It was strange coming back to the boutique. Michelle and Lucille were alone. There were no customers and I was glad. Lorcan Shore had also left but from the looks the girls were giving me, I wondered what he had done to them. I was always open to conversation, but at that precise moment I was not prepared to talk to them about what had happened.
“Did you have much to do?” I asked them. They didn’t look at me.
“No, we didn’t,” answered Lucille.
“I’m sorry I left like I did,” I said simply and, because no one replied, I went to the back office. I didn’t want to, but I watched them on the security cameras’ screen. They were wiping the glass shelves, but whether they were talking or not, I couldn’t tell and I decided I no longer wanted to spy on them. Facing them sooner or later was something I needed to do. I opted for later.
Trying to do some paperwork was not the wisest thing in my state. I was shifting pieces of paper from one pile to another without even looking at what to do with them. Finally, I’d had enough of the morbid atmosphere. I needed to set things straight between us all again. The uncertainty of what had happened in the perfumery after I had left was too much for me to handle. I needed to know. And I needed to know now.
Getting up from the chair, I knocked my handbag from the table and it fell on the floor. Something inside cracked and I immediately picked up the bag. I sighed, relieved that nothing was broken. I went through the bag’s contents and found that my bottle of
Demain
was still intact. Holding up the bottle, it sparkled.
My life had changed back when I had first created the fragrance. Now it looked like this little bottle would be responsible for change once again. Small things did change the world.
When I entered the shop I caught the end of their conversation. Michelle was saying: “don’t want to be responsible.” She stopped when Lucille spotted me and lifted her eyebrows in warning, and both girls jumped up—not a good sign.
“You don’t need to stand up when I enter, ladies.”
There was no reply.
“I’m sorry but I just overheard; you don’t want to be responsible for what, Michelle?”
The expressions on their faces were plain enough. They were talking about me and about what had happened that morning.
They exchanged a look and finally Lucille answered.
“The neighbours. You know those loud ones? They were having a fight yesterday again. We were talking about whether to call the police, but in the end we decided not to meddle.” Her voice lost its strength in the end. She was lying and I knew it. I’d never ever heard them talking about the ‘fighting’ neighbours before.
“It is better not to meddle, isn’t it?” Michelle was trying to help Lucille. They were both watching me intently. I knew what they wanted to know; I could read between the lines, but I just had to know what had happened after I had left.
“Sometimes, yes. But not this time.”
“I’m sorry?” asked Lucille.
“I need to know.”
“About the neighbours?” Michelle’s voice was full of astonishment. I smiled.
“No, not about the neighbours. We all know that was a white lie. Tell me what you’ve seen and what happened when I left.”
Their faces paled.
“The truth. I need the truth.”
“Well, Lorcan Shore wanted to follow you, but we stopped him.” Michelle started very slowly. They were still exchanging looks more than they were looking at me.
“I hope that was the right thing,” said Lucille. I nodded. The knowledge that he wanted to follow me was enough.
“And?” I asked. Michelle and Lucille looked at each other again, as if uncertain as to what to say next.
“We didn’t want to interrupt you. You know?”
I smiled and walked over to the shelf housing my perfumes. I stood looking at the bottles.
“I know,” I said. “But I’m glad you did.”
I saw their expressions in the mirror on the wall.
“You are … What?” they said in the same voice.
“Are you insane?” said Michelle.
“Is he such a bad kisser?” Lucille asked.
I had to laugh out loud. That broke the tension between us. They laughed too.
“No, he is not and please, not a word to anyone. Is that understood?”
Their faces instantly became serious.
“Don’t you trust us?” Michelle asked.
“I do, I just needed to be sure.”
“We won’t say a word,” Lucille said. “Until you let us.”
“Right.” I sighed with relief. “Anything else I should know?”
Lucille nodded.
“Mr Dame called and told us that we could go home when you came back. Is that alright with you?” So the girls hadn’t told Dame that I had left the perfumery, then. But who had?
“Yes, of course it is. I don’t know why you came today anyway. Not that I’m not glad you did, but … Well, forget it. I’ll lock up soon and then go home myself,” I assured them.
“Then we’re leaving,” Michelle said and went to the doors. She paused there.
‘I’ll get our handbags,” said Lucille, and went to the back office.
“What is it?” I asked Michelle who was watching me.
“He wanted to know who owns the perfumery. He saw the
House of Dame
sign, but he wanted to be sure,” she answered. “We couldn’t lie, so we had to tell him that, yes, it was owned by Mr Dame.”
“It’s fine. He’d find out one way or another. When did Mr Dame call?”
“Five or ten minutes after you left. Oh my God,” Michelle said. “Shore called the boss. You’ll be in trouble.” Her eyes were wide with the realisation of what had happened.
“Don’t worry,” I said, as Lucille came back into the shop.
“Lorcan Shore called the boss. Desiree will be sacked,” Michelle said to Lucile.
“Don’t you worry a bit,” I answered them both. “I’ll handle Mr Dame.”
I saw the disbelief on their faces. I couldn’t blame them; they didn’t know the truth about me, or about Dame.
“Go,” I smiled. “Free practice will start soon and you’ll have to stay here.” That woke them up.
“Fine, we’re out of here,” said Michelle.
“See you on Monday.”
Suddenly Lucille turned around.
