Page 101 of The Story of Us
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Alice had outdone herself.Truly. Eloise knew she’d been making candles for Charlie and Sera, but she hadn’t realised Alice had made several different scents, each inspired by places that were important to her brother and his fiancée. Sera’s parents and relatives were each getting a special Texan combination of leather, pine and mountain laurel. Her cheerleading friends would each be gifted floral-scented candles that packed a punch on the afternote, an homage to their strength and fitness. But the one that really floored her? That she’d stolen a sniff of when she put it down in front of her place setting at what felt like the world’s longest bridal table. It was simply called ‘Home Is Where the Wattle Is’.
Eloise lifted the candle and sniffed it again. It smelt like her mother’s garden with an afternote of something woody and floral, a tiny hint of honey. Alice had spent ages with Mary, sourcing scents that would mimic the flowers that Eloise had grown up with. Eloise put the candle down and moved to the next one.
Natewas written on the box.
Carefully, she opened the box and placed Nate’s candle in front of his place setting. She checked the label was facing the right way, her gaze catching on the candle’s name written in delicate cursive underneath his name.
Home Is Where My Heart Is.
“Alice made it especially for me,” his deep voice said behind her. Eloise’s heart stuttered. She should’ve been expecting him, really.
“Wasn’t real happy about it either. Or with me. I got in a lot of trouble for being such a jackass.”
She steeled her jaw before she turned to face him. Dark circles framed Nate’s eyes, and his hair was a mess, all windblown and wild.
“Not that I’m complaining. I deserved it.”
Eloise blinked, trying to process his words before hiding behind a mask of bland indifference. “What do you want, Nate?”
“I thought it might be easier if we talked before the wedding rehearsal, but if you’re not ready or you’re too busy, I can wait.”
“I’m busy,” Eloise lied, not wanting to do this now. Maybe not ever.
“Can I help?”
“You should ask Alice.” Eloise shrugged. Due to the sheer size of the reception, her best friend was basically several suburbs away, her red hair and gold sequined jacket lost between the towering floral arrangements in the middle of each table.
Nate nodded and reached forward, and for a single, terrifying moment, Eloise thought he was going to touch her. Pull her close and say the words she’d wanted to hear for so long, but he’d made it clear that was never going to happen. She dropped her chin to her chest and shuffled sideways. Of course, he was here to apologise. Natewasa good guy. He just wasn’t her guy because not all stories were fairytales.
“I just wanted to smell this one first, please,” Nate murmured as he lifted his candle to his nose. His eyelashes fluttered closed, his mouth twisting into an expression Eloise couldn’t read. “It’s perfect. Want to smell it?” He held it towards her.
“I’ve got the same one.” Eloise pointed at the candle with her name on it. So what if Alice had accidentally got the wording on Nate’s label wrong. It was the only one and no one would notice.
“This one’s a special edition. Just for me. Alice made it yesterday, in between calling me a lot of names that I deserved. Made me promise to make her gluten-free sourdough for the rest of her life. Please?”
“Fine.” She took the candle from him and sniffed deeply. It was nothing like hers. Vanilla tickled her nose, followed by something sweet like berries and birthday cake. “It smells like me,” she whispered. Why had Nate done this? And called it home? Or had that been Alice’s idea? What did it all mean? She looked up at Nate. His eyes were full of regret and worry and something else. Something dangerous.
A tiny bit of hope.
“I have some things for you, and I have so much I want to tell you. To explain.”
She was about to reply when her phone rang. Eloise winced. “It’s Bianca. I better …” She gestured towards the mobile.
“Oh, yeah, of course.”
She half listened while Bianca explained about some problem with the dresses that truthfully didn’t really sound like an issue to Eloise. Certainly not one that would require almost twenty women to sort out. When Bianca insisted she go to the bridal suite … Eloise stopped listening. She was just sodonewith this wedding and trying to be everything for everyone. If Eloise was truly entering her main character era, then it was long past time she started taking some of the advice she regularly doled out to her clients.
“You know what?” She said into the phone. “I can’t come right now. You’ll have to figure it out without me.”
Nate opened his mouth, but Eloise held up her hand and hung up on Bianca before shifting her attention back to him. “And before you start, I need to say something. It hurt me when you left. It was like you discarded everything we’d shared and reduced it to nothing. And I didn’t understand why. I still don’t understand why, but I know I didn’t deserve that.” Her voice was reed thin by the end, but the pride unfurling inside her body was a soothing balm to all the hurt she’d been carrying around. “I need to work on setting boundaries. I’ve been letting myself be treated a certain way because it was easier than causing a fuss or possibly upsetting other people. I’m not going to do that anymore. So if you still want to talk, I’m prepared to listen, but this time, you owe me the truth. If you can’t do that, then this is the end of the road for our friendship and whatever else we were.”
This time she could read Nate’s expression. It was pride. “Don’t let me off easy, Tiger,” he said quietly, “because you do deserve better and I meant what I said in my note. Actions. Not words. Let me show you how sorry I am, please.”
Fine. She nodded. And then she’d decide if it was good enough for her.
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