The Scent of Rain (33 page)

She knocked softly on the door and then pushed it open. Jesse was bent over in his chair, his head in his hands. She rushed to his side and crouched beside him. “I'm sorry about Dave,” she said.

He nodded.

“Jesse—”

“Arnaud wants you back in Paris.” He nodded. “You can have your scent back then. No dog shampoo and spritzer. I'm sure Givaudan will make better use of it.”

“I'll have to cheapen it with a few chemicals to get it on the market, but, Jesse, I promised it to you. If you want Volatility!, it's yours. It's the least I can do.” What she wanted to tell him was that if he wanted her, she was his. All he had to do was nibble at her offer.

“When will you leave?”

“Not until Kensie is on her feet. I suppose that will be around Christmas—and I promised to stay till then anyway. I'm going to have her stay with me in the house.”

“What? Why the sudden love for Kensie?”

“Because I want to pay it forward. You all came around me and loved me when I couldn't smell. Anne housed me when I had nowhere to go. Mr. Riley brought me enough food for the next year. You all helped me get back on my feet even though I wasn't capable of doing what you hired me to do. I've had to reevaluate what makes me important. I always thought it was because I could smell better than anyone else, but it isn't that.”

His face came close to hers, and she felt warm and tingly just being beside him. He emanated a feeling of safety, and it was lovely, better than the scent of rain. If she could bottle that, it would put Volatility! to shame.

She felt his breath tickle her ear.

“What was it then?”

“It's that when I couldn't smell at all, God's people were there to pick me up off the pavement. If God's people can love me so much, God must love me just
because
. He's created a family for me wherever I've gone.”

“But when will you find a family from God that will make you settle down and stop moving?”

“What if I said I didn't want to go to Paris?”

“I'd say you were sacrificing yourself again, so focused on the details that you're missing the big picture.”

“While I help with Kensie recuperating, I might help with Ben too, if you need to get the product cycle quickened.” She looked down to the carpet. “Now that . . . you know . . . Dave is gone.”

“You're an amazing woman, Daphne. What will I do when you're gone?” He stood over her and gave her a chaste, grandfatherly kiss.

“You've made it this long, I'm sure you'll survive,” she joked. But in her heart, she wanted to tell the truth. She wanted to tell Jesse that she'd never met another man like him. “I'd better get out to my father.”

“Are you sure about the scent? You won't be offended by the dog shampoo?”

“The scent is yours. I'll have to change it chemically to make it work for Givaudan anyway.” She stood, and the way he looked at her, she willed him to say what he was really feeling. She felt his gaze to her soul, and with only one word of encouragement, she'd tell Arnaud to go without her. “I'll help you get the next quarter out like I promised.”

He waved her off. “Don't be silly. We'll make it without you.”

“Is that true?” she asked. “Your schedule is so full as it is.”

They stared at one another for a long time, but neither one said more. She left his office and explained to her father that the next few days would be busy. “There will be a funeral, I'm sorry to say, and lots to do to make the product cycle.”

Her father smiled. “That's my girl. A chip off the old workaholic block.”

“When will you be back?” Arnaud asked.

“December,” she said while staring at Jesse's door. “December is good.”

Jesse came out of his office and pumped Arnaud's hand. “Congratulations,” he said. “The best man won.” Then he strode out of the foyer and down the hallway.

The scent of winning trickled into her memory, and her eyes followed Jesse until he disappeared into the elevator.

Jesse berated himself all the way to the lab. He was being ridiculous. Yes, he had this amazing chemistry with Daphne, but he knew enough science to know that was all just pheromones and attraction. Just because he'd finally been attracted to another woman didn't mean he needed to go off the deep end.

Yet the thought of Daphne leaving Gibraltar tugged at his heart. She'd sprinkled her
joie de vivre
like glitter. As he headed toward the lab, his cell phone rang and he answered it on the first ring. “Abby?”

“Hey, Jesse, I heard there was an accident in town. You all right?”

“I'm fine.” He'd been so busy he hadn't even thought to call and check on his own son. “Abby, we're going to have to find a good daycare for Ben. I'm going to be VP for a while again.”

“VP? Jesse, no!”

“I have no choice. Dave is . . . Dave is gone. There's no one else who knows the business.”

“Just quit, Jesse.”

“I can't quit. I have to feed my son.”

“I'm not going to Cincinnati and leaving Ben with some stranger while you work your life away. What would Hannah have said?”

“I can't talk about this right now,” he said. “I have to go tell my scientists the clock is ticking. They have to come up with the products fast, and there's only me to review them.”

