So there was my poor heroine (or, at least, one of them, lol).

Such a rough week at the job!  Inundated at work.  Feeling like she’s just on the fringe of catching the flu every newscaster she watches insists is going around.  Unable to balance her checkbook.  And nearly invisible to the gorgeous boss she’s been pining over for weeks now.

She needs…something.  Something to make her feel better, to put a smile, however small, on her face.

So she stops at her favorite bath and body shop, picks up some deliciously sinful scent, and makes her way home, already feeling better, with a small smile upon her face.

I actually took this scene for granted.  Only when I went back to revise did it occur to me that I DID take it for granted, as I did the fact that many women practice “retail therapy” as a routine sort of thing.  To varying degrees, of course; I rarely go beyond the pair-of-earrings stage, while some get downright ridiculous about it.

And, of course, it depends on whose money you’re playing with, doesn’t it?

It struck me that it’s something women sort of take for granted…while I can’t ever remember reading or hearing about men making a practice of it.

Is it a learned discipline?  Something in the genes?  And just how far have you found yourself going with this particular kind of therapy?