Judgement day arrived for the ‘time’ perfumes from the week before, so like always I went for a long walk to clear my head and quash any stray nerves.
Paris gave a person the ability to blend in, to be one of many, going about their day, so different from back home. I still hadn’t quite gotten used it. It made it so much easier to gather my thoughts which far too often drifted to Sebastien. Each day I found it harder to lie to myself. I was falling for the guy, an impossible situation. But he gave me no clue that the feeling was reciprocated so I focused on the task at hand, and tried to ignore the erratic beating of my heart.
This morning, I felt a lightness descend. Perhaps because I was truly confident the ‘time’ perfume I’d submitted was exquisite. Meaningful. Even if I didn’t win, I felt I’d taken a great leap forward and I was proud of myself.
At the apartment I made my way inside and took a seat as the others wandered in. Lex found me first and saluted. ‘America, the gleam in your eye suggests you’re pretty happy today.’
I smiled at such a Lex-ism. ‘Paris makes me happy,’ I said. ‘It’s a bit like living in a dream. What about you, Lex? Are you confident about your perfume?’
Tiny spots of pink colored his cheeks. Lex wasn’t big on bragging and hated admitting he was happy when he was pitted against us. ‘I like what I made. An hour to mix sure was a test, but I think I got there. I hope so.’ That same weariness sat heavy on him today, like whatever was bothering him had kept him from sleeping and turned him to the bottle to cope. One day he could run steps at Montmartre like a teenager, the next he looked like he’d spent the night tossing and turning. From my bag I took a small lavender vial and only hoped it would work. A sleep blend to wash the worry away, a little more naturally, so he’d fall into a deep slumber and rest properly.
‘I made you this,’ I said, and handed it to him.
‘A perfume, and to what do I owe the honor?’
‘Let’s just call it medicinal. It’s your new go-to when you’re wide awake at midnight.’
He raised a brow and took the stopper off, swishing the vial under his nose. ‘Makes me think of the minute just before you fall asleep, when your worries float away and you become part of the mattress.’
I gave him a wide smile. He was so prescient, so sensitive.
I still wasn’t sure about Lex’s past, but I sensed he was tough on himself over it, hence the drinking when all else failed. ‘Will you wear it?’
He grinned. ‘With pride.’
‘Report back, OK? Let me know if it helps.’
‘Sure, and thanks again.’
Sebastien and Aurelie wandered in, followed by Lila and lastly a flustered Clem who must’ve slept in. She tried to catch my eye but I ignored her, pretending to study my nails. We all grew quiet.
‘Last week you were asked to make a perfume about Time. And given its significance and the fact that it was a challenge, we decided to make it a little harder by taking the one thing away that you most needed. Time itself. An hour to make a perfume is a hard task so we knew it would show us how well you worked under pressure, and what gifts you have instinctually when that pressure is turned up,’ Aurelie said.
I lost a moment staring intently at Sebastien, soaking up every nuance of him, every smile line, the exotic color of his deep green eyes, the perfect symmetry of his face, the curve of his kissable lips, before he caught me and I turned away, heat rushing my cheeks. Whoops. Focus, Del!
‘The judges were amazed by what some of you did in those sixty short minutes, and more so by what Time evoked for you,’ she said.
There were a few murmurs amongst us before she continued: ‘Our winner this week is Del, with her fragrance Stolen Time. The hope for an interlude, for one more day, one last embrace.’ Aurelie’s voice cracked and she stopped and took a moment to gather herself. ‘It’s one more moment to declare your love, and give thanks. A truly extraordinary perfume that manages to stop time. Congratulations, Del.’
My eyes went wide as everyone turned to face me. I’d managed to bottle a feeling, a real emotion and it had translated so much so that Aurelie had teared up at the memories the perfume conjured for her. Lex gave me a pat on the back and Clementine gave me the thinnest of smiles. Lila leaned over and said, ‘Well done, Del.’
I nodded my thanks, suddenly too shy to speak. Like a whisper on the wind, I felt Nan’s presence, as if she was right beside me. I bathed in the warmth of her love and pride for one lonely second. Maybe she could reach through time? Maybe I’d summoned her? The thought made me smile.
