Heavenly (18 page)

"I need your car," he called.

"Whereś yours?" she asked. I glanced at her over my shoulder. She stood in the kitchen opening, confusion on her

face.

Luke didn't answer just opened the front door.

"His car is being towed here," I told her, then took off after him. "Where are you going?" I stayed on his heels.

Luke jogged out into a thick blanket of falling snow. I hoped he wasn't going somewhere to get high, but in my heart

of hearts, I figured that was reality.

He got in Mom's car and the mini van started up, sending a white plume into the air as he screeched out of the

driveway.

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I closed the front door and reached in; hope in my heart it was Luke calling or

texting me. Britt.

wanna hang?

where's weston?

busy. want2?

Tempted as I was to ignore the pressing urgency building inside of me to go after Luke, I couldn't suppress the exigency to

follow him. Not only that, but I was supposed to meet up with Chase at Starbucks later.

waaaahh pwease?

While Britt whined, Luke got farther away. I ran to my car. I started the engine and texted Britt back:
sorry
then

tossed my cell phone into the passenger side seat.

Snow coated the roads, an inch of translucent sludge I drove through slowly, following the minivan tracks up the

street that wound into the neighborhood east of our house. To my right, the screen of my cell phone lit up and vibrated, like a crying baby calling for attention. Britt's number flashed.

Far ahead, red tail lights from the minivan barely beamed through the veil of white coming down.
Where are you

going?

The van took a right. I didn't know the neighborhood he was driving into very well, so I sped up a little, afraid of

losing him on another turn somewhere.

Luke pulled over in front of a dark brown house that looked like the cabin on the Log Cabin syrup bottle. Smoke from

the brick chimney swirled into the black sky. I hung at the end of the block with my car lights off so Luke wouldn't see me.

He didn't even look. He ran up to the door, knocked and waited. The door finally opened and he vanished inside.

Had I pushed him too far?


TEN


When I finally arrived at Starbucks, I was shocked to see the parking lot packed. What were all these people doing

here? Hadn't they seen the weather? Driven on the roads?

I stomped from the car to the buzzing place, lit up like a lighthouse. Inside, the warm, heavenly-scent of coffee in the

air eased my tense muscles. Low monotone chatter comforted. I let out a breath, shook off the snow and looked for Chase.

A frantic movement in the corner caught my attention. He jittered and waved like he had to pee. I quickly made my

way over so he'd stop.

"Hey. I wasn't sure you'd make it."

"Me either." I reached to pull out a chair and he jumped over and did it for me. "Thanks." I sat.

He sat across from me. Four empty cups of what might have been hot chocolate sat in front of him. Maybe he
did

have to
pee.

"You been here long?" I asked.

"No. Not really." His cheeks turned the color of ripe apples. His gaze traveled my body. "No coat?"

"I'm one of those girls who don't believe in coats." I shrugged. "Or umbrellas. Or anything protective whatsoever."

He, on the other hand, had on a thick sweater—a dark green cable knit cardigan he must have borrowed from his grandfathers

closet because no guy in this millennium would be caught dead wearing a cable knit cardigan.

"Oh," he said.

I clasped my hands on the table. "So, here we are."

"Here we are," he chimed. He shifted in his chair as if needles were on the seat. "You want anything to drink?"

"Yeah, I'll take a sugar free caramel steamer. Thanks."

He blinked, stammered, "Oh. Yeah. Okay, I'll be right back."

I watched him go to the counter, then my gaze swept the room for anyone familiar. No one. The last thing I needed

was another complication. Knowing we could talk without being seen by anyone from school relaxed me and I crossed my

arms on the table, set my chin on them and closed my eyes, eager to savor the time away from my troubles.

Hearing movement some time later, I opened my eyes and was relieved to look into Chase's familiar puppy face. I bet

he'd never done anything bad. He set down two steaming cups.

"Thanks." I reached for the drink he slid my direction. My cold hands circled around the warm cup.

