Sense of Smell

"Still, I'm so deeply sorry, Adam."

He could tell there was still something else and encouraged her to ask.

"I...I was wondering how she, you know..."

"Died?" he gently filled in.

He explained what happened, and Connie felt her eyes welling up. She knew people died every minute of every day and often in ways she didn't think about, but sitting across from someone who'd experienced this kind of tragedy was very new, and very unsettling, to her.

"May I ask what her name was?" she asked very sweetly.

"Kristi."

"That's a beautiful name," Connie told him sincerely.

Adam came close to choking up himself as he asked if she'd like to see some photos.

"Yes! I would love to," she said without hesitation.

"May I?" he asked, as he looked at the empty chair next to her.

Her purse was on it, so she picked it up immediately and said, "Of course. Please!"

Adam slid around and took the seat then opened 'Photo's on his phone and scrolled around.

"Here. This is our wedding photo. Well, one of many."

Connie looked at it and saw just how beautiful Kristi had been. She also realized she'd either never known or forgotten why Adam moved away as she saw him in his dress blues.

"Oh, my goodness! Adam, you are so handsome in your uniform."

He smiled then told her that uniform could make anyone look good.

"You're both such beautiful people," she said as he shared several more.

A couple of them were at the beach, and Kristi was wearing a bikini while Adam was in a bathing suit. Connie definitely noticed his late wife's gorgeous body, but it was Adam's that took her breath away.

"At the risk of being utterly corny, I'm going to ask you this anyway," she said as she smiled and turned toward him. "Do you work out?"

Adam laughed politely then told her he did.

"Just not like I did back then. I was in the gym four days a week and running the other three, but yes, I still work at it the best I can."

"Well, you do have a daughter and a job, so it can't be easy."

"I do stay busy, but raising Lexi is the biggest joy in my life."

"She is SO cute! Oh, my goodness! I just wanted to pick her up and squeezed her little cheeks and love her to d..."

She stopped talking and apologized just as quickly.

"Connie? I do appreciate your sensitivity, but it's been nearly three years. You're the one I'm concerned about."

She looked over at him again, and the look of concern on his face matched the tone of his voice, and she quickly looked away.

"Thank you, but as much as I loved my father, and as unexpected as it was, your wife...Kristi...was so young and..."

"No, I understand," Adam told her. "I was a complete basket case for the first six months. The next six were nearly as bad, but after a still-difficult second year, I'm finally starting to recover these last few months."

"That's a good thing, right?" she said, still not sure she could look at him again after seeing his gorgeous, nearly-naked body. This 'thing' she was experiencing was unsettling to say the least.

"It's a whole lot better than laying awake all night wanting your life back and feeling utterly helpless to change a thing," he told her truthfully.

Connie's momentarily uncomfortable feelings gave way to genuine human compassion as she turned to look at him.

She gently put her hand on his forearm and said, "I am so sorry, Adam."

Once again, he had conflicting feelings as he realized the way she, and now her gentle touch, made him feel even as he realized the reason her hand was on his arm; a reason that had nothing to do with anything romantic. He was even further conflicted when he felt a stirring that shouldn't be happening as the result of being so close to such a beautiful woman.

His discomfort won out, and this time he looked away, but not until he looked down at her hand. Connie quickly pulled it away just as Adam said he should probably move back to where he was.

She told him she understood but was convinced he was moving because she'd made him feel uncomfortable, which, ironically, was true, but for a very different reason than the one she was envisioning.

She managed to recover and asked about his time in the military, and he, in turn, asked about her career in the field of chemistry.

"I'm gonna have to go research that online," he told her when she explained the specific area in which she'd received her PhD.

"Don't bother," she told him. "That's about as exciting as watching grass grow."

Adam smiled then said, "I like grass. Quite a bit, in fact."

The way he smiled and the way he said it seemed to smooth over the negative feelings she'd been experiencing since the 'unwanted' physical contact, and once again, that other feeling once again made its presence known.

"I uh, I should really get back to the lab," she told him, suddenly ending the conversation.