‘In second place we have Lex, with his perfume Future Time. An almost apocalyptic fragrance, the likes of which I’ve never experienced. It was explosive, fiery, smoky, thunderous. The type of scent you’d wear going into battle, metaphorically or not.’
I returned the pat on the back, and couldn’t contain the grin that split my face no matter how much I tried. If I was sent home next week, then I’d always have this moment. And sharing it with Lex was a cherry on top.
While I wanted to win the competition I also wanted Lex to succeed. I felt he needed the win, needed to know he was gifted in a way others could only dream of. Nomadic Lex was running away from something, I could sense it as easily as I could coming rain. But what exactly was it, and why did he not pursue his passion for perfumery until now when he was so talented?
My ruminating was cut short by the next announcement. ‘Lila was third with Once Upon a Time, a fragrance for booklovers.’ Ah, she’d visited the lovely little bookshop on the Seine and had the same idea I’d had briefly when I’d stood in that dim room, wanting to pull up a chair and pull down a book.
‘That leaves us with Clementine with her perfume Time Off; about enjoying the break in your day…’
My stomach flipped. That meant she’d come in last?
‘I’m sorry to say it, but your time in the competition is over, Clementine.’
‘What!’ She was up on her feet, hands on hips, shooting Sebastien a glare so frosty I expected he’d freeze on the spot. ‘Are you mad? Honestly, who would choose Del over me?’
My mouth dropped open.
‘Del has broken her curfew a number of times, and that is cheating if you ask me! Isn’t it in the rules? We all have to be home before midnight, and I have a log of each time she came home late, waking me up and distracting me!’
Aurelie frowned. ‘Is this true, Del?’
Shoot. My high plummeted to a low. ‘Well, I might have missed curfew by a few minutes, but I didn’t wake Clementine, or distract her at all…’
Clem cut me off. ‘Oh, non? Then how do I know?’
I narrowed my eyes, as anger bubbled up, but Sebastien cleared his throat and spoke. ‘I’m sorry, I should have mentioned it earlier, but with my schedule at Leclére, we’ve been forced to have our mentoring sessions whenever I can fit them, and sadly sometimes that means late at night. Del has been at a disadvantage having me as a mentor, as I’ve been called away so many times, including while we were in Provence. Missing curfew by a few minutes is nothing compared to being left without a mentor for most of the week…’
Aurelie smiled. ‘Oui, of course. I’d forgotten about that.’
Clementine glowered at me. ‘So because she has a Leclére on her side, the rules are different?’
Sebastien stared her down. ‘Oui.’
She flounced out and I hoped we’d seen the end of Clementine.
***
The next day Lex found me in the shared kitchen. ‘Hey, America. It’s so god damn quiet around here.’
I gave him a sad smile. ‘I know, I kind of miss her in this weird way, despite her nasty side.’
Lex grunted. ‘You know, I don’t think it was ever about the perfume for her.’
‘Hmm,’ I said, considering it. ‘Maybe you’re right. She was far too invested in making waves. Still, she’ll pop up somewhere again.’ The world of perfumery was small, hadn’t he told me so the first day we met?
With a grin he said, ‘Yeah, in my nightmares. Speaking of which I had the best sleep I’ve had in years.’
‘The lavender worked?’
‘Like a charm.’
‘I’m glad to hear it!’ But there was more, something I couldn’t pinpoint. Another problem.
‘Did she break your heart?’ I remembered. The girl under the palm tree! Lex had come here for escape, and surprised himself by reigniting his love for perfumery, but he still had to reconcile his past.
He raised a brow. ‘Don’t hold back now, America, will you?’
I laughed. ‘Just tell me. Did she? Who was she?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. Her name was Arunya. I left Thailand to escape but not because I wanted to be here.’
‘What happened?’
He shook his head at the memory. ‘She had this little fruit stall by the beach, she sold mangoes, bananas, rambutans. I’d never met a woman as lovely, with her long black hair blowing in the breeze, the way she laughed always covering her mouth and hunching her shoulders. She was weathered though too. Sort of ravaged by the hard grind of life, you know, a bit like me, and I wanted to protect her, to save her. But she was happy as she was. Earning a meager income, sitting under the shade of a palm tree for hours on end every day. She didn’t want or need rescuing.’