“One more thing. He wanted to know if you have two names or if you have a sister. You don’t, do you?”
I shook my head.
“No two names, no sister. Sadly.”
“Right. We’re off,” she smiled and followed Michelle. When they were out of the hotel, I locked the door and turned around the closed sign.
After doing that, I checked the place quickly. Everything as it should have been. No cards. No surprises. In the office the inevitable was waiting for me. I needed to call Dame.
Skype call was open and a message was waiting to be answered. I sat down behind the computer and turned on the television. I was not yet prepared to discuss the recent events with Dame. Searching the programmes, I postponed the inevitable.
“You’re there. I know it.” A new conversation appeared on the screen. Before I could answer, the sound of the Skype call filled the office.
“Are you alone?” Harry asked by way of a greeting. I saw his face on the screen and that face didn’t reveal much. He had light reddish hair, cut short. His green eyes usually sparkled, but right then I couldn’t see anything in them.
“Yes, I’m alone. You called and told the girls that they could go home. How could I stop them?”
“D.D. that was your wish.”
“Don’t call me that!” I interrupted him.
He nodded in response.
“Sorry. But it was your idea that we don’t tell anyone who the actual owner of the place is.”
I sighed. He was right. It was something I had wanted.
“Yes, I know it was my idea.” I gritted my teeth. “So, what is so urgent that you needed me so badly?”
“What happened this morning? Why did you run off like that?”
“How do you know I did?” I searched his face on the screen. No sign of anything. A suspicion started to rise within me.
“Do you have the security cameras connected to Paris?”
“What? No! What kind of question is that?” He looked appalled.
“Then how do you know?” I asked. He smiled and the small wrinkles near his eyes deepened a little. He was a very handsome man, and now that he was in his early forties, I often wondered why he hadn’t married. I hated the thought that I might be the reason.
“I know you had a ‘grand’ visit today.”
“Dammit,” slipped through my teeth.
“What did you say?”
I tried to make my expression neutral.
“Who told you?”
“Shore.”
“He called you?”
“Yes. He made a complaint that you didn’t want to sell him a perfume he wanted.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
We were watching each other, knowing we were playing a game of ‘cat and mouse’. It just wasn’t clear who was what.
“What did you tell him?”
“What happened?”
We were talking at the same time. He smiled at me. He knew I was hiding something.
“You first.” I didn’t want to back down.
He sighed.
“I would really like to talk this through in person and not through Skype.”
“But you can’t, otherwise you would’ve been here.”
“You know me.”
I nodded.
“Yes I do.”
He raised his head and was out of the screen. I presumed someone must have walked into his Paris office. I heard a female voice in in the background and afterwards the very loud bang of a closing door.
“I backed you up. What choice did I have?” he said when he reappeared back on the screen.
“Thank you. Anyway, what was that all about?” I asked.
“Nothing important.” He dismissed the change of subject. He smiled at me and I knew he still wanted answers.
“What?” I asked.
“So what happened that you didn’t want to sell the perfume to the one and only man in F1 for who you are ready to put your hand into the fire?”
I was silent, wondering what to tell him.
“On Wednesday evening we almost crashed on the Grand Corniche,” I blurted out before I had thought it through properly.
“You did what?” His face showed a disbelief that quickly changed to outrage.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Whose fault was it?” I was afraid of this kind of reaction.
“Well, first: he doesn’t know it was me. I think. Second: Golden Boy can’t do anything wrong, can he?”
“How the hell doesn’t he know it was you? And by the way, it wasn’t me who named him ‘Golden Boy’.”
“I was without these.” I picked up my fake glasses from the table. “And I had my hair down.”
Harry nodded.
“That might explain it. But are you sure? How come he came to the perfumery?”
I shrugged my shoulders. I wanted the answer to that question too.
Quickly I explained what had happened two days ago and the following events. All I left out was the kissing scene. If Harry had have known about it, he would have come to Monte Carlo before I’d had time to disconnect Skype. He was silent and his face told me he was thinking of a crash scene. He had a vivid imagination and that helped him with the business, but at the same time it was a nightmare for me.
“So
Demain
, you’ll take the perfume off the market?”
“It was never really for sale, as you well know. The bottle was just there. But now I’ve taken it from the shelf and… .”
“Okay, you’re the boss,” he said and I smiled.
“I know.”
“Do you need me down there?” he asked again.
“No. I’m fine. How’s the business?”
He waved his hand.
“You want me to disconnect, don’t you?”
“Another free practice will start in few minutes,” I said.
He smiled. I was lying.
“And you’ll watch. Golden Boy isn’t forgotten?”
“Doesn’t matter what he’s done to me. He knows how to drive…”
I saw how he tried to stay serious.
“At least on the racetrack, that is,” I continued and, although I saw Harry wanted to say something in response, I disconnected the line. I knew he was laughing in his office. I didn’t want to hear it anymore.
I was lucky. I had managed to keep some things secret. If I had been completely honest with Harry, he would have come to Monte Carlo as quick as lightning. I didn’t need it. I wanted to be mad at him, but couldn’t. I loved him too much. I owed him too much.
I leaned back in my chair and started to flick through the channels on the television again. I switched through only a few of them and there he was. Half an hour before the free practice the cameras were again directed toward Crest Racing Team’s paddock area. I rolled my eyes but had only two choices; watch or turn the television off. I decided to watch.