"Right. Yes. Definitely," Adam said in agreement, feeling like he'd said something offensive.

"Did you want to follow me there?" she asked, causing him to remember why they'd met in the first place.

"Sure. That sounds good," he told her. "We can get this testing over and you can move on to actually finding someone with the qualifications you need."

They each paid for their own meals, and after opening the restaurant door for her, Adam walked her out to her car and once she unlocked it, opened that door for her, too.

"Thank you. I can't remember the last time someone did that for me," she told him as she got in.

"You sound like you date about as much as I do," he told her with a smile.

Before she could answer, he said, "Or you're dating the wrong kind of men."

Connie laughed openly then said, "I think it's a little of both."

Adam laughed, too, then told her he'd be right behind her as he shut her door.

He was a little surprised at the setup inside of the Dynex building. He'd always pictured dozens of cubicles with people sitting behind computer screens, but most of it was open and didn't make a lot of sense to him.

Connie was focused on testing him and didn't bother taking Adam around to meet people or explain what they did. Then again, she barely remembered a handful of names, and that would have been rather embarrassing, and she'd had enough of that for one day.

"Okay. We have a couple of hundred different swatches. Initially, you'll identify only one smell per swatch then be given swatches with two then three, and so on," Connie explained as Adam looked at the eight-inch-long pieces of thick paper containing the various scents.

"They have to remain uncontaminated so you can only take one out at a time. You'll tell me what you smell, I'll make some notes, and we'll move on to the next one, okay?"

"You're the boss," Adam said with a smile as they sat down in a small room together.

Connie gently removed the first swatch from its plastic protector then asked Adam to waft it under his nose and showed him how.

"I can't just sniff it?" he asked.

"Gee, I don't actually know. I suppose getting the scent right is what really matters. I've only ever seen people do the wafting thing, but...sure. Sniff away," she told him as she handed the first one to him.

"But only touch the bottom three inches," she warned.

Adam aced the basic scents calling out 'fruity' or 'woody' with a perfect score. He did the same thing were two basic scents were combined, and when he got all of the 'triples' correct, Connie's heart started pounding.

The 'quads' or those with four scents slowed him down, but after taking back a guess on several swatches, he aced them, too.

"Oh, my goodness. This is amazing," she told him.

Once the overall 'families' were exhausted, the swatches began containing 'notes' which was where the rubber met the road or 'the nose' earned its keep.

Two hours later, Connie had all of the data, and although he'd missed quite a few notes, it was a very impressive display of talent.

"So what now?" Adam asked. "Is there a practical phase?"

"Yes. Actually there is," she told him as she picked up the vial hanging around her neck then gently raised it over her head.

"The bottom line, at least in this case, is to identify every scent and note in this vial. Of course, we have to mix them in the right proportions, but if we can get all of them identified..."

"We're back in business?" Adam asked with a smile.

"Yes. Or maybe we get to stay in business," Connie told him as she carefully laid the vial on the table.

"I'm going to clear everything that has any trace of scent out of here, to include myself, so why don't you take a few minutes and give your nose a rest?" she suggested. "You can hang out in my dad's...in my office...if you'd like."

Adam managed not to laugh at the thought of giving his nose a rest. He was picturing a detachable snout he could remove and lay down on the sofa in her office when he realized he never did that kind of thing anymore. He used to goof on all kinds of things, but since Kristi's death, goofing had lost its charm. By the time he got to Connie's office, he was smiling, and he knew the reason why.

As he waited, Adam sat there and for the first time in years he allowed his mind to wander in places it had almost forgotten existed. It didn't go very far, but he did allow himself to imagine asking this beautiful, older woman to go out with him, and to imagine her saying, "I'd love to."

His pleasant daydreaming was cut short when the door opened and Connie told him she was ready for him.

He smiled at the unintended double entendre of her words but didn't say anything as followed her back to the 'sniffing room'.

"We have a powerful air-vacuum system that pulls air out of the room to ensure there are no other smells in here. That means I can't go back in with you or my perfume will contaminate it now that's had time to clear out any remaining scent."

