The Scent of Rome

by Lise Gold

  41

  “Are you ready for this?” Mitch, the director of Consumers First, handed Nadine a file and took a seat next to her on the big, green couch in his swanky office. His company specialized in consumer product testing, secret shopper projects, focus groups and market predictions, and although they weren’t cheap, they were known to be the most reliable and respected consumer research company in Europe, with offices in Paris, Milan, and London.

  “I’m ready.” Nadine gratefully accepted the coffee his assistant brought her, then opened the file. She’d taken an early flight to Milan and would visit some stores after her meeting, then get a flight back tomorrow. She’d never had a face-to-face meeting that wasn’t escort related before and for the first time, she felt overdressed in her sharp, black suit and high heels. Mitch, who was English and had a thick accent, was wearing torn jeans and a buttoned-up pink blazer with seemingly nothing underneath. He was around her age, she guessed, and blended in seamlessly with all the millennials who were chatting and working at their standing desks in the large, open space outside his office.

  “Perfect, let’s dive right in.” Mitch scratched his thick, blonde hair and switched on the large screen on the wall. “I just want to show you our approach first, so you can get a better understanding of how we work.” He pointed to the screen, that showed a video clip of twenty people sitting behind a window. They all had microphones attached to their collar and were blindfolded. Nadine felt a surge of excitement at seeing her perfumes on the table in front of them. “What you see is a two-way mirror, like they use for police line-ups. They can’t see us, although they can’t see anything at this point as they’re blindfolded,” he added jokingly. But we can see and hear them. Sitting on the other side of the mirror are me, a psychologist, one of our employees taking notes, and a mediator, who gives instructions to one of our other employees who is in the room with the group sampling the products. We’ve used ten test groups, that means ten sessions with twenty people, so two hundred in total. To get a realistic representation, nine of the test groups were heterosexual, and one was homosexual.”

  “Interesting,” Nadine said, studying the men and women in the room. The way they sat there lined up and blindfolded made it look like some obscure ritual, and they seemed a little on edge. “And they don’t know each other, right?”

  “No. They’re also not allowed to speak at this point, so attraction to voice is taken out of the equation.” Mitch fast-forwarded the video and continued. “Our lovely Nancy is now applying your perfume to the neck of each person in the sampling group. Each perfume applied matched the tester’s star sign, and we then asked each of the ten women to smell the men one by one, then point to their favorite when they’d made their decision after going up and down a couple of times. After this, we reversed the process, asking the men to do the same.”

  “Okay.” Nadine anxiously tapped her fingers on the file. Although this was the biggest moment in her eight years of perfume making, she wished Mitch would just get to the point and give her the results first.

  Mitch held up a sheet Nadine had provided, that indicated which star signs were compatible with each other according to general astrology. “Now here is where it gets interesting, because to be honest with you, I was very skeptical about this,” he said with a grin. “But… eighty-two percent of our total sample was attracted to one of their assigned star signs.”

  “Really?” Nadine’s face lit up as she scanned the results he pointed out in her file. “That’s good, right?”

  “That’s very good,” Mitch agreed. Our target was sixty percent, so going on the first batch of tests, you already have solid evidence to back up your claims. He fast-forwarded the video again, and Nadine watched the people in the sample group blink against the bright light in the room when their blindfolds were removed. “Here’s the point where they can see each other, simulating a more lifelike encounter. They’re asked to smell each other again and verbal exchanges are still not allowed. Each of them then writes down the number attached to the chest of the person they’d most like to spend the day with.” Mitch pointed to another sheet in Nadine’s file. “Out of the eighty-two percent who chose one of their aligned star signs, seventy-two percent stuck to their choice, not knowing they’d picked the same person in the first place.”

  “Incredible.” Nadine sat back, finally able to relax a little. “So we can work with this, right? Use it for my retailer’s pitch and marketing material?”