“Do you think there's no other way God can make a path for you than to work your entire life away? You're not helpless, Jesse. Yes, it's hard. Yes, you're not going to get to buy Ben all the fabulous wooden trains he wants. But that's not what he really wants anyway! Do you know he named his favorite train after you? He talks to it like it's you, because you're never here. That's the legacy you're leaving.”

“Abby—”

“Don't Abby me. I've got a good mind to petition to adopt Ben. He needs someone to be there for him, and you feel the call of dish soap is higher.”

Abby hung up on him. He had to get out of the office. John and Willard would find out soon enough. He thought about the two men in their lonely lab, all alone without so much as a conversation, and he saw his future. The rain fell and it fell, but if he didn't take cover, could he really blame someone else for his standing there soaked?

Daphne led her father and Arnaud, who were in a rental car behind her, back to her charming little house. Pride of ownership welled up within her, and she couldn't imagine leaving it. When she got to the stoop, she could hear her landline ringing, and she jiggled the keys to open the door.

“Getting the phone, Dad. Check out the place.” She huffed over to the phone and figured it was probably only a sales call. But it would be
her
sales call. “Hello?”

“Daph, it's Sophie.”

“Why are you calling on this line?”

“I was hoping you were home from work. I have a message I think I'm supposed to give you.”

“A message?”

“I read today about a woman who couldn't stop sneezing. No matter what she did, she sneezed and she sneezed. Through breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even sleeping. The longest respite she got was like a couple of minutes.”

“Can we talk about this later, Sophie? It's been a long day. My dad and Arnaud are here. And Mark's in jail.”

“He's where? What are you talking about?”

“And I've got my old job back.”

“In Paris?”

“Yeah.”

“You don't sound too happy about that.”

“I'm not, but I can't explain why.”

“I think that's why I had to call you. I knew that message was from God! This woman who sneezed all the time. She'd been holding in an ugly family secret. She was protecting her parents, protecting her brother, but it was wreaking havoc on her. So I was thinking, is there a truth that you need to say that no one wants to hear?”

“I don't think so.”

“Think about it.”

Daphne didn't have to think about it. She knew what the truth was. And the truth hurt. The truth was that the man who left her at the altar stole her job and her life in Paris. Was it so hard to imagine she'd have a physical reaction to that kind of rejection and betrayal? She now possessed what was taken from her, though . . . so why hadn't her sense of smell returned?

Epilogue

F
all stirred within the Ohio leaves. Daphne called out to Kensie as she peered out the window. “I think it might rain today!”

Kensie emerged from the first-floor bedroom near the kitchen looking like a million. She still limped slightly, and her figure was a little rounder from a lack of exercise, but she was still the most beautiful woman Daphne had ever seen in person. And she'd grown far more beautiful inside since giving up the need to manipulate people to have control.

“You look like a supermodel, only so much happier.”

“I feel like a super slouch, but I am happier. God spared my life, though I'll never understand why, and I want to make it worth His while.” Kensie smoothed her hair into a ponytail and clipped it while she limped toward the living room. “What are you smiling about?”

“This reminds me of my first day back, and that warm and cozy feeling. Now you'll be like the rest of us. No more of this part-time business.”

“You really are like a walking gumdrop of happiness, aren't you? Maybe if I were going to Paris in December, I'd be happy too.”

“It's so exciting to be in the lab. I love watching Willard smell what I put together and tell me if I'm on target or not. It's almost more fun than working by myself. Willard is always so encouraging.”

“Yes, you two have a mutual fan club. It's sickening to watch. Get that board from my room, will you?”

Daphne went to the bedroom and yanked a poster board off the bed. “What is this?”

“Open it,” Kensie said with a grin.

Daphne opened the flaps to reveal the artwork. “Oh, Kensie!” There were two colored drawings of dog products. Each bottle was shaped elegantly into an Eiffel Tower with blue and black writing on one and pink and black writing on the other. “
Parisian Dog for Him
and
Parisian Dog for Her
. It's beautiful! I never imagined.”

“It's going to jump off the shelves. And so will Givaudan's take on the cologne, according to your Arnaud. Isn't that wonderful?”

Daphne could hardly believe how wonderful. “My whole life I only wanted to see my perfume in a store. Not simply something I worked on, but the whole enchilada. Now I'm going to have a line of dog shampoos in a scent I created, and a cologne too. Of course I won't own either one, but I'll know they're mine. It's the pride of ownership. I did it. I mean, we did it!” Daphne hugged Kensie tightly.

“Speaking of pride of ownership,” Kensie mumbled as she pulled away, careful to balance herself upright, “I think the roof might be leaking in that back room.”

Daphne laughed. “Not even that can harm my mood today. This is everything I've worked toward.”