All That the Heart Desires (9 page)

They looked at one another.

“The hell you will,’ Lucille said. “We’ll clean it. You’ll stay in the perfumery all day—as punishment.” She had a big smile on her face.

“What? Why?” Michelle looked at Lucille and I thought I saw a conspiratorial smile on both their faces.

“You’ll see. We’ll have a lot of work today.”

I wanted to argue with them, but they disappeared into the back office and closed the door. I had a funny feeling they were cooking up something, I just wasn’t sure what.

But they were right. Not a minute later, three customers came in, all three asking for the same thing.
Demain
. At first I was shocked and surprised. I had a hard time trying to explain that the perfume was not for sale. All three ladies were not pleased; nevertheless I managed to sell them their usual perfume.

The last customer left the perfumery and I was heading to the back office to see what the girls were doing, when I was stopped by another customer coming in and asking for the same thing right from the door.

“I want
Demain
. Now!” I was accustomed to a lot of things, but really bad manners always threw me.

“We don’t have it…,” I answered. Before I was able to continue with my explanation, she twirled around and left, muttering under her breath.

“I know when someone is a lying bitch.”

My eyes widened. Although I had seen many different customers in the last three years, the ‘lady’ that had just left had the worst manners of them all. I hoped I would never have the displeasure of meeting her again.

There were similar scenes through the rest of the morning and I was tired. I was not even able to ask the girls to help me. I knew I’d made a mess in the office and, although I didn’t care, Michelle and Lucille were afraid of Dame, like the devil himself.

Finally, at one o’clock, I managed to escort out the last customer and closed the door. Without hesitation, I locked the doors and turned around the ‘back in half an hour’ sign. We never closed the boutique during the day. I just couldn’t believe what had happened. Somehow
Demain
had become hot stuff in Monte Carlo and everyone wanted it, and without even knowing how it smelt.

I asked several customers how they learned about it. All I got in return were odd looks. Something smelt and I was wondering who was responsible for that.

But I was lucky. All the customers who had come looking for
Demain
had at least bought something, with the exception of one. I should be grateful, but the ignorance of not knowing what had happened tortured me enormously. Why the sudden interest in my perfume?

I was heading straight to the back office and found both girls working on the papers. All the bills were sorted as they should have been a long time ago. Everything was cleaned. There was no trace of Friday’s meltdown.

“What’s going on?” I asked after I opened the door. They both became pale.

“We asked Mr Dame and he said we could do it,” Lucille said with trembling voice. I sighed.

“I didn’t mean this. What is going on today? Why do all the customers want
Demain
? Who told them about it?”

They were looking at me like I was from another planet.

“You really don’t know?” Michelle asked.

I shook my head. When they exchanged their look again it started to annoy me.

“What don’t I know?” I asked them. It was then that I realised that Skype was open. Suddenly I heard Dame’s voice.

“Show her.”

“But that means we need to close the perfumery,” Michelle replied.

“I already did that!” I said.

“Do what needs to be done,” was his answer, as if he hadn’t heard me.

“Miss Desiree, bear in mind that I share part of the blame. Afterwards I need to talk to you. You will call me?”

I rolled my eyes, happy he was not able to see me.

“Yes, Mr Dame. I’ll call you.”

“She isn’t in trouble, is she?” Lucille asked him.

“Well, that’s to be seen. You did a good job today. Well done.” His last words before he disconnected the line pleased them both.

“Come.” Michelle led me out of the perfumery and out of the hotel. Monsieur Pinot had a big smile on his face.

“Closing down for today?” he asked when we passed him.

“No. We’ll be back soon,” Michelle answered. She doesn’t know.

I’d had enough. It was obvious that even Marcel knew what was going on. It looked like I was the only ignorant one. I stopped to protest, but both girls took my hands and led me down the stairs and into the road without letting me say another word.

“Where are we going?” I asked a few minutes later.

“You’ll see for yourself. It’s not far off now.”

Although I tried to get them to talk, they stayed silent, until we reached the coast road. There they stopped walking.

“So, what’s going on? What did you want to show me?” They both looked in the same direction. I followed their gaze and took a deep breath.

There it was. A billboard I never ordered. My legs started to shake and I could hardly stand on them.

“What the hell?” I gasped.

A big photo of Lorcan’s face on one side of the poster, and a bottle of my perfume on the other. Both were placed on a black background, so that his grey eyes were even more silver and dashing and the crystal bottle even more sparkling. In between was written:

‘You can hope to get it, but it always slips away.
Demain.’

Beneath the bottle written in smaller letters: ‘
Demain
.
Eau de parfume pour dames.
. House of Dame’s Jasmine Perfumery.’

I recognised the picture immediately although it was altered with Lorcan Shore’s picture. It was the last sample of the advertisement for the
Demain
release we did together with Harry. That was before I had decided not to put it on sale until finding my son.

