Page 17 of Heaven Leigh’s Little Halloween

“She sounds like a great person,” he said carefully.

Heaven nodded without looking up. “Yeah, she was.” She took a bite of her sandwich, and he was pretty sure that was a hint to drop it.

He did, concentrating on his own lunch. But she surprised him a few minutes later.

“She died.” The words were blurted out in a rush. “I-I guess that’s kind of how I ended up here. After she… baking was hard. Doing the things we’d done together just reminded me. I wanted a new start and then I found out about the Ranch.”

Angel nodded, mostly to himself since she still wasn’t looking at him. “A lot of people get a new start here. I did.”

Finally, Heaven looked up. “You did?”

Angel didn’t talk about his past much. When he took the job, he told himself that he’d leave it all behind him and try to move on. But she’d told him something. It was only fair he reciprocate.

“I did. It’s a long story though. You sure you want to hear it?”

“Of course!”

“Okay, but you have to keep eating your lunch. I can’t send you back with an empty stomach.” He gave her forgotten food a pointed look and waited for her to pick up her sandwich before he began.

“My parents were immigrants. They worked hard and didn’t speak the language, so as the American-born kid I was expected to translate for them all the time. They kept me close to home and the idea of me going away to culinary school was a little too much for them, even if we could have afforded it.”

Even now he winced thinking about the tuition costs listed in the acceptance letter he’d received. “Every Christmas my mother would make all this amazing candy to give away as gifts. Every kind you could think of, and I learned from her. It was what I wanted to do… but school was out of the question, so I ended up apprenticed in a chocolate shop.”

“Sort of like me then. You started with some basic skills, used them to get a job, and then got really good at it.” She seemed excited at the similarity.

“Yes, but in my case, the owner wasn’t… parental or nice. I don’t think he cared for me much at all, and I heard him say some things that…” He trailed off and shook his head. “I think the only reason he kept me on was that he could pay me less than everyone else. I didn’t care because I was learning what I needed to know.”

“That sucks! You deserved better than that.” Heaven’s outrage took him by surprise, but maybe she’d understood the subtext he hadn’t put into words.

His mouth quirked up at one end. “Thank you, chica. I guess you could say I was a little bit of a natural. Not only did I learn fast, but I started experimenting on my own. After a couple of years, I was irreplaceable, and he had to treat me better.”

He paused, wondering how far he should go. “And it wasn’t a bad place to work. Let’s just say his daughter didn’t share his dislike of me. We got along very well and when he found out we were dating, there was an explosion that shook the walls.”

Heaven Leigh frowned. “So… what happened?”

“He fired me, but his daughter walked out with me. We had big dreams, Merry and I. We were going to save up and open our own place, get married, have a family… the whole deal.”

Heaven’s eyes went round and a series of emotions crossed her face, leaving him uncertain about what she felt. “That… doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It wasn’t bad at all. It was a wonderful time. We both found jobs. No longer working together, but between us we made enough for a small apartment. After a while we got married and we started to make our dreams come true.”

“But…”

She trailed off. She had to be wondering what happened since, here he was at Rawhide without a wife. It was just that the next part still hurt, and he didn’t like to talk about it.

“Car accident. Exactly two years after we got married… to the day.” He drew in a deep breath and held it until spots swam in front of his eyes. The happiest day of his life had become the worst day when she’d left him on their anniversary.

Heaven made a gasping sound and both hands went up to cover her mouth.

He let out the breath he’d been holding. “She was rushing to get home for our anniversary actually. We had dinner plans, and she was running late. There was a yellow light and she thought she could make it, but…” He closed his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Angel. I don’t… I can’t even imagine.”

He opened his eyes and gave her a small smile. “It’s okay, nina. That was five years ago. It still hurts, but it’s better now. Grief fades over time, yours will too eventually.”

“Still… I’m really sorry.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” He reached over and patted her hand.

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