I could picture Lex at the beach, the smell of tropical fruit wafting on the wind, the salty ocean spray.
‘I’d made a classic Westerner mistake. Walking on in like I had all the answers, like I was her savior. I hate that kind of person, I should have known better. But with Arunya, I had blinkers on, tunnel vision. I know it came from a primal place, I only wanted to shield her from hurt and pain and instead I caused it, by implying her life needed fixing when it didn’t. She’d been at that fruit stall for decades, who was I to come waltzing in saying it wasn’t good enough?’
‘So you made a mistake, but you made it with good intentions. Can she give you another chance to redeem yourself?’
‘Nope, it’s over. Well and truly kaput. She gave me this look like I was a disappointment, like she’d made a mistake trusting me and that put paid to us. She never spoke to me again, took her little shanty stall of thirty years further down the beach away from my homestay. I tell you, my heart broke for this woman, for the love I imagined we’d share.’
‘Did you try and sort it out, Lex, after that? It’s not like you did anything horrible, your heart was in the right place.’
‘I tried, again and again. She told me we were a mistake. After that I backed off. Maybe it wasn’t love for her, so I had to respect that. Then I heard about the competition through an old friend and I got out of there quick smart – it felt like the perfect opportunity to be elsewhere and lick my wounds for a while. I never expected I’d enjoy myself, that it would spark my passion for perfumery again. Now I’ve got to forget her and forget I made such a mess of it. Read it all so wrong.’
‘Oh, Lex. You’re being awfully hard on yourself.’ Lex didn’t read people wrong, he was too sensitive, too attuned for that. But maybe with love hearts for eyes, he’d misread the woman. Lex was one of the kindest men I’d ever met and I knew he would never intentionally upset anyone.
‘I deserve it.’
‘No, you don’t. Maybe she wasn’t the right woman for you, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on love altogether.’
He shrugged like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. ‘I’m too old for love, anyway, America.’
‘Pah,’ I said, and we laughed the mood lightening.
***
I called Jen, and she answered chirpily. I spent the better part of half an hour catching her up on all that had happened. She didn’t say a word, just gasped or sighed or laughed depending on which part of the story I was up to. When I came to a close she said, ‘Oh, Del, what an exciting time it’s been for you. What will happen with Sebastien do you think?’
Again I checked myself, expecting jokes about marriage and babies, but now she was secure with her love and her marriage plans, she didn’t goad me like normal. ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘The guy is still grieving, he’s so lost, you know, like we were after Nan with all this pressure and regret on top. It’s just not the right time.’
‘You can choose love over perfume, you know.’
It was my turn to gasp. ‘Jen, it’s not love…’
She let out a sigh, long and lengthy, to let me know she didn’t believe me. ‘But you admitted it to me, you’ve kissed him a couple of times.’
‘After that kiss he couldn’t race back to Paris quick enough.’
‘Del, honestly. This thing you do, it has to stop. Why can’t you just admit you really, really like the guy?’
‘Because I don’t, Jen. There’s definitely a spark between us, an attraction, but what would be the point of pursuing it? I’ve got this one chance here and I can’t mess it up. After the death of his father, and all he’s had to deal with, I might just be the tonic, but it wouldn’t last, would it? He needs to sort himself out first. And so do I. I need to make a new plan armed with what I’ve learned here.’
She clucked her tongue in a motherly way, not our mother, mind you. ‘Why not stay in Paris? Why not drop the plan and see what happens? I promise you won’t wake up in the morning and have turned into Mom. I promise.’
I scoffed. Have no plan! ‘Just no.’
She huffed and puffed. ‘You’ve loved every single second there, even when you’ve struggled, so why would you leave when you’ve got connections in Paris, you’ve got opportunities and friends!’
‘I’m not changing my plans on a whim.’ No way was I going to be that girl. Once I let go of the big things, then next thing it would be the little things and my life would just be a series of events out of my control. I didn’t want to end up like my mom, flitting through life as if she were in a Maypole dance. I had to have goals, and I had to chase them, otherwise I’d be stuck in Whispering Lakes forever, and as pretty as it was, I wanted more.