In its original, there was only a bottle and the inscription, whereas on the one I was looking at, his beautiful face completed the picture. I never imagined that any man could advertise women’s perfume, but it was so unusual that it actually worked.

“Who on the earth did this?!” I was furious, although I had my answers. When no one answered I turned around and realised I was alone in the middle of the street.

I returned to the perfumery only briefly. I took my things and left the key of the front door on the counter. I just couldn’t stay there today. Michelle and Lucille looked at me like I was crazy. Well, they were not far from the truth. I was furious.

Dame didn’t answer my calls and I was left without any answers. Although the perfumery was full of customers, I left with only a few parting words.

“Lock the door when you leave today.”

I’d never done that before.

“What can we say to the customers?” Lucille had run after me out into the lobby. I turned around and looked at her.

“
Demain
is not for sale.”

“But…” she started.

I interrupted her.

“But, what?”

“What will Mr Dame say?”

“It’s not his. It’s mine.” I left the hotel.

I thought I was headed to the railway car park, but I was so distracted by constantly dialling Dame’s number, that I found myself back where I had started: in front of the poster.

Dame didn’t answer any of my calls. That didn’t improve my mood. My anger grew to dangerous dimensions. I knew somehow Dame would find out I’d left the perfumery and would call me. Or he would gather enough courage to return my call.

Finding a bench, I sat down, eyes on the billboard. When I managed to put my personal feelings about it aside, I had to admit that the billboard was fantastic. I couldn’t have thought of a better advertisement and, if I’d wanted to sell the perfume, this was a perfect opportunity. But I didn’t want to sell it. Not yet!

Suddenly I heard voices behind me.

“I want it.”

“What? The man or the perfume?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to him. But I want that perfume.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s in the advert. Isn’t it obvious?”

“You dream of him and how he’d buy it for you?” I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. They’d moved away.

From the way they spoke, I could tell what sort of fragrances would probably be best suited to them. None of them would give credit to
Demain
.
Was she the one that Shore wanted the perfume for?
I was angry at myself that I hadn’t turned around and looked at her.

Finally, I had waited long enough. Dame called me back: he was good enough to allow me to spit out all my anger. I wasn’t easy on him.

“Are you done?” Harry asked.

“I think so.”

“You think so?” he asked.

“Just tell me; did you know about this?”

There was a silence.

“Dame, did you know or not?”

“I didn’t know, although I should have guessed he was planning something.”

“Explain.”

“Why didn’t you call me yesterday after the race? Tell me?”

I thought about our conversation from the day before and remembered that he had told me to call him if I’d wanted to know why Shore had come third on the Qualifying.

“I was working on the perfumes. I forgot.”

“Right. You went to work on the perfumes…”

“After the race, yes!” I interrupted him. “Two of them I sent out with DHL this morning. You will get them tomorrow.”

“Leave those damned perfumes now.” He sounded angry. “You were the reason he was third on Saturday.”

“What the hell…” I started, but Dame interrupted me.

“Don’t curse!”

“This goes both ways, Harry—not only one way! How was I responsible for him coming third?”

“He called me on Friday evening again. He was sure he had seen you at Friday’s free practice when he had driven past the hotel. He almost crashed.”

I needed a moment that Dame’s words to set in.

“Why have you gone quiet?” Dame asked.

“What did he want from you?”

“Not much. Just everything about you. Who are you? What’s your name? Where do you live? Your family background.”

“My God. You didn’t tell him, did you?!”

“Are you mad? Of course, not.” I was relieved. I could trust Dame not to give me away, to anyone. He was my rock. Always.

After some more questions, I learned about almost everything what had gone on over the last few days. Harry had given Shore the details of the House of Dame’s advertising agency, thinking they would be glad to be in touch with a potential new client.

“I actually called Luis to tell him to do anything Shore wanted.”

“How did he manage to get a free billboard place so soon?” I asked him, my anger slowly dying.

“Well, House of Dame booked that billboard long ago. We don’t use it often, but we have exclusive rights to it – it’s paid in advance for five years. And with everything being digital nowadays, well, Luis did that overnight. ”

“Ok. Now this makes sense.”

“What will you do now?” Dame asked me.

“What do you mean?”

“Will you put
Demain
on sale? You have the best ‘free’ commercial.”

“You know when I’ll put it on sale,” I said.

Harry sighed.

“When you’ll find him.”

“Yes.”

The next two weeks were even crazier. I was free of Shore, as the Formula 1 caravan had moved to Canada, but every day new customers came and demanded
Demain
and I was still not ready to sell.

All three of us somehow managed to keep the perfumery going, although it was tough. Some of the customers threatened to sue me for false advertising. I tried to get the billboard taken down, but, although House of Dame had exclusive rights to it, the space had been double commissioned for the whole summer, and paid for. I begged Harry and Luis to put up another advert to that billboard what was the House of Dame right, but in the end, it was House of Dame’s product. I was unable to do anything.