Heavenly Lover (12 page)

“Don’t tell them, Doris. I didn’t buy anything for my face but lipstick … and some sparkle,” Claire was timid about this. She handed Doris the receipts.

“Sparkle? They sell dust there at Macy’s?”

“Well, it’s not the same. I mean, it’s just for looks; it doesn’t give you anything else.

“I should hope not. Can it be healthy then?”

“Oh, I think it’s harmless. It comes in a little can with a spray button on it.”

Doris shook her head from side to side. “You are one hot lookin’ babe. You look more like those girls of Carmen’s.”

She meant the guardians that worked with the streetwalkers in the human World. Many of these young human girls were addicted to drugs. These tough angels were responsible for saving a few of them, but not many. Their risky lifestyle, considered a form of suicide, was what brought them up to Triage’s attention. Most of the time it was too late by the time the call went out.

Since Claire respected the difficult work these angels did, she didn’t take offense at the comment.

She looked at the vision of herself in the large glass window just outside Daniel’s dining room, saw the price tag on the new jacket she was wearing, and pulled it off.

Chapter 13

“I’ve got a lead on a new gallery for your work.” Josh told Daniel as he sipped on his beer. “It’s in Marin, but I think the location is perfect. Old, restored building they are just finishing up.”

“Good, I’ll need the space soon.” Daniel dove into his spinach salad as the waitress brought over some whole grained bread in a wicker basket. After she left, he leaned into the table and whispered to Josh, “And, I need the money. Big time.”

“I hear you. How about I spot you some cash until your next sale?” Josh pulled out his wallet, fat with money. He started to peel off hundred dollar bills.

Daniel held up his hand. “No, man. I don’t do that.”

“Don’t be stupid, Daniel. Just consider I bought one of your paintings—how about the one in the fire?”

“Josh, that’s charity and you know it.”

“I know a talented painter when I see one.” Josh stood up, “I need a trip to the loo. Be right back. Here,” he said, handing Daniel a wad of bills, “study those for me while I’m gone.”

Daniel looked around the room to make sure no one had noticed, covered the bills with his palm. The wad of money was tempting, calling to him through his flesh, but there was no way he would accept Josh’s generosity. It didn’t feel right to him. He moved the substantial cash under Josh’s napkin so he didn’t have to look at it.

Just as Josh was returning from the men’s room, Audray and her new boyfriend entered the restaurant. She was syrupy sweet as she made a point to bend down to kiss Daniel on both cheeks, revealing her cleavage. She smelled of fresh sex. Her boyfriend looked pissed.

“Ah, sweetie, how’ve you been?” she said to him, feigning concern.

Neal cleared his throat. Daniel thought perhaps he was looking for an introduction. Audray ignored him, of course. Being someone she cared about was a dangerous thing, he reminded himself.

Daniel stood, although she didn’t deserve the respect he showed her. “Audray.” Turning to Neal, he continued, saying, “My name is Daniel DePalma. We’ve met before. You were screwing her on my loveseat—the green one, by the fireplace—where she and I used to do it all the time.” He turned to Audray. “Remember that,
sweetie
?” He addressed Neal again. “She always did like that place.”

A definite chill had descended upon the restaurant. Josh grinned, but Daniel could see the smile was forced. “Neal, Daniel here was Aud—”

“I know who the hell he was, God damn it.” Neal tugged on Audray’s arm. Her eyes widened as he led her to another part of the restaurant, but she managed to secretly blow Daniel a kiss. Josh and Daniel sat back down. With eyebrows raised and a sigh on his lips, Josh picked up the money and stuffed it back in his pants.

Daniel watched Audray’s ass as it swayed from side to side, almost hitting the little tables in her wake.
The woman is diabolical. And damn hard to forget.

When he looked up, Josh was studying him.

“I have a cure for that, you know.”

“Time is doing a pretty good job.”

Josh nodded his head slowly. “Yes, I can see that. It’s doing a really remarkable job.”

“Fuck it.” Daniel stood up and threw his napkin on the table. He motioned for the check.

Josh got up. “Daniel, don’t do this, man. Look, I’ve got some ideas. Let’s get out of here and go grab some coffee across the street.”

The waitress came back with a sheepish smile on her face. “Mr. DePalma, I’m sorry.” She was a little too loud. “Your credit card’s been declined. I’m so sorry.”

Daniel’s hands made fists at his sides as he looked around the room at a few patrons who had noticed the interchange.

