“Tell me what you think this smells like, Theo,” Jade says as she produces a lighter.
“You really don’t need to do that, Jade,” I say, smiling at her while trying to communicate with my eyes that I don’t want to know the answer to the question she’s asking. Not when I’m actually sitting here having a good time. If she lights that candle and he can’t smell it, I’ll be crushed yet again. Best not to know.
“This is for ambience,” Jade says, clicking the lighter to a flame.
I immediately blow it out. “The bar is ambient enough.”
The first time I saw one of these candles, it was when Ava gave one to Duke after their first meeting. At the time, I couldn’t smell the scent it gave off while burning. But ever since Ava’s wedding, it’s sweet, citrus yet earthy scent has been clear as a bell. Jade seems to think that the gems only release the scent around people who’ve been struck by a soulwink and is obviously keen to test that theory out. I’m not.
“Never hurts to add a little more,” she says, smiling back at me like she doesn’t see—or is ignoring—the warning in my eyes as she cups her hand around the flame and lights it anyway. “There.”
She steps back and smiles as she hands the menus to both Theo and me. “Can I start you off with drinks?”
“Beer for me,” I say quickly, the scent of the candle quickly touching my nose and reminding me of the moment in the dressing room before Duke and Ava’s wedding. We’d just been given our gemstone necklaces by Ava when there was a knock at the door. Theo was there, and it was the first time we’d seen each other up close since I was a little kid, and he was the teenage best friend of my brother who was always kind enough to let me hang around when the others teased me and told me to go away. Back then, I had an innocent little crush on him. But now, as a fully grown woman in front of a fully grown man, that crush wasn’t innocent anymore. I could barely speak from how beautiful he’d become. And it seemed he was a little shocked too, because we both just stared at each other for what seemed like an age before he found his words and told us everyone was ready for us then asked me to save him a dance.
That prompted every woman in the room—all married except me—to make a big deal about about the Whisper Valley Soulwink, swearing up and down that the gemstone around my neck held the power to draw two fated souls together with absolute certainty. They claim that their marriages are living proof, and that the way to tell if someone had found their Soulwink was if they could smell the candles with the gems embedded in the wax.
At the time, I wanted to believe what they said so badly. I think every single girl at a wedding secretly hopes the romance of the event will help her to find her perfect match too. So I guess I got caught up in that. But when Theo failed to have that promised dance with me, I realized that the Soulwink is more wishful thinking and pure fantasy than actual reality. And even though I’ve come to that conclusion, sitting here right now with a candle lit between us, my belly is alight with nervous butterflies. What if this is all true and he can’t smell the scent?
What if it’s real and hecan?
I don’t know which one I’m more nervous to get the answer to. I’ve spent so many years being anything but the object of a man’s desire that I almost don’t think I’d know what to do with myself if that changed for me. Do I even know how to kiss?
Will there be cobwebs in my you-know-what?
I shift in my seat uncomfortably as Theo says he’ll take a beer as well then Jade promises to be back soon for our order.
“What was that about?” he asks when she’s gone.
I narrow my brow. “What was what?”
“You not wanting the candle lit?”
“Oh, um…” I reach up and twirl my hair, trying to think of a plausible explanation that doesn’t sound crazy because the truth means a bunch of women in this town believe in magic and in reality, that’s kind of weird. “Her sister-in-law makes these candles, and she’s constantly trying to make people buy them. I didn’t think you were much of a candle guy.”
“I like candles,” he says, leaning in slightly and inhaling. I almost don’t breathe as I watch his face shift from inquisitive to confused.
“There’s no smell, right?” I say, a weight dropping in my belly as the realization hits.
He shakes his head. “No. There is. I’m just trying to place it.”
“I picked it as an earthy kind of citrus. Duke was more poetic about it. He says it smells like home.”
Theo pulls his head back and smiles. “You know what? It does. It smells kind of welcoming. Like you’ve just walked into a newly cleaned farmhouse, and there’s a pie baking in the oven.”
“Now you have me wanting a slice of pie.” His description of the scent has me smiling so wide, I feel like I might burst.
Theo grins and picks up his menu. “Then let’s see if they have some for dessert.”
THEO
“Ithink I need to hear the story behind your spontaneous vineyard purchase,” I say once our beers have arrived, and we’ve both ordered burgers with extra fries and two pieces of lemon meringue pie for dessert with a side of ice cream. I love that she didn’t even hesitate when ordering exactly the same amount of food as me. And I know this is a cliché, because it’s been done in books and movies a thousand times, but any guy who’ll happily sit there stuffing his face while his woman eats nothing but rabbit food is not the kind of man you want taking care of you. A man wants to see his woman enjoy her food and have a decent amount of meat on her bones. I’ve never bought into this size zero nonsense.
“My entire life in Whisper Valley was a bit spontaneous,” she says, licking the foam from her plump lips after she takes a sip from her beer. I watch her tongue move like the simple act puts me in a trance.
“Tell me everything.”
She looks at me for a moment like maybe she doesn’t believe I’m interested. But then she shrugs and launches into her story. “It’s not super exciting. I was passing through, got a flat tire and took my car to the garage to get it fixed up. The old guy there was real nice. When I told him I was on a cross country trip, he offered to do a quick safety check of my car for free. He even gave me his loaner car for the day so I could get around town, maybe do a little sightseeing. It was this cute little VW beetle convertible, and I just thought it was the best. So, I pretended like I was in a movie, tied a scarf around my hair and went driving along these long country roads for the fun of it.” She pauses to take another sip of her drink, and I realize I’m leaning in, enraptured by her animated storytelling. “Anyway, I was driving away—I don’t have to tell you how beautiful this place is, you just fall in love with it more and more the longer you stay here—and a For Sale sign half stuck in an overgrown bush caught my eye. I pulled over and decided to go knock on the door. I don’t know why, call me a sticky beak, call me bold, but I just wanted to see what this place was and what it was selling for. I had no intention of staying. But when there wasn’t even anyone there, I took a walk around myself. Not inside, just through the gardens. It was all so overgrown and half falling apart. But it was like I could see how beautiful it was back in the day, and how beautiful it could be again. So, I called the real estate agent listed on the sign, and before I knew it, I was signing contracts and moving into a broken old farmhouse, learning how to DIY and prepare the soil for new grapevines.”
