Page 65 of The Scent of Happiness

Theo held up his coffee cup. “Cheers to adulting.”

“Cheers.”

The dessert plate was down to one last bite, which neither of them were willing to eat. The last bite would mean dinner was over.

“Do you see Ashley and Chloe?” Theo asked. “What are they doing now?”

“Uh-uh,” Brooke said. “We’re adulting, remember? Why do you want to go back to high school?”

“I’m just asking. The three of you were inseparable.”

“I see them online and stuff, but we don’t hang out.” Brooke fiddled with her coffee cup. “Chloe is doing the fashion thing, and Ashley is married with two kids. They both knew exactly what they wanted, and went for it.”

Theo lifted his coffee. “What do you want, Brooke?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. Most people know what they want. Even if they don’t say it out loud.”

Brooke tilted her head and gave him a cheeky grin. “Right now, I want the rest of this torte.” She pulled the plate toward herself and scooped up the last bite of chocolate.

Theo reached for her hand across the table and twined their fingers together. “High school seems like a long time ago.”

“A lot can happen in ten years. Who’d have thought we’d end up here?”

“I did.”

Brooke’s thoughts seemed to skip a track. “You and me?”

“No, I never imagined that. But you? I could definitely see you with a creative passion.”

“Oh, you mean my side hustle that barely breaks even?”

Theo didn’t bounce back with a joke of his own. Instead, he studied her with quiet intensity. “I mean your art. Those incredible creations that you make, those combinations of scents and colors that not one person in a thousand could duplicate.”

“Sure they could,” Brooke said. “Follow the recipe.”

“Not like you do,” he insisted. “You put yourself into it. Your vision, your passion, your sensuality. You make rectangles of pure joy that bring happiness to everyone around you.”

Brooke held more tightly to Theo’s hand. She wondered if she was blushing and decided she didn’t care. She wished she’d saved the last bite of chocolate torte so she could feed it to him. She pictured his eyes closing, his mouth opening, his lips forming around the fork. She imagined the pleasure in his gaze as the rich sugar hit him.

She licked her lips. “How about you take me home and sneak into my house and I show you how I can make you happy?”

Theo pulled out his wallet as the waiter came to clear their plates. “Can we get the check?”

Chapter Twenty

The next three weeks flew by. One moment, maple trees flared orange and yellow. The next, their leaves carpeted the ground. Front porches sprouted jack-o-lanterns and the receptionists at Walker Blue filled candy bowls with mini Snickers bars and talked about what costumes their kids had picked out for Halloween.

Theo’s workload increased, but he refused to complain. No matter how much extra work Stephen dumped on him, he told everyone that his caseload was manageable, because he was a team player. He didn’t join Stephen on smoke breaks, and if he had a question he’d ask Mr. Blue or one of the other associates. He kept his head down and put in all the hours it took to end each day with a clear inbox.

He delved into research about soap, checking all the suppliers on Brooke’s list. Did any of them sell harmful ingredients? But Brooke only used top-shelf stuff, even when cheaper alternatives existed.

Dixie filed a civil suit, claiming everything from loss of work to mental anguish. Theo prepared replies with Stephen’s name on them, scheduling and then rescheduling the pre-trial conferences to buy time and annoy Dixie. He told Stephen his plans for drawing out the discovery phase by contesting as much as he could.

Stephen didn’t like it. “You need to cut this off. The sooner the better.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Theo insisted.