  “Absolutely.” Mitch switched to a page with statistics on the screen before he continued. “My staff agrees that Stars Aligned is a very fitting name for your product and a lot of women in the office are very excited about it. They were fighting over the samples after our test day.” He chuckled. “But there’s also our last test, which asked our sample groups to describe the smell of the people they’d chosen, and all science aside, this may be the best claim so far.”

  “I’m all ears.” Nadine narrowed her eyes as she studied the words on the screen.

  “These are the keywords that came up before the initial blindfold test when the samplers were asked to describe each other’s smell without any perfume or products. Just to clarify, we asked them not to use any soap or shampoo and just wash themselves with water before they came in that day.” Mitch clicked his remote, enlarging the words ‘sweet’, ‘spicy’, ‘sweaty’, ‘manly’ and ‘neutral’.

  Nadine laughed as she read out some of the smaller words surrounding the bigger ones. “I see someone smells of garlic.”

  “Yes, we got some funny answers here.” Mitch clicked to the next slide. “But then, after applying your perfume, we got very different keywords. “Attractive and sexy,” he said, raising his voice. “Those were the keywords that kept coming up in the conversations.” He put his coffee cup down and turned to her. “Attractive is not a common word to describe smell. Smell, as you know, is generally described using more concrete words, like sweet, musky, sweaty, floral, powdery and so on, like in the initial test.”

  “That’s true,” Nadine said, her pulse racing with excitement. “So what you’re saying is their feedback after applying my perfume was emotive rather than descriptive?”

  “Exactly. Here we have words like ‘attractive’, ‘sexy’, ‘pretty’, ‘feminine’, ‘masculine’, ‘seductive’, and none of them are negative. They’re actually very powerful key words and all link back to the concept of attraction.” Mitch tilted his head and gave her a wide smile. “So we believe this is a very, very sellable product, even without the star sign message, which will appeal to some, but others might prefer a more direct approach such as ‘This will make you smell attractive’, instead of ‘This may help you find your soulmate.’ It all depends on the market, and we can look into that for you, if you want.”

  “That would be fantastic,” Nadine said, feeling more hopeful than ever. With Rome’s help on her strategy, she had some great tools to work with. She took a deep breath knowing she would have to concentrate on the rest of the meeting, because now, all she wanted was to call Rome with the good news. A smile played around her mouth as she pictured the woman she’d been spending most of her free time and nights with lately. The woman who had given her the confidence to finish what she’d started and to pursue her dream. The woman who had somehow found a way into her heart. She hadn’t even fought it. Not really. Because she’d found that by working together, she was stronger and more creative than she’d ever been before.

  42

  “I’m so happy for you,” Rome said, wrapping her arms around Nadine as she walked into her kitchen where Nadine was cooking up a delicious looking feast. She’d missed her while she was in Milan and had anxiously waited for Friday to arrive. “And I’m so, so proud of you.”

  “Thank you.” Nadine smiled widely as she kissed her, then rushed over to the stove, where her tomato sauce was about to burn. “I’m beyond excited,” she said, stirring the sauce. “And I’m ready to send out my pitch to the retailers. I’ve ad
ded in the report from Consumers First, and I think it’s good to go now, but if you wouldn’t mind casting your eye over it one more time, that would be great.”

  “Of course, I’d be happy to. But right now, I have other things I need to cast my eye over.” Rome came up behind Nadine and pinched her ass, then chuckled to herself. Before she came here, it would have been unthinkable that she would be so crazy about anyone, let alone a woman, but now, she couldn’t keep her hands off Nadine.

  Nadine turned around and kissed her passionately while she kept stirring the sauce behind her, laughing at the poor attempt to multitask that made the sauce splash over the pan. “I was thinking we could go out for drinks after dinner?” she said when Rome stepped away. “I’m making melanzane and I’ve invited Luca over. It’s not very romantic, but you know…”

  “You’re a total sweetheart.” Rome shot her an endearing look. “I’m going to make it my mission to make Luca like me and yes, I’d love to go out for drinks after.”

  “Good luck with the mission.” Nadine grinned. “Luca trusts no one and he’s generally grumpy and hard work. Any more news from your Italian lawyer?” she asked, turning down the heat before she placed the lid on the pan.

