Love at First Scent
Chapter 6

“Her scent leads to Mrs. Bailey’s.” Craig’s voice was closer now. “You get Ellie. I’m going to take her to the creek to try and calm her down. I don’t imagine she wants everyone staring at her out here.”

“Got it,” Diego replied before taking off.

Craig picked up the woman and walked around the building to the small trail that led directly to the creek. He sat her down on a large boulder before crouching down in front of her.

“Hey, what’s going on? Can you try to take a deep breath for me?” He was getting worried. Her eyes seemed unfocused, so he gently took her hands in his own, “Let’s try it together, okay?”

She finally nodded, and he began taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly until finally, she began to sync with him. Craig continued for a minute or two until she appeared to have herself back under control.

“Thank you.” Her voice was quiet. “Wow, that was embarrassing. I guess we should call it even on the sniffing thing, huh?”

That made him smile. “I suppose, or you could tell me your name instead?”

“Caroline McNeill, but most just call me Caro.”

“Hi, Caro. I’m Craig Porter. I would have introduced myself last night, but you were pretty spry with your escape.”

He saw the curve of a smile on her l!ps.

“What can I say, the sniffing threw me off.”

“You should try it sometime, the sniffing. It can be very soothing, you know.”

“Ha! I bet that’s what you say to all the ladies, then you lure them in with your Lumberjack Snac body spray and they’re helpless against you.”

“First, I don’t even wear any cologne or body spray. Second, if there really is one called Lumberjack Snac then I need to know where to get it because I’m buying some as a gag gift for Diego’s birthday.”

Her laughter and smile almost stopped him in his tracks before they were interrupted.

“Caro!” Ellie came running from the trail, Diego hot on her heels. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Caro hugged her sister when she barreled into her. “I’m okay, it was just a panic attack.”

Ellie pulled back, a look of concern on her face. “I thought you weren’t having those anymore.”

“I haven’t in a long time, but we’ll talk about it over that coffee you promised me.” She took a deep breath and grabbed her sister’s hand before she turned to face the two men. “Thank you for the rescue, Rangers. We’ll let you get back to your day.”

They turned back toward the path and went a few steps before Craig’s voice rang out behind them.

“Smell you later, Caro.”

Despite how quickly she turned to leave, he saw the grin on her face.

“Now are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?” Ellie and Caro settled at an outside table in front of the café.

Caro hadn’t been all that hungry until they stepped inside and the scent of espresso mixed with yeast and cinnamon assaulted them. At that point, she would have robbed the place for one of the oversized brioche buns on the counter.

She took a deep breath and decided to approach it like a Band-Aid rather than draw it out

.

“Peter and I are getting a divorce. All I have left to do is sign the papers.”

Ellie stared at her in shock before she reached out and covered Caro’s hand with her own. “Oh, Caro. How come you never told me you two were having problems?”

“I mean, I guess I didn’t really think we were having issues—not serious ones anyway.” She tried to articulate what had been going through her mind every second of the last couple of months. “I just assumed Peter loved his job, and that given a little more time, things would slow down and he’d be ready to start a family.

But … he just kept pulling away more and more. He moved into one of the guest rooms about eight months ago, saying he was working on an important account and didn’t want to wake me up when he came home late.”

“Sweetie, why didn’t you talk to me about this?” When Ellie squeezed her hand, Caro looked up and met her gaze.

“I guess I just felt like such a failure, Elles.” She sighed. “Am I stupid? I seriously didn’t even think he wanted out until he told me he’d drawn up the papers. I feel like a fool for not seeing it sooner.”

“Hey, you’re not stupid at all. Don’t even think that.” Ellie scooted around the bench and gave her a hug. “I always thought Peter was a bit of a cold fish, the way he was never openly affectionate with you, but I thought if he made you happy, then that was all that mattered.”

Then Ellie pulled back to look at her. “Were you ever truly in love with him, Caro? Like passionately, head-over-heels in love?”

Her first instinct was to be offended at her sister’s question. She should be, shouldn’t she? But Caro took a moment and thought back to when she’d first met Peter. They’d been children then, so they’d had no idea what passion even was. Then they’d been best friends and partners, both busy finishing school and university. Secretly, she’d always dreamed that their comfortable affection for each other would blossom into passion—but that was naïve, wasn’t it? Didn’t it usually happen the other way around? Passion and l**t first, then if you were lucky, love would follow?

Jesus, were we more like business partners or roommates than husband and wife? How could I not have noticed that?

“Honestly, I don’t know, Elles.” Caro felt defeated. How had she screwed her life up this much? “I kept hoping that it would turn into more, that Peter would—I don’t know, want me, I guess? I feel like I created this entire relationship in my head, and he just followed along because he couldn’t be bothered to say no.”

“I’m so sorry, Caro.” Ellie hugged her tight. “But you’re here with me now, and you’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like. Truth be told, I’d love it if you decided to never leave.”

Caro gave a weak laugh. “Sure, like having your big sister across the hall won’t put a damper on your date nights with Bennett.”

Ellie snickered. “Won’t bother me if it won’t bother you! Now let’s finish up this giant cinnamon bun because I’ve got something fantastic to show you, and now I’m more excited than ever.”

Caro looked at her sister, and she knew coming here had been the right decision.

“Hey, big sis.” Ellie smiled. “Things are going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. I promise.”

For the first time in a long time, Caro thought she could possibly start to believe that.