WILLA TODD SCENT DIARY
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Had the twins help me cut some lavender sprigs from the front yard. There are now pretty little relaxing lavender bouquets in every room of the house. Until Summer decides there are too many of them and throws them out.
Took the twins to the beach after school while Shane was having a coffee meeting in the village with some director. It’s a good beach. Very few people, although I guess it’s not that surprising on a Thursday afternoon in March.
I asked Summer and Lucky to tell me what they could smell there. They said, “stinky toots.” They aren’t wrong. The bacteria that eat dying plankton produce a sulfur compound through the digestion process. That sulfur helps with cloud formation and controls the planet’s temperature. It’s amazing.
The faint smell of actual sewage didn’t even bother me, maybe because the salty air was coating my nostrils. And because I knew I’d see Shane again in an hour.
I feel good.
I like it here.
One day I’ll want to create a scent that evokes my memories of this time in the Palisades, but thinking of a time when I won’t be here makes me sad.
It has only been a few days, but this already feels like a place I could call home.
I swear, it’s that feeling I had when Shane held my hand twelve years ago.
It’s not something I’d ever try to explain to him, but I can admit it to myself.
I guess I had assumed it would be something else, but if it was about me being a nanny to his kids, then I don’t mind. It’s nice.
I’m working on the Margo scent. I really fucking hope she doesn’t actually want to call it Margo, but if we’re taking wagers—my money is on “Margo.” She asked for cherry blossom essential oil as an ingredient.
Told me she has “lovely memories” of being a girl in Manhattan during cherry blossom season.
So fucking lovely. It’s not possible to make essential oil from cherry blossoms, but I can formulate something that evokes it.
Using Osmanthus, ylang ylang, sweet orange.
She definitely wants something fruity and floral.
She needs something more earthy, but who am I to tell her that.
What I really want to do is create a scent for Shane.
He’s been on his best behavior since the first night.
Unfortunately. If I can’t rub myself all over him, then I at least want him to wear something that I’ve created on his skin and for it to make him feel all of the amazing things that I want to make him feel.
Like a man. Like a wanted man. Like the kind of man who’d step into the shower with his nanny when the kids are at school—because hey, life’s short and this nanny’s a lot dirtier than he thinks she is.