Page 47 of The Rebel

“I don’t have that much time. Is everything okay? Is this urgent?”

“Yes, yes. Are you meeting Daisy tonight?”

“Yeah, she’ll be there.”

“Then yes, it’s urgent.”

That stopped me in my tracks. “I don’t understand.”

“I’d explain it on the phone, but you know I prefer talking face-to-face.”

That was Isabeau to a T. She liked to see your expression as she told you what she needed.

Oh well, a detour to their shop wouldn’t take that long.

“All right. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Excellent. We’re waiting for you.”

I couldn’t even begin to guess what they wanted to talk to me about. And why had she brought up Daisy?

When I arrived at Fragrant Delights, the sign on the door said Closed. It was only a little after seven o’clock. They were supposed to be open another fifty minutes. Damn, so this conversation required no interruptions? It had to be important.

I went inside and found both grandmothers behind the counter. “Hi! You closed early.”

Celine held up a small bottle. Her smile was wicked. “We needed to finish this and that so we could fully focus on you when you got here.”

Isabeau was more outspoken, but Celine was extremely powerful in her own way. She was quieter, but that only meant she could observe more.

“What’s this about? I told Isabeau I don’t have a lot of time.”

Celine nodded. “We won’t need too much.”

“Why did you ask about Daisy?”

“She was here today,” Isabeau replied.

I blinked. “All right.”

“She came with her friend Annelise. She bought a standard fragrance for her mother and wanted a custom one for herself.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I was ready to make her a concoction with freesia,” Isabeau informed me.

“That means nothing to me,” I admitted.

“True, we didn’t explain,” Celine said. “Remember that we spoke about an antidote to lilac?”

Again with that damn lilac!

“Yes.” I fought to keep a poker face as I leaned against their counter.

Celine beamed. “Freesia is the antidote.”

I frowned. “Do I want to know how you two figured this out?”

Isabeau shook her head. “Absolutely not. Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”