The realization is so big I can’t comprehend it. The Kelsey problem fades as I poke around the edge of this huge thought. I have my moli. I have it?
I need to call my mother.
No. I need to be sure.
After getting out of bed so fast I almost tumble into the wall, I right myself and run to the bathroom to grab a perfume. I usually keep a few of my own around. Standing on the chilly tile, holding my bottle of Jade Bracelet—a warm but green chypre—it hits me that I don’t know what to do. I emptied out the bottle I’d decanted Kelsey’s samples from, but even if I didn’t, I have no idea how to test it for my moli. I don’t think I felt anything from them, but I’m not certain. I can’t know if I have it for sure.
Goddammit, I’m back to square one.
I go to the living room and hunker down on the couch. First things first: I need to talk to Kelsey. It’s only two thirty in the morning in Vancouver. Still too early. I’ll have to wait at least four hours.
Never has time gone so slowly. I do my best to keep busy by having a shower (ten minutes), brewing coffee (ten minutes, but most of it standing there waiting—so, not helpful), and making my bed (less than a minute, because I only need to yank up the duvet). This still leaves many hours, since I reconsidered and decided to wait until a civil eight in the morning Pacific time to call Kelsey.
There’s no point trying to sleep, and I can’t do anything that requires an iota of focus. The bottle I took from the bathroom with the vague idea of trying my moli again sits on my kitchen counter. I take it with me to lie on the couch and watch a reality show about psychics battling it out over a deck of Zener cards. Lady Bliss is in the lead with an impressive run of knowing the tester had held circle, square, square, circle, and star.
Finally, halfway through the finale, where the psychics are helping solve a cold case, my phone turns from 10:59 to 11:00. I immediately call my sister-in-law on the West Coast.
Thankfully, she picks up right away. “Hello?”
“Hey, Kelsey, it’s Lucy.” Then I pause, wondering if I need to clarify. “Lucy Hua. Your sister-in-law.”
“Lucy, hi.” She sounds confused. “What’s up?”
“I was thinking about your call—”
“You’ll have the samples to me soon? So awesome. I should thank you, but honestly, it’s the other way around because you’re getting amazing visibility! Did I tell you that I’ve had so many requests for luxury gift bags suitable for chic tastemakers I’m now my company’s number one in sales?”
“That’s great.” My heart skips a beat. “I wanted to check a few things with you.”
“Sophie, get your brother’s bag from upstairs. Start getting himready for school, and don’t forget he has soccer.” She comes back to our conversation. “What do you need to know?”
In the many hours I’ve been waiting, I’ve come up with a perfect way to get the answer I need without making her suspicious. “The clients asking for the wedding and engagement bags—were they all ones who got my original samples?”
“Mmm, I think so.”
“Could you confirm it for me?” I press. “I want to make sure I don’t repeat the fragrance notes.”
“Is it that big a deal? I’m a little busy, and I’m sure it’ll all smell the same.”
“I suppose not,” I lie. “It’s just that you made a point of mentioning how sophisticated your customers were. Of course, women like that would notice. If you don’t think it’s a problem, I won’t worry about it either.”
That does it. “Give me a second, my laptop’s right here.” She pauses. “Let’s see, Hailey, Madison, Amanda, Courtney… Yes, all ten were on my original list.”
“All of them are getting married?” I feel sick with adrenaline.
“Unbelievable, huh?” She sighs. “They were in the perfect mindset to find love, and it came to them right away. Manifestation works. You’ll get me the perfume soon, right?”
“Sure thing.” I hang up while I still have my voice.
Then I lie on the couch and feel my heart beating so fast I worry about passing out. It’s true. I have my moli. I hug this knowledge to myself, waiting for a sense of completion to come to me. I’ve finally achieved what I’ve wanted my whole life.
I should tell my mother. Should I call her now? I can prove I’m a worthy daughter. A good daughter. I work through the conversation in my head, knowing I’ll be thinking of every possible way to tell her until I say the actual words. None of them seem right, though, and I shift to what her reaction could be. She’ll probably take it calmly, witha small tinge ofI knew you could do it if you triedorIt’s about time. Some of my excitement dies. It’s not like I want a party, but it would be nice to be left with something more than finally living up to an expectation.
Hold on. If I tell Mom, not only will I have to experience that lackluster response, but I’ll also have to run her gauntlet of questions delivered rat-a-tat under the guise of caring. It might be best to keep this to myself as I think it through, because I need some answers ready. For instance, why? Why now and not when I was twenty, like every other woman in my family?
Also, I’m in a very slight panic about this wedding stuff resulting from Kelsey’s bags and having provided a powerful moli scent to twenty strangers who have no idea of its impact. I can take one day to myself to figure this all out. One day will be fine. It can wait for that long.
I try calling Rafe with no answer, which increases my overall nervousness although I know he’s probably in meetings. I shoot him a text asking him to call, then sit, turning the bottle in my hand. The knowledge is too new and uncertain for me to be happy yet, leaving me tense and jumpy.
