Page 64 of The Scent of Happiness

“Excuse me. Behind you.” Their waiter stepped around Poppy to place a large slice of chocolate torte and two forks on the table, along with two dainty cups of coffee.

“I’m interrupting,” Poppy said. “I should go.”

“It was great seeing you,” Theo said.

“Same.” Poppy went in for a hug and connected this time. “Super to meet you, Brooke. Bye!”

Theo sat back down with a big exhale. “I apologize for that.”

“Why?” Brooke asked. “She seems nice.”

“I wasn’t sure how to introduce you.”

“Old friend works.” Brooke played with her fork. “For now, anyway.”

Theo’s fork hovered above the plate. “Attorneys talk to one another and—”

“I get it. It’s okay.” Brooke glanced toward the door. “She obviously thinks very highly of you.”

“I think highly of her. She practices the ideal kind of law—I don’t mean ‘ideal’ as in perfect, I mean that people with ideals go into her field.”

“You don’t have ideals?” Brooke asked.

“I have student loans. It’s hard to have both.” His gaze was far away for a moment, then he came back to himself. He gestured for Brooke to take the first bite of dessert. “How about you? Do you keep in touch with college friends?”

“I don’t.” Brooke took a tentative bite of torte. The rich chocolate melted on her tongue, loosening her words. “I might have stayed friends with more people if I’d graduated.”

“You didn’t finish?” His question didn’t sound the way it did when her parents or her brother spoke of it. He wasn’t judging. He was genuinely interested.

“I was at Michigan State,” she said. “But it turns out I didn’t like being so far from home, and I didn’t like my program. I was studying sociology. And college was…a lot.”

“I know what that’s like,” Theo said. “My mom couldn’t help me financially at all. And since my dad wasn’t contractually obligated to, he didn’t offer.”

“Ouch,” Brooke said.

“But we weren’t talking about me.” Theo turned his coffee cup around and around in its saucer. “I’m sorry about college, that you couldn’t swing it.”

“No, my parents paid. It wasn’t the money. It was just…everything.” Figuring out how to live with a roommate. How to not accept every single party invitation. How to study for classes where papers weren’t due for weeks at a time. How not to be late for every damned class. The Learning Resources Department was great, but she could never figure out the best time to go there to get help. “I didn’t have the systems I have now,” she said.

“So you moved back home.”

“I rent from my parents. Not the same thing.”

“You’re right.” Theo took another bite of torte, holding his fork loosely.

“And it…doesn’t…suck? It’s separate enough. Soundproof too, if I want to play my music late at night. The rent is low. The neighborhood is nice. My dad lets me use his car.”

“You don’t have one?”

“Driving is…”

“A lot?” Theo asked.

“Don’t make fun.”

“I’m not. Driving isn’t a requirement.”

“I know how to drive. It’s just not my thing.” She stopped herself from going on about why it wasn’t her thing. Given a chance, she’d explode into a five-minute monologue about body mechanics and attention splitting and accident statistics. But she pulled herself in. This was a date. Conversation meant back and forth. Short sentences. Taking turns. She ate another forkful of the shared torte. “I know it seems like I haven’t grown up, but I have. I have a good job and I live on my own without debt.”