Mark had spent so long without getting caught. What were the odds that his secrets would be revealed around the same time my name was cleared?
“Thank you Marissa,” I said and she smiled widely.
“I checked some of the comments and a lot of people were issuing apologies. I know it might not mean much but I think everything is going to be fine.”
“I think so too,” I looked up at the clock that read five minutes until five. “I think I’m leaving early today. Don’t stay in late.”
She nodded eagerly and I gathered all my things. My phone was already blowing up with messages from people but I ignored them and looked for Olivia’s contact. She hadn’t sent me anything so I assumed she hadn’t seen the articles yet but I saw that I had an unread message from my father so I opened it.
It was one simple sentence but it had me smiling. “Jeremiah 51: 10: The Lord has brought about our vindication; Come and let us recount in Zion the work of the Lord our God.”
I sent him a thank you message and sent a message to Nathan telling him we needed to talk. The message was delivered but he didn’t respond and I started to wonder what he was doing or where he was because the Nathan I know always has his phone with him.
I slipped my phone back into my bag and made my way down the stairs to where Miles was already waiting. Marissa must have told him that I was ready to leave because he was waiting by the door.
Miles drove in silence and for once I hated the silence because it gave my mind the time it needed to think about things I shouldn’t have been thinking about like why Nathan still hadn’t answered my message. I checked my phone at least five different times during the half hour car ride but there was still no response. I saw Miles glance at me through the mirror and I raised a brow in his direction.
“Do you know where he is?” I asked and he shook his head. “Somehow, I don’t buy that.”
“The last thing he said, although threatened is a better description, was that I should get you home safe. He didn’t say anything else and I didn’t ask.”
“When was that?”
“A few minutes after the article went live.”
I glanced at my phone again but there was still no response. By the time I got home, I was getting agitated because I needed to know if my assumptions were correct and if Mark really had something to do with what had happened or if I was just speculating.
I thanked Miles for driving me and as soon as I got into the house, I tried calling Nathan but he didn’t pick up. That was when I knew that he was deliberately ignoring me. I was about to scream when I heard a knock on my door. I pulled it open to see a delivery man standing there with a small box in his hands.
“Are you Adira?” he asked and I nodded. “There’s a package for you, if you would just sign here then I can hand it over to you.”
My first thought was that I didn’t order anything and when I looked at the box, there was no sender address. I had half a mind to refuse but I knew that no one except close family and friends knew my address so I signed on it.
While I was signing, I saw Olivia’s car pull up and she practically rushed out of her car. She cast a confused glance between me and the delivery guy and I shrugged in response.
I took the package from the man and he left without another word. I was staring at the box in my hands like it held a bomb but I took it into the house and placed it on the living room table. I glanced at Olivia who had followed me inside.
“Do you know who it is from?” she asked and I shook my head. “What if it’s a bomb like in all those shows?”
“I doubt anyone cares enough to want me dead.”
“You never know,” she began and I shook my head at her as I retrieved my keys from the table to open the box.
I gently pried the tape off and I was shocked when I opened it. There was one item inside and as I picked it up, I couldn’t help but remember where I last saw it. The perfume bottle was small and transparent and I remembered when Nathan picked it up and put it back down. I had thought it smelled horrible so why did he send it to me now?
I checked inside the box again and I saw a scrap of paper inside. I placed the perfume on the table and picked up the note and carefully unfolded it then I read the words on it.
You asked why I put this down that day and I told you not to worry about it; this is vanilla.
It’s the warmest scent you will ever come across. It feels cozy; it smells like the long fall evenings, with a cup of coffee, wrapped up in a blanket with the person you love. It’s soft and velvet, like a golden sunset. It’s like sleeping in on a cool morning and reading your favorite book or watching your favorite show. Itfeels like getting home after a long day. It feels like a hug from your best friend.
I put it down because the minute I smelled it, only one word came to mind to describe it, you. To me it smelled like the coffee shop where we read books. It smelled like your office where we had our sessions. It smelled like the drive-in movie in that town you love to hate. It smelled like the room in Bea’s when the lights were off and it was just the both of us.
Now those places don’t actually smell like vanilla but that’s what I remember whenever I think of that scent. I heard your laugh, I saw you rolling your eyes and I felt your hands in mine
You’re my vanilla, Adira.
It hit me like a freight train that day, and I was so terrified that you didn’t feel the same.
