26

AUDREY
“Are you ready? Got what you need?” Anton appeared at the door of my old room in the mansion in the afternoon before we left.
“Yes, just a few things. Come in.” I packed my old books in my bag that I hadn’t had a chance to pick up when I left home. Anton came in and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Hmm. This is Perry.” He picked up my brown teddy bear lying on top of my suitcase. “You carried this around when you were a little. You cried when I accidentally stepped on it.”
I chuckled. “Mom’s first gift. I’m taking that,” I said.
“And now you are leaving again. Aren’t you going to talk to Dad?”
“There’s nothing to talk about with him, Anton. I have nothing to say to him.”
“Stubborn man, is he? Yet you are keeping this house so that he could stay in here.”
“Where else would he stay? He still calls this mansion his pride after losing everything.” I sighed. “He doesn’t want me in his life, I know the same goes with me, but he’s going to stay here without his children for the rest of his life. It’s on him.”
“You’ve really grown up now, haven’t you?”
I shrugged. “I have to… to survive.” I locked my suitcase and set the key code.
“Done?”
“Yep. We can go.”
“Wait. I have something to give to you that I might've forgotten.” Anton stood up and then drew a small spray bottle from his jacket. He took my hand and placed it on my palm.
“My perfume. How do you have it?”
“I found it in Samuel’s room. He told me he would keep it until you come back. You came back, but he hadn’t had a chance to give it to you.”
“Oh, Anton.” I hugged him, and the tears were coming up again.
My father had always been in the wine business, and my life revolved around it that I had somewhat forgotten my mother. I have always been a Hopkins but never a Ross. My mother’s family name. The Ross’ came from a family that produces perfume. Their scent had always been in every corner of the world, but Mom cut ties with her family when she married Dad behind my grandfather’s back. The only thing that was given to her was the mansion.
But Mom loved making scents. She learned it from her family, and she passed it on to me, teaching me the formula as a teenager until it became my dream. I wanted to make perfume for her and build my own world with it, but everything was lost when she passed away. Dad wouldn’t let me connect with my mother’s relatives.
I laughed between tears. I opened the bottle’s lid and sniffed the smell. The scent has somehow faded through the years, but it was still there.
“Thank you, Anton. You don’t know how important this is for me.”
“Start again, Audrey. That’s what Samuel would have wanted for you.”
I embraced him again. “Thank you. You know what? I thought of something.”
He held my shoulders. “What is it?”
“Before we leave, can you take me around Dad’s, I mean, his former orchard? The flowers I used for this scent are there. I just need a few more minutes.”
“Are you sure? Aren’t you going to be late? I won’t mind since my flight is tomorrow morning.”
“I have enough time. We’ll go straight to the airport after this. I’m going to make perfume again, Anton. I will.”
“Okay.” He patted my hair and smiled. “I’ll take you there.”
***
The flight went smoothly even though I thought we would be late being stuck in a traffic jam for an hour. The plane landed in New York before I even knew it.
Chelsea went to her room first to rest when we got into our apartment, but I was impatient and excited to remake my perfume. I had dreamt of giving it its own name. I would carry on with my mother’s dream of making a brand of her own. I was beginning to remember who I really was before all the misery. I was more of my mother than my cruel father. I was more like Ross than Hopkins.
I slumped on my bed and laid out the ingredients I needed to enhance my old perfume’s scent.
I awakened in a great mood the next morning and met Chelsea in the kitchen.
“Morning, Chels.”
“Morning. Ugh, you know we’ve only been away for a week, but it feels like we've been gone for a year. I miss the suite and the tub, though,” she said while massaging her shoulders. “My body is awfully sore.”
“I was actually going to ask you to go to the spa after work.” I opened the fridge and picked up the butter.
“Jameson might ask for overtime, but I need that.” She grabbed a piece of the bagel on her plate and munched a big bite. I made toast.
“Gabriel might also ask me to stay late. The work has been left to Kline alone. I have to catch up. Maybe a late spa, then?”
“Ah, ah.” She looked and grinned at me meaningfully. “It’s Gabriel now, I see. It has progressed.”
“I will continue to call him Mr. Stark in the office,” I defended. “And this is just between you and me. I’m sure he knows you are aware of the situation.”
“Yes, why not? He followed you in Phoenix knowing that I was there, and it seems he doesn’t really care.” She smirked. “Gabriel Stark is finally breaking a rule.”
“Shh…” I hissed. “Just you and me. No one should know.” I took a bite of my toast and butter and gulped a glass of milk. I put the glass down. “I’ll take a shower first.”
“Hurry up!” she shouted as soon as I got into the bathroom.