingredients. The day I was going to upload the data to the Cloud, the burglary had happened.

  Wait…

  Hadn’t Damien visited my store the morning of my meeting with Anna at Dazzle and Bazaar? He’d dropped off the papers for me to sign with the realtor—the same forms that still sat in my inbox. I’d set my handbag on the counter and left him alone with it for five minutes to go fetch his Italian cookbook, which had somehow ended up with me. He would have had enough time to take the bottle out of my bag and hide it on the shelf.