“Did you realize that recently?”
“In a way. Missy had me over for dinner, and after, she and I went to the garden while Eddie cleaned up. He wasn’t irritable or making it clear he was doing her a favor. He joined us, and when Missy spoke, he listened instead of speaking over her or telling her she was wrong no matter what she said. He forgot to make a medical appointment and didn’t blame her for not reminding him.”
“You’ve known them for years, though.”
“True, but I had never noticed the way I did that night. Then I came home to a table full of dirty dishes to clear and wash. Your father greeted me with complaints about the money I spent on the store and told me the toilet roll was empty in his bathroom.”
“He always does that.”
“This time I thought of the rest of my life refilling another adult’s toilet roll because they’d decided their time and energy were more important and better spent elsewhere.” She gives me a faint smile. “You said in Toronto that I didn’t have to be miserable.”
My heart is pounding. “Mom, you smelled my perfume. The moli perfume. Is this my fault?”
“You know it doesn’t work on us.”
“But…” I’m still uncertain. “What if it’s different for me?”
She comes to hug me, grabbing me tightly. “Never. Never think that for a moment. I made this choice, Luling. I don’t know what my heart’s desire is yet. I do know I’m free to find it.”
With one arm around my shoulders as if she doesn’t want to let me go, she reaches out the other to take the bottle. “This perfume you made, this Aiai,” she says. “It will be legendary.”
I laugh. “How do you know?”
“Because this has heart in it. I can smell it. This is what you’re meant to do, whether here or back in Toronto.”
“Well, it’s yours.”
“You don’t need to do this,” she says.
“I want the store to survive too.”
She sighs and reaches into her bag, then slides a check over to me. It has a lot of zeros on it and is dated from two weeks ago. “What’s this?” I ask.
“It’s the money from the moli testers I sold.” She gives me a faint smile. “As you know, the fifth daughter scents are by far the most lucrative, even if there’s only a chance they’ll work.”
“Why are you giving it to me?” She sold them for Yixiang. Didn’t she?
“Ana is lovely, but I wanted you to have the opportunity to get your own space if that was what you wanted. That’s what I was asking Rafe about. I wanted to know if there was a good place for Ile de Grasse.”
“Mom.” I don’t know what to say, but I do know I can’t accept it. Another one of my assumptions has been utterly demolished. Nor was she using him to get me back home. “I’m happy where I am with Ana right now. I like having a friend to work with.”
“I would like that too,” she says. “Missy knows a fashion designer looking for space, if we can find a place to share.”
I push the check back along the table. “Then take this and extend the lease on the Yixiang store. I want you to have it.”
“It’s your money.”
I point to Aiai. “I’ll make more.”
She laughs, then reaches across the table and I put my hand on hers. “Thank you, Lucy.” She wipes at her eyes and smiles at me.“Perhaps I’ll reach out to Kelsey and ask her to do the gift bags for the reopening.”
We laugh, and then we sit there, drained, as the sun goes down.
39
Hua Yitong
Qing dynasty. Yitong’s moli was in high demand after the Second Opium War.
