Page 84 of The Scent of Happiness

Chapter Twenty-Five

Theo kept his head down at work while keeping an eye on the exit. He put out feelers at other firms, and as soon as one of them showed interest, he’d jump.

He went to the botanical gardens, stayed five minutes, and left. The next day, he did it again.

He signed up for a coaching package at the gym, so he’d be sure to get his sorry ass there every day. He worked so seriously for so long that his trainer had to cut him off before he hurt himself.

At home, he numbed himself with video games and movies. He did all of his household chores and Derek’s too. He took showers with unscented soap, at first grateful for the plain lather and then resentful of it. Showering without scent was like going to a black and white world from a world of full color. He went to the store and picked up five different soaps.

None of them were as good as Brooke’s.

Saturday afternoon found him sitting at the small table in his kitchen, tabs on his laptop open to two different legal databases, papers in four distinct piles, and a pad and pen buried somewhere in the mess. Stephen wanted him to draft three pretrial orders, and he’d dumped them on Theo’s desk last thing on Friday night. The timing was deliberate, as was the job, which was something the paralegals usually did.

Stephen thought he was being clever, stealing Theo’s weekend while putting him firmly in his place. But to Theo, it was a gift. He’d been working since six that morning, losing himself in analysis and research, while pouring his best effort into solving other people’s problems.

The sound of a key in the lock brought him back to the present. Derek walked in wearing his Hotshot uniform and carrying a bakery bag. The scent of coffee followed him like a caffeinated cloud.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Theo asked.

“I was at work,” Derek said. “For seven hours. Don’t tell me you’ve been—oh no. You’re sitting where I left you.”

“So what?” Theo asked.

“Dude.” Derek pulled out the other chair and eased into it. He opened the bakery bag and pulled out an oversized muffin studded with blueberries and sprinkled with rock sugar. “Here. We empty the bakery case on Saturdays and I hit the muffin jackpot. I ate two on the way home.”

“Thanks.” Theo pounced on the muffin and ate half of it in two bites. He’d kept meaning to get lunch after he finished the next paragraph. And the next.

Derek lifted a corner of one paper and let it fall. “For a guy so smart, you sure are dumb sometimes. Why do you let them do this to you?”

“I don’t let them.” Theo got a glass from the cupboard and filled it at the sink. “This is the job I have.”

“Why would you want a job that gives you homework for the rest of your life? I punch that time clock after my shift, I’m done.”

“So, you’re not going to make me a latte right now?”

Derek leaned back in his chair, completely unbothered. “People make fun of it, right? The other day a guy leans down to his daughter and says, ‘Study hard so you don’t grow up to work here.’ Said it right in front of me while I was making his coffee.”

“Rude.”

“So rude.” Derek took off his Hotshot cap and rested it on his knee. “But the thing is, I like being a barista. I work with my friends, my customers love me, and at the end of the day, I’ve made people’s lives better.”

“It’s coffee, Derek.”

“I know. That cup of happiness isn’t going to last long, but nobody is going to tell me that my job doesn’t matter or that I don’t make a difference.”

Theo shoved in the last bite of muffin, wondering why he couldn’t taste it. He worked his tongue around his mouth, reaching for sweetness he couldn’t find.

Derek found a pen that had fallen on the floor and tossed it on top of the highest paper stack. “You like serving your customers too, don’t you? You must, look at this pile of dead trees.”

“We call them clients,” Theo said. “Not customers. Clients.”

“Same thing,” Derek said. “But yours pay a boatload of money and don’t even get a tasty beverage to drink on the way out the door.”

Theo flipped him a middle finger.

Derek laughed and smoothed out the empty bakery bag. He got up and placed it in the recycling bin, then leaned on the counter with crossed arms. “Maybe I have a stupid life, brewing espresso and steaming milk. But you know what? Maybe everyone has a stupid life. Only my stupid life doesn’t come with student loans.”

Theo stared at the paper mountain in front of him. “You ever mess up at work? Show your whole ass and then some?”