Page 47 of Angels Above

Cal had been excited that Mia had met his grandfather. The two of them hit it off.

After Mia and his grandfather had gone home, he was in bed that night when Mia texted him to say how much she appreciated him.

That he made her see the good in things and to stop focusing on what went wrong and spend that time on what she could change to do right.

He played it down, not wanting her to think he was this do-gooder or ray of sunshine. He wasn’t. He hated to have that put on his shoulders all the time.

He was who he was, but when he was having a bad day, he just tried to remember that someone always had it worse.

Or that there was a time in his life that was much worse.

Not everyone loved him like many thought and he didn’t think otherwise.

“I’m glad,” he said. “Are you going to drink tonight?”

“I’ll have a glass for sure,” she said. “I had one at your house on Wednesday with your grandfather.”

“Just one,” he said. “Right? You’re not driving tonight though.”

“So maybe I’ll have two,” she said. “But you know, traffic court and all. Don’t need to get any tickets.”

He grinned at her. “Glad you are seeing the humor in it.”

“It’s all I can do. I did get Penelope her work license.”

“There you go,” he said. “And if she messes up, that’s on her.”

“Oh, I told her that. I played it up with everything I had to do and bend over backward and told her to not make me regret doing it.”

“Did you have to do a lot?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “That judge didn’t decide for the work license. If he did, who knows the outcome? It’s all part of the process and I understand that. Sometimes people need to hit rock bottom to see if they can climb back out. Not that Penelope has hit rock bottom compared to most people.”

“Not even close,” he said. “But in her world, she probably feels that way.”

“Not my problem,” she said. “I’m trying to get to that point. I can’t help everyone. I have to remind myself of that.”

“That’s right,” he said. “You’ll burn out if you think you can.”

“Which is how I got here to begin with. The house on the left,” she said.

Cal didn’t live that far from Morgan’s house, but they’d run out to get the wine and had made their way back.

He was happy Mia was spending the night and they’d have some time together. It felt like they didn’t get nearly as much as he wanted and he was to blame more than her.

She had a job working days and though she did work at night, she was home most of the time.

Him, he was working and out all hours of the day and night and weekends. It’d always been that way. Thankfully it didn’t seem as if Mia had an issue with it though.

He pulled into the driveway of the newer house that was massive. “This is big,” he said.

“Yeah. They are filling it with dogs and now a child,” she said.

“Can’t wait to see the dogs,” he said. “I always thought I’d get one, but I’m not home enough. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“That is how I’ve felt. But you could take a dog with you everywhere,” she said. “Well, not the bakery or restaurant. But you aren’t in there much. You could have a dog in your offices, in your truck with you, even in the liquor store, right? In the back?”

“I could,” he said. “As I said, I thought of it. I don’t know, maybe someday.”

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