  “Yes, actually. Anton found out that Matteo already has one conviction of sexual harassment against him. It was over twenty years ago, in Japan, and for some reason there’s no record of it here in Italy. The victim doesn’t want to get involved, but it could still be good ammunition in court. I’m also glad Eliza agreed to help out, but I haven’t heard anything from her so far. As soon as we serve Matteo with a petition, it still takes ninety days until the first hearing starts so, although it will be awful if she does, I’m kind of hoping she’ll find some other women to come forward sooner rather than later. I assume he’ll stay away from the office or at least from me for a while and if he doesn’t, I’m hoping the HR department can make him work remotely as soon as he’s been served. They insisted on arranging a meeting with a view to mediating, but he didn’t show up, thank God.”

  “I hope so too. I worry every day you go to work,” Nadine said. “And it’s very nice of Eliza to help, it’s a good idea to ask a local. It’s not like being in the US here, where people sue each other left right and center; Europeans are very uncomfortable with stuff like that.”

  “I know.” Rome hesitated as she looked for a sharp knife to help Nadine slice the eggplants. “Do you mind if I invite her to come with us tonight?”

  “Who, Eliza?” Nadine stared at her in disbelief, and Rome laughed.

  “Come on, you can’t possibly have a problem with her; you don’t even know her. She’s lovely and I already told you, there’s no need to be jealous.” She was glad to see a small smile on Nadine’s face and knew she was just being over dramatic. “The thing is, she’s one of the best PR people in the world and she might want to take a look at that plan of yours.”

  “She’s in PR?” Nadine narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t tell her anything about my perfumes, did you?” She was aware of her snappy tone, but she couldn’t help herself. Her perfumes were her babies, and apart from Rome and Consumers First, no one knew about her product.

  “Of course not. I just thought she might be able to help you out with some ideas to spread the word. She’s got a lot of contacts,” Rome continued, unwilling to take no for an answer. “Look, I know you like to keep everything close to your chest and figure things out by yourself, but the thing is, everyone needs experts. At some point you’ll have to hand over certain aspects of the business and trust others to help you.”

  Nadine sighed as she handed Rome a chopping board and two large eggplants. “I suppose you’ve got a point. I’m just nervous, that’s all, and I don’t like being nervous.”

  “No one likes to be nervous,” Rome said with a chuckle. “But it’s going to be fine.” She was glad she’d been able to return the favor for once, helping Nadine, and putting her at ease when she needed it. “You’ve got a beautiful product with an enchanting story behind it, and people are going to love it. All you need is advice from experts and if Eliza can help you out over a couple of drinks, why not?”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Nadine cupped Rome’s face and kissed her. “I probably need to stop being so precious about it and try to get over my fear of failing.”

  “Yes, you do,” Rome mumbled against her mouth. “Because you’re awesome and everything is going to be fine.”

  Luca narrowed his eyes at Rome when he spotted her at the table, but he managed a polite nod before greeting Nadine. He said something in Italian and pointed to Rome, to which Nadine yelled back at him, waving her hands wildly. The conversation seemed to get pretty heated, and Rome hadn’t prepared herself for drama tonight.

  “I can go somewhere else if my presence upsets him,” she said as she studied the old man who looked genuinely disappointed at seeing her.

  “No way.” Nadine barked something else at him and took the melanzane out of the oven, then ordered him to sit down. “I told him it was you and me now, and that he’d better get used to that or there will be no more melanzane.” She rolled her eyes. “God damn it, it’s like having a kid.”

  Rome poured the wine as Nadine served the food. She slid a glass over to Luca, then held up her own. “Salute,” she said, looking him in the eyes with a smile, then managed to say ‘nice to meet you’ in broken Italian. That seemed to thaw him a little as a hint of surprise washed over his features, and he grunted and held up his glass.

  “Good boy,” Nadine joked as she plated for him, then shot him a wink. “Although he claims he doesn’t, I’m pretty sure he understands English. There’s no way he could have run a bar in Rome for most of his life without being able to communicate with tourists.”

