The Scent of You by Maggie Alderson

Author:Maggie Alderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Monday, 29 February

Polly was still doing her early-morning meditation when she heard Shirlee arrive. The front door opened with a great crash, followed by huffing and puffing and plenty of swearing as she carried large bags of food towards the kitchen, kicking the front door shut behind her as she went.

Her concentration shattered, Polly glanced over at the bedside clock. Seven-twenty. Shirlee was coming earlier and earlier, but Polly didn’t mind. These days she had the studio all ready by the time Polly came down – mats out, windows open, candles lit – and it was such a help. She even brought fresh flowers a couple of times a week, which was lovely.

She’d insisted on taking over the bookings as well and in return, she received all her classes for free. Shirlee was brilliantly organised, and her help left Polly with more time to concentrate on the blog, which was very useful because it was really getting noticed. She was actually having to turn events down.

Polly took a moment to check her phone for texts and emails. She knew she shouldn’t do this before class, in case there was something that would distract her and affect her concentration – it wasn’t fair on the class if her attention was wandering. But with everything that was going on she couldn’t help herself.

It was barely a month until the deadline she’d agreed with Clemmie for doing something proactive to find David, and they were keeping in close touch. Supporting each other to hold their nerve. Between that and checking up on Lucas – who seemed to be OK back at uni, with no mishaps so far, but she wasn’t going to leave it to chance – she had a lot to keep an eye on.

And there was another reason she couldn’t resist checking: to see if Chum had been in contact. She was trying to suppress the inappropriate feelings she was having for him – she’d even said she was too busy the last time he’d suggested a walk – but any contact with him was like a bright spark in her day. Sure enough there was an email. No content line as usual, just a blank email with a New Yorker dog cartoon copied into it.

Two dogs watching a man throwing a stick, one saying to the other: ‘I can’t believe we do this for a living.’

Polly grinned and closed it. Later on she’d spend a happy few minutes looking for one to send back to him. There wasn’t any harm in that, surely? Just two old friends cheering each other up.

She arrived downstairs to find Shirlee putting a jug of yellow tulips on the kitchen table.

‘Oh, how lovely,’ said Polly. ‘A breath of spring. You are such a pal.’

She put her arm round Shirlee and kissed her on the cheek.

‘You’re welcome,’ said Shirlee. ‘You’ve got to spoil the tribe.’

‘So how many yogi bears do we have this morning, oh organisational guru?’ asked Polly, pouring the warm water left in the kettle over the slice of lemon still in her empty glass.

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