Adam smiled at her then said, "I've smelled your perfume, and it's anything but contaminating."

Connie smiled back then said, "Be that as it may, even the shampoo or soap smells could interfere. The vial is on the table, and..."

"I'll be extremely careful," he told her. "I know it's the only one in the world as well as how valuable it is to you."

He paused then changed the wording.

"To...us."

Connie was deeply touched by his concern and understanding, and the way he said 'us' gave her goosebumps. As she watched him go inside she found herself wondering what it would be like to be with him. Not as in 'being with' someone but rather to be in his life and to have a beautiful little girl like Lexi as a part of it.

"Get real," she told herself seconds later as she forced herself to go back into her office and wait.

Adam felt like he was in a movie where the camera was in tight on the vial; a vial filled with either nitro glycerin or maybe some kind of rare-but-deadly disease. He picked it with extreme care then put his thumb and index finger on the cap and slowly applied pressure until it gave way.

From there he carefully unscrewed it making sure to keep it perfectly upright as he set the cap down on the table. Ever so slowly, he moved the vial toward his nose until he got the first faint sense of a smell. He detected several things immediately then moved it away as he picked up the pen from the clipboard it was laying on and jotted down what he'd smelled.

Adam moved the vial slightly closer this time and picked up several other scents which he also wrote down.

The third time he took a long, deep breath then several shorter sniffs while his brain tried to sort through everything it had just taken in via his olfactory receptors. Two other recently-sampled scents came through, but there were two others he couldn't place.

He gave his nose a 'rest' then tried again. This time, he was able to associate one of them with something he'd smelled during the test and managed to recall the name of it.

"Sandalwood," he told himself.

The remaining scent wouldn't come to him, but after two additional wafts, he realized it was something he'd smelled among the many swatches his nose had sampled.

Satisfied he could get no more from further sniffs, he carefully closed the vial and gently laid it back down in front of him. Then, with clipboard in hand, he went to get Connie.

"So? Any luck?" she asked with hopeful anticipation.

"Quite a bit, actually," Adam told her as he handed her the clipboard.

He watched her facial expression as she read his notes, and as she got to the last line, her eyes opened in surprise.

"Adam. This...this is...unbelievable!"

"Not quite. I still can't remember what the last 'note' is."

"But all we have to do is go back through the swatches until you find it, right?"

"I'm hoping that's all it's going to take," he told her.

To his surprise, he noticed her eyes were glistening as she turned away.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded but didn't speak as she pulled a tissue from the pocket of her lab coat and gently dabbed her eyes.

"I was just thinking about all the years my father spent right here in this building, much of it in this room behind this very desk."

"Memories can be very powerful."

"Yes. Very," she agreed.

"So can our imaginations," Adam said before he realized he'd said it.

"Our imaginations?" Connie asked as she turned back to look at him.

"Sorry. I think I let mine run away with itself a little earlier."

Assuming he was referring to 'cracking the code' of this mysterious scent she told him she didn't see any harm in that.

"We just can't get too excited until we actual get this last note. Even then, getting the blend right will be an enormous challenge. But with four months to go, what would have been nearly impossible could be very doable."

"Right. The 'code'," he said, parroting her word rather than admit what he'd really been thinking.

"So...are you ready or do you want to maybe start fresh tomorrow?" she asked, not assuming either way.

"I'm here and as they say, 'Time is money', right?" he said with a smile.

"Yes. So they say," she replied with a smile.

What she really wanted to say was how much she enjoyed being with him, but that seemed wholly inappropriate for obvious reasons.

Connie went back to the safe and retrieved the swatches and the two of them headed back to the testing room where Adam carefully and methodically went through them one at a time.

It was nearly 5pm when Adam's nose detected something familiar. He moved the swatch away then brought it back.

"It's this. Right here. This one. There's a kind of...leathery...smell to it. Here. Take a whiff."

Connie's hand was shaking as she reached out for it.

Adam watched her do what he'd been doing off and on for several hours, and on the second pass, Connie said, "I just don't have the um...nose...for it, but if this is what you smelled..."