"You're welcome." He sat, stared at me.

So he wasn't the most socially suave guy I'd ever met. Virtue had its price. I felt comfortable with him, that was nice.

"Tell me about your other sighting," I said before a sip.

He leaned forward. "Well, okay. Once when I was really young, I was camping with my family. I'm one of five kids,

and my parents were pretty distracted, setting up camp and all that. My older brother and sister were fighting—as usual—

arguing about who was going to get the red sleeping bag, because it was the fluffiest and smelled like cedar balls. My baby

sister was screaming her head off, which killed my ears. I hated it when she cried. It sounded like a screeching train loose in my brain. So I walked a little ways away from camp. It was quieter in the trees, so I kept walking, looking at the flora and

fauna on the ground. Pretty soon, I didn't hear anything. I looked around and all I saw was trees."

"Where you scared?"

"Oddly, no. The noise back at camp had been so loud, I was happy to be alone."

"Did you know you were lost?"

He shook his head. "It didn't occur to me for a while. I kept walking, picking up bugs and rocks. The forest has the

coolest ecosystem—" He stopped himself. "Anyway, when it started getting dark, that's when I got scared. I called for my parents but nothing happened. I cried. Then, out of nowhere, I heard my name."

A chill raced down my spine.

He leaned closer. " 'Chase,' the voice said. I turned around and there stood this pretty lady. Well, she wasn't really a lady, she was a girl. Older. But not too old. Just not young. Anyway, she was in a long, pink dress. She had blonde hair and

the prettiest smile. Her hand was extended and she told me to come sit with her. She took my hand and led me to a rock and

we sat."

"Wow," I murmured.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's strange because I remember that she..." He glanced around, then leaned close. "She glowed.

Like a pink candle. And her voice was so soothing... like being in a bathtub of warm water. When she touched me, I knew I'd

be okay."

I nodded, knowing first hand how complete such comfort felt. "Did she say anything more?"

"She just told me my parents would come for me soon."

"And did they?"

"I don't know how much longer we sat there." He lifted his shoulders. "It didn't matter, because I was safe."

"Wow." I reached for my drink but was too enthralled by his story to sip. "Wow." I couldn't believe someone else on this huge planet had experienced what I'd experienced.

"I heard my mom crying. Then I heard Dad calling for me and— voila—there they were, running toward me. I

remember looking at the puny flashlights they were carrying and thinking how tiny they were compared to the light around

her."

"What happened then?"

"Mom squeezed me to death. At first Dad was relieved to see me, then he got all mad and started railing on me as we

walked back to camp. I hate it when he does that—goes all bi-polar."

I sipped my drink. "I guess you've never lost anyone before. My sister has autism and she runs all the time. No one

knows why kids with autism run, they just do. It's scary."

"Yeah, I've heard of that. That would be scary. So, is that how you saw your spirit?"

I nodded. "He's not my spirit, actually. He's Abria's."

"Tell me about him."

How do you describe a heavenly being? Of course I didn't have to; Chase had had his own experiences with them. As

I explained my first interaction at the park, down to the last time I'd seen Matthias, Chaseś attention remained riveted to me.

His eyes glittered. "You go your whole life thinking the idea of angels and Heaven is a fantasy and then, voila it's

real."

"I always thought it was real."

"I guess I was more of a skeptic."

"So it took your aunt and the lady in the forest before you accepted that guardians are real?"

"I kept thinking what happened to me had to have been a product of fear, in the case of my aunt's death or fear and

exposure the in case of the lady in the forest."

"It's a gift," I told him. "Matthias told me those with pure souls and open minds see spirits."

"He said that? Wow." He sat back. "You've had extensive visitations."

"It's safe to say I've moved from visitations to residency."

Chase's brows drew together in a flash of suspicion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I've seen Matthias about four times now, and it doesn't look like his visits are over. He's Abria's guardian, and, lucky for me, that means he's hers forever."