“Not a problem, this was supposed to be my check, anyhow.” Josh handed her a one hundred dollar bill.

The two men strode down the rain-swept sidewalk, headed for Starbucks. “Just one more thing I get to deal with,” Daniel grumbled. “There should be plenty of money in my account. Lately, though, it’s like the bank’s computer just doesn’t like me. I have never seen so many holds and rejected checks—all of them mistakes. It’s damned embarrassing.”

“You don’t have to justify anything to me, Daniel. I believe you. I just think you should take some of my money, as an investment in your future.”

“No, then I would owe you.”

“Suppose I make it a purchase, a gift.” Josh stopped. “There is no crime in taking money from a friend who freely gives it.”

“Except that you will own me.”

Josh let out a chuckle, almost a cackle. His eyes began to water. “I’m going to remember that line for eternity.” He shook his head and continued walking.

Daniel insisted on paying for the two cappuccinos, with cash. They stood at the coffee bar and looked out through large picture windows onto the traffic outside.

“I get to feeling pretty good about myself, and then this crap happens,” Daniel said.

Josh nodded. “You’re getting your professional life back on track, but you still need some serious female attention. You need to lock yourself in a room with three or four lovelies and just have at it, my friend. Get good and drunk and good and screwed.”

“Not my style.” Daniel couldn’t help but bring a smile to the corners of his lips. “Although it’s sometimes a pleasant thought.”

“Consider it done! My gift from me to you. You won’t take my money? There are a couple of lovely ladies that owe me big time, and they will blow your mind. I’ll set it up for this weekend, then. I won’t take no for an answer. It’ll be my investment in your well being.”

After stuffing her Macy’s shopping bag into her transport duffel, Claire elevated to the second floor hallway, and then opened the doorway leading to the attic above Daniel’s bedroom.

She could fully stand about two feet on each side of the ridge board. Late afternoon sun gilded tiny particles of dust kicked up by her yellow Crocs as she crossed the room to look out one of the two dormered windows. They faced each other on opposite sides of the wide but shallow space.

It seemed the perfect place to be. It was warm, still, and filled with sunlight. She removed her jacket, laid it across the back of the chair, and sat down. She inhaled the scent of old dust and wood. It felt cozy in spite of her nearness to the windowpane.

The house is waiting for him too.

There were no interior walls in the attic. Wooden studs merely stood as a testament to someone’s idea that this upper space could be a room—a glorious room. She could visualize it painted a light color, or perhaps partially covered with wallpaper in a flowery pattern.

Joyful.

In the middle of the room stood a dark brown scratched dresser with an attached cracked mirror. She regarded her reflection in the damaged glass, cut in two. She turned herself invisible, and then visible again, reliving the scary scene of a floating face in the dressing booth. She smiled and shook her head.

I’ll hear from Mother on that one for sure. But it was worth it.

 It always amazed her how Father had made angels able to appear and disappear at will. Just one of many tools in her arsenal, she thought. She would need all of them this time around.

One thing would have to be remedied before Daniel got home; she would have to lose the makeup.

A bare mattress sat atop the mesh platform of an old trundle bed frame. Claire went over to it, clutching her red shopping bag. She carefully pulled out her purchases. Two white boxes remained at the bottom. She opened them up to find little pink vials of perfume. She hoped the girl wouldn’t get in trouble for giving those to her for free. She sprayed the room and walked through the cloud of spray. She hoped she smelled better than Audray did.

Daniel will be home soon.

Time for a shower.

Claire removed her clothes and stepped into in his shower. She loved the feel of the warm water and the soap against her human skin. After finishing her shower, she faced Daniel’s mirror, drying off. Turning back to disappear, she took a quick check to make sure she left no trace of the makeup. A little water shadow remained, but no other evidence that she had been there.

Before she could dress, she felt something cold, like the forefinger of a cold spirit trace down her spine. She shook herself loose of the feeling.

The towel she used was Daniel’s. It contained the scent she had grown to love. Before replacing it on the rack, she buried her face deep inside the warm cotton, inhaling. Her body tingled with excitement, every cell. She opened Daniel’s medicine cabinet and took out his lime cologne and inhaled it with eyes closed.

The best. She sighed. She’d guarded humans who smelled good only some of the time, but he smelled good to her all the time.

Which do I love more, smelling him or looking at him?