"It is. That's what I remembered from the testing when I was checking the perfume. It's this one for sure."

Connie's mind was whirling out of control. She knew building a perfume was like a house of cards. Change one thing in any quantity and the whole thing could fall apart. Too much of the 'right' scent could take the smell of fresh grass to the smell of stinking trash.

But if she now had all of the necessary scents, she had the expertise to blend or even create them depending on the specific scent.

There were some flowers that were called 'mutes' because they don't deliver any oils. Lily of the Valley, Lilac, Peonies, and Sweet Peas were all mute flowers. Perfumers have to recreate them in the form of an 'accord'. The perfumer fakes nature by blending different types of materials to reproduce their scent. And most of those formulas were right there in the lab, and her employees knew how to make them.

"So...is that it?" Adam asked.

Connie stood up then told him, "For you, yes. For me, it's just the beginning of many long days trying to find the perfect mix to recreate this scent exactly then start producing it in bulk. But without you, we'd have never even been able to try."

She came around the table and put her arms around Adam and thanked him sincerely. He willingly let her and also put his around her body and held her. Neither of them moved for a long enough time that when Connie finally did slowly pull away, there was a momentary feeling of awkwardness.

"Well, I...I should let you go and get to work," she said almost nervously as she moved back a step or so.

"Right. I need to get home and see how my Lexi-Loo is doing, and give my mom a break."

Connie smiled then said, "Every single time I think of her it makes me happy."

"Me, too," Adam told her as their eyes met.

The stare lasted several seconds until Connie could no longer hold it.

"So...again, thank you so, so much, Adam! You're a lifesaver."

Without being overly grim he said, "I wish that was true. But if I can at least be a...business saver...then I'll feel pretty good about all of this."

"You should. You may have just saved this company and a lot of jobs. In fact, would you like to meet..."

She stopped then said, "Sorry. You need to get home."

"Yes, but not immediately," he told her. "If I can hang out with you a little while longer...I'm game."

Connie had that same feeling again and quickly turned around and said, "Well, then follow me. Since we have such good news, I'll gather everyone around and we can share it with them together."

"Together. That has a nice ring to it," Adam told her with a smile.

Connie tried to smile back, but it felt like her face wouldn't 'work'. It seemed frozen or somehow disconnected from her brain. All she could do was briefly look at him then turn away again.

Connie put out the word for an 'all-hands' meeting, and within minutes, everyone once again gathered around. With Adam by her side, she began explaining who he was and what had just happened.

"I know some of you know this man's father who grew the lion's share of the roses we use here each year. Adam has been running the business, and although we'd met before, we didn't really know each other until the memorial. Oh, and I want to thank all of you for attending before I forget. I'm a little excited right now, so if I'm all over the map please forgive me."

Everyone understood but they appreciated her explaining the 'helter-skelter' talk.

"Anyway, he and his mother, someone else most of you know, offered to help out, and I kind of glibly said the only thing that would help would be to find a new 'nose'. I had no idea that Adam could even possibly be that person, but something his mom said led me to ask him if we could test him, and..."

Connie looked around excitedly then finished explaining.

"I'm a math and science girl. I understand probability quite well. Finding someone with this ability is very hard. Finding them by chance is astronomically difficult. But...we found that someone. Adam was able to determine the missing elements to the order, so we are now months ahead of schedule."

She saw some looks then corrected herself.

"Okay. That's not exactly right. But we just shaved off weeks or even months of finding someone able to do what this..."

She looked at Adam, smiled, then said, "Very handsome young man just did."

A woman his mother's age said, "I'm recently divorced if you're looking!"

There were some chuckles and then some groans from those who knew. The woman who made the comment obviously didn't and someone who did leaned over and whispered the truth to her about his late wife.

"I don't even know what to say," the woman said so sincerely that Adam walked over and hugged her.

"It's okay. And who knows? Maybe we can have a cup of coffee one of these days."

The woman was grateful beyond words for his understanding, and knew full well he was only being nice, and she hugged him again then stood quietly and waited.