He shook his head. "Not according to Sariah."

I bristled at the thought that Matthias was not going to be around indefinitely. I reached for my drink, squeezing the

cup. "Who the
h
is Sariah?"

"A spirit I met last year when my nephew was in the hospital. The coolest lady. She lived around 100 ВС."

I sat upright. "Serious? How did you find that out?"

"She told me. Really cool story, actually. She was one of like ten wives this old guy had. She lived in this ancient

city..." He whacked himself on the side of the head. "I can't remember the name. This place sounded unbelievable. You know, houses built into the mountain sides, market places, sports arenas, parties that put Sodom and Gomorrah to shame."

"That was some conversation."

"I was getting smart." He tapped his temple. "By the time I met Sariah, I had too many questions to let her go without an inquisition."

"And she was okay with that?"

"She was totally okay with it."

"She said she'd been assigned to Nathan—that's my nephew and her zillionth great grand nephew—for the duration of

his stay in the hospital. I asked her if she would always be his guardian, even after he was well, and she said no. Guardianship is transitory."

"Maybe in your nephews case, but Abria has autism."

Chase blinked at my defensive tone. "I guess time will tell."

I chugged the rest of my drink, even though my stomach churned like a washing machine thinking that Matthias

might be replaced—out of my life—Abria's life.

"Do you know anything else about Matthias?" He sat forward, eagerness spilling out like soda from a shaken bottle.

"He's not as..
. old
as Sariah. Old being relative once you're dead. He lived during the nineteen twenties."

"He's a baby then."

"Matthias calls them 'freshies,'" I said, enjoying correcting him. He bristled. "This isn't about whose spirit is better," I pointed out.

"I know." Chase shrugged. "Still, you have to admit, Sariah's story beats the prohibition years hands down. I mean, we can read about all that stuff in our history books but to come face-to-face with someone who lived one

hundred years ВС. That's... that's..."

"Fascinating," I said, flatly annoyed he was trying to one-up our heavenly beings. "His father ran a speakeasy from the basement of a church."

"No kidding? And he still made it to Heaven?" Chase let out a whistle that turned heads. "He's obviously redeemed himself. That's why he's a guardian."

I was protective of Matthias, of his life and his death. In my mind I saw the scar on his face. From all intents and

purposes, he'd died in the throes of an illegal business. How then
had he
become a guardian?

"Do you believe in God?" I asked Chase.

"I'm still undecided. I asked Sariah if she'd seen God." The hair on my body stood erect.

"What did she say?"

She said, "That's for you to discover for yourself, or the knowledge means nothing.'"

"Isn't it obvious?" I said. "I mean, forget the planet and how perfectly everything in the universe works. Why would we see these beings—as alive as you and me—and know that there is life after this, and doubt somebody bigger than us

orchestrates everything?"

"You don't have to preach." I grabbed my drink, letting out a breath. "So what if God is in charge. Obviously, everyone gets to live their lives. Look at my brother, screwing up like he is. Look at all the crap that goes on in the world."

"Some would argue if God is around, why does He let it happen?"

"Because He knows everything will work out in the end."

"A tidy statement. You can't nutshell the world. It's not possible."

"I don't mean to trivialize anything. One thing I've realized seeing Matthias is just how much I don't know."

"That's why we need to pump these guys for as much information as we can," Chase said.

"Excuse me, but that sounds opportunistic."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, what are you going to do, write a book?"

"Maybe."

"But how can you? What's happened to us is... special." I couldn't imagine cheapening my relationship with Matthias by making a profit off him. "I guess that's your choice." Suddenly, I was disappointed with Chase. I stood. "Best of luck on the road to redemption."

"Wait a second. You're leaving?"

"I've got to go." I looked out the windows. Snow had ceased falling, so I couldn't use that as an excuse.

"We were just getting started," he complained.

"Was this why you wanted to talk? To pump me for information you can use in some book or article?"