Page 43 of The Rebel
“Hi, Mrs. LeBlanc. This is my best friend, Annelise.”
“Call me Isabeau.”
“Hi! I can’t believe you do custom perfumes! I’ve always wanted one,” Annelise said.
“We’d be happy to whip something up for you.” Isabeau smiled at her, then looked at me. “Daisy, I’ve got something special for you. Let me finish up here and I’ll bring it right away. I was going to give it to Anthony, but this is even better.” She winked at me, reminding me a bit of Anthony.
Once she left, Annelise turned to me. “How are you so cozy with her already?”
“I’m not. I just met her once.” I was stunned.
“So, where did the wink come from?”
“I’d like to know that too.”
While the two of them chatted with their customers, Annelise and I quietly looked at the bottles on the wall. The writing on the labels was exquisite, and the LeBlanc-Broussard logo was identical to the one above the store.
Once the customers left, Celine clapped her hands. “Lovely. Now we can focus on you two. Annelise, right? You come with me, and I’ll ask you a few things to determine what would work for you.”
“And you’re with me,” Isabeau informed me.
Celine threw Isabeau a glance but didn’t say anything.
“Excellent,” I exclaimed.
“What’s your favorite perfume?” she asked me.
I didn’t even hesitate. “Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel.”
“That’s a good one.”
“My mom gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday, and I’ve been loyally using it ever since. I tried to change it over the years, but nothing worked.”
“Tough customer, then,” Isabeau said with good humor. “Let’s see if we can do better. Are you close to your parents?”
“Yes, very. Though I was just telling Annelise that I haven’t visited them in a while.”
“Oh, I’m sure they understand. Youngsters these days like to explore the world rather than stay close to home.”
“Not true in your case, though, is it?”
“No, we’re tremendously lucky! All of our grandkids wanted to stay in New Orleans.” She set several small bottles on the counter. “Give each of them a sniff and tell me what you think. Especially this one.” She tapped a small dark blue bottle.
“What’s that one?”
“Freesia.”
I did exactly as she instructed.
“So, how were your first two weeks at the office?” she asked while I sniffed the bottles.
“Very interesting. Anthony is a great boss.”
“Is he?”
“I know he has a reputation of being tough with his assistants.”
Her jaw dropped. Clearly she wasn’t expecting me to know that. Then she composed herself and nodded. “Well, yes. Since we’re openly talking about it, he ran off quite a few of them.”
