Page 20 of Archangel

Archangel:I’ll check with you every 12 hours.

Me:Why don’t I message you?

Archangel:Tried that once. This is where I ended up.

He had me there.

Me:Forget I asked that. Once a day will be fine.

Archangel:Every 12 hours.

Archangel:You don’t have to answer every time. I’d appreciate it if you answered at least once a day though.

Me:That’s fair.

Archangel:I will always answer if you reach out to me, Sonya. Do it.

As I set my phone back on the table, the tears started again. This time, it was a slow, steady trickle instead of the all-consuming grief I’d experienced before. I reached for tissue by the lamp and blew my nose and tossed the tissue in the trash can by the couch.

The whirr of the electronic lock signaled Bella’s entrance. She gave me a consoling smile as she shut the door behind her.

“Hey, Sonya.” She hurried to me, setting down a backpack beside the couch before giving me a hug. “I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for. Just… piss-poor timing on everyone’s part.” I tried to give her a small smile, but I don’t think I managed very well.

“Caroline said you hadn’t told her what happened. Only called her to come get you so you could sneak out. She said you weren’t upset when you called her, so what happened?”

I filled Bella in while we waited on Linnie to get back. She said she’d talk to Ripper, but I wanted to talk to him too. I also hoped Linnie told Ripper to keep this one close to the vest. I wasn’t ready for my mother and father to know about any of this.

“Holy shit.” Bella’s eyes were wide with shock. “Holy shit! That’s insane!”

“Right?”

She reached over and took my hand in hers. “It’s going to be OK, Sonya. We’ll figure out what to do. If we need to prank Archangel, we can do that. I’m sure we can find something appropriately embarrassing.”

Her comment got a genuine laugh from me. “Thanks, Bella. I don’t know what I’d do without you and Linnie.”

“You’ll never have to find out. We’re your ride or die chicks.”

The door lock whirred again, and Caroline came in with two huge pizza boxes and dragging a cooler behind her.

“Good God, Linnie!” Bella jumped up and ran to our friend. She snagged the pizzas while Caroline continued with the cooler. “You could have told me to meet you in the lobby.”

“I was good.”

The normal conversation helped pull me out of the fog of hurt, and I knew I’d be OK. My friends would always help me when I was down. We were a team.

“I’m so fuckin’ lucky to have you guys.” I gave them a watery smile. “You’re the best.”

“Come here, Sonya.” Linnie pulled me and Bella into a three-way hug. I let their love fill the holes in my heart. I recognized part of my heart would belong to Archangel for a long time to come, but these two women would be with me.

“You know,” Bella said when we finally broke away and started dishing out the pizza. “If what he told you was true, Archangel and Gloria’s marriage didn’t sound like a real marriage but more of a paperwork technicality.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled around a mouth full of pizza. “I’ve decided I’m not talking to Angel until I get some facts from Ripper’s investigation. Did you ask him, Linnie?”

She nodded. “I told him everything I heard and some of what you filled in for me that I’d missed before I got there. He says he’ll have some questions for you, and to call him when you’ve had a chance to rest.”

“It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did,” I whispered, setting down my slice and popping the top on a beer. I took a long pull before setting it down with a gasp. “I’ve had a crush on him forever. Then this happened.”

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