  Luca shot Nadine an irritated look, and she looked back at him, raising her eyebrows.

  “See?” she said to him. “You know exactly what I’m saying. Maybe we should just speak English tonight.”

  Nadine’s comment was met with another rant in Italian, and Rome held up her hands. “Hey, hey, guys, calm down. Please speak Italian, I need to learn so I don’t mind at all.” She sighed as she picked up her fork, bracing herself for a long dinner. “Just pretend like I’m not here, okay?”

  43

  “Hey, I’m Eliza.” Eliza gave Nadine a kiss on each cheek after greeting Rome. “Nice to meet you. I saw you walking past the bar a couple of weeks back when we were having drinks. That was an amazing dress you were wearing.”

  “Thank you. I apologize for not saying hi; I was in a hurry, but it’s very nice to meet you too.” Nadine put on her most charming smile as she sat down next to Rome.

  Eliza looked from Rome to Nadine and back, studying them with a curious grin. “So, are you guys now dating?”

  Nadine glanced at Rome, then put an arm around her and pulled her in. “Yeah, we are.” She kissed Rome’s cheek and shot Eliza a beaming smile. “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

  At that, Rome started blushing profusely. She put an arm around Nadine in return and tried to wipe the goofy grin off her face. “I have to disagree on that. I think I might be the lucky one.” It felt great to be out together, to feel entirely comfortable about people knowing. She was immensely proud to be with Nadine, and she didn’t care who knew anymore. Perhaps it was time she told her dad too, Rome thought.

  “You guys are cute together.” Eliza shot them an endearing look. “Not to mention, incredibly hot.” She quickly held up a hand. “Don’t get the wrong idea here; I’m super straight but you two are a sight for sore eyes.” She fanned her face for comical effect, making the black cape she was wearing flap around her like giant bat wings. She’d paired it with a black bodysuit, and in combination with her otherworldly lilac lenses, she could have passed for someone on her way to a Halloween party. “Anyway, what are we drinking?”

  “How about Bellinis?” Rome suggested. “On me, of course. I feel like celebrating, if only for the fact that I survived m
y first dinner with Nadine’s neighbor.” She beckoned the waiter over and ordered in Italian, then chuckled when she got a round of applause for that.

  “What about the neighbor?” Eliza asked.

  “Oh, he’s just a grumpy piece of work.” Nadine rolled her eyes. “And very protective over me; he refuses to share me with anyone and that’s about to change.” She turned to Rome. “Sorry you had to sit through that, I honestly didn’t think he’d be so rude.”

  “Yeah, he was pretty clear about the fact that he doesn’t like me.” Rome shrugged. “But he seemed to mellow when I finally snapped and started being rude back to him. I guess that’s the key to his heart.”

  “I think you’re right,” Nadine said with a chuckle as she sank back in the red, velvet booth and watched the barman skillfully prepare their cocktails. “I’ll have a word with him, though, next time we’re alone.” When their drinks arrived, she held up her glass and toasted with Rome and Eliza. “Thank you for helping Rome out with the case against Matteo. That’s very nice of you.”

  “Of course, Matteo needs to go down.” Eliza took a sip of her drink. “Someone came forward yesterday, but I can’t tell you her name yet as she’s not sure if she wants to take action. But I’ll let you know as soon as she makes up her mind.”

  “So there is someone else?” Rome sighed, and her heart went out to whoever it was. She’d started to wonder if he’d singled her out, but that had seemed unlikely. “Poor woman.”

  “Yeah.” Eliza shuddered and shook her head. “God, how I hate that man.”

  “I should have killed him when I had the chance,” Nadine said, balling her hands into fists.

  “No, it’s not worth getting into serious trouble over him.” Eliza turned to Nadine and looked her up and down. “But Rome told me you came to her rescue. Well done, girl.” She held up her hand and high-fived her. “Anyway, tonight is for fun, so let’s not talk about Matteo. How did you guys meet?”