Claire returned to the attic to await his arrival, then slipped on her gown. She picked up the perfume, sprayed it in the room and walked through the wonderful jasmine scent again.

After retrieving her Sonnets from the duffel she curled up in the chair by the window and felt the last bits of golden sunlight slowly die off as she read E.B. Browning:

“How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways.”

This poem always made her shiver. It was curious to read about love, a human emotion she had not experienced. She felt joy and sadness, and she could say she loved Father, but it was a kind of devotional love for him, not like what was described in these poems.

Like an angel, Robert had come to Elizabeth’s bedside and coaxed her to health. Claire loved that story. They had fallen in love with each other’s words, and then they met and fell in love in the physical sense. Claire tried to imagine that kind of love. It seemed to be in short supply in the human world. In Heaven it wasn’t necessary.

Or is this what I’m missing?
She had never felt she missed anything before.

If the Brownings had become angels in the Guardianship, they wouldn’t know each other, she thought, as all their human memories would have been washed clean. Perhaps they lived together in a different world—one of the other ones she knew existed.

Maybe there’s a Land of Great Loves…

She would have to ask Father about this. All she knew was the Guardianship. What are those other worlds? Most angels had never seen them, except her friend Carmen. The Ladies of the Night had tremendous access all over Heaven, especially Carmen, who was the oldest angel she knew.

Rumors about other worlds and other goings on in Heaven sometimes caused big “clarification meetings,” because the imaginative angels on her squad were susceptible to exaggeration or embellishment. It sometimes brought on trouble. Mother Guardian was always on the lookout for trouble, or for things that would distress her girls. Some of the male angels in the guardianship had traveled between worlds, but they’d been sworn to secrecy, keeping the girls naive. Mother liked things to be peaceful, simple. Claire knew the angels were only told what they needed to know, and no more. But sometimes she wished they knew more.

A few hours passed before Daniel arrived home, later than usual. His mood was somber.

Something is bothering him.

Claire was a bit alarmed. Last night he had been out with Josh and had met the redhead and her friend. She doubted he would pine for her, remembering how anxious he was to be rid of her wandering hands.

He sat by his fireplace in the big chair, his stocking feet up on a hassock. He proceeded to drink almost the whole bottle of wine without the use of a glass again, like the night of his suicide attempt. This was not a good sign. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, like the fireplace had caused his eyes to water. Claire looked at his pencils and chalk. Untouched today. Untouched yesterday as well. This also was not a good sign.

The near empty wine bottle sat on the floor beside the chair and ottoman. He leafed through one of his books and sighed, then looked into the fireplace as if searching for answers. He fell asleep with the open book propped on his chest.

Claire came around and admired her poor, beautiful charge. Once he fitfully entered dream state, she dove in.

She could tell immediately where it was going again.

What has triggered this encounter with Audray? Here it comes. I hate this dream!

Daniel walked up to his front door, and, seeing his key wasn’t necessary, was about to open it when he heard sounds inside. He walked around to his dining window and saw Audray on the couch in front of his fireplace with the hairy man. The man looked even more ape-like than before.

Each time the man got hairier, and fatter. Daniel was embellishing his own dream, although Claire had planned to do the same if she had the chance.

She knew what would be coming next. Deciding to use some humor to help break up the ache in his heart, she gave the gentleman an even wider butt than he already had, and added more body hair. Claire didn’t like this man either.

But Daniel didn’t seem to notice the embellishment. His eyes were glued elsewhere, tears streaming down his face.

Not acceptable!

This dream undid days of contentment. She knew it would keep coming back over and over again. Claire had to stop the downward cycle. She smiled as she came up with a devilish solution.

Humor. Use humor.

Claire forced the fire to flame out of the firebox several feet. It lightly touched the man’s bottom as he was pumping into Audray. The man squealed in pain as he rubbed his sore behind, cursing. Claire could see it was starting to turn bright red and hoped Daniel saw the welts forming.

Audray threw her head back and laughed. Claire wasn’t surprised. That would be the end of the lovemaking.

Was that a thin smile on Daniel’s face?

Claire was relieved. A little comic relief was often good for a broken heart. But her relief was short-lived, as Audray rose and stood, with her perfectly formed body on view, fluffing her hair, stretching like a cat in the glow of the fireplace. Though there was lots of movement from the agitated man, Daniel’s stare could not be swayed from glow of her flesh, and Claire felt his craving and heartache return.