Page 125 of Perfume Girl

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.

Enough time to sabotage my meeting.

No,I was tired and not thinking straight. He wanted the money I was meant to get from Dazzle and Bazaar, so there was no incentive for him to do something like that. I needed a break from all this stress and as soon as I finished this perfume I would be taking one. Right after I set another appointment with Anna Rosenthal at D & B, ready to make licensing this a reality.

After carefully preparing the ingredients, I sat on a barstool with my ear buds in, shuffling songs on iTunes to keep the crashing and wailing outside at bay, and added each one carefully. Then I drew the Orris oil into a pipette.

The work was time-consuming and hypnotic.

I jolted when Astor’s arms wrapped around my waist. He pulled me back and I leaned against his chest, relaxing as he hugged me. I looked over my shoulder to see he was dressed in his own clothes again. “What’s the time?”