Angels at the Table (Angels Everywhere #7)(29)

“I couldn’t.” He didn’t know how many times he needed to remind his sister he was under contract.

Josie tilted back her head and looked at the darkening sky as though the frustration was too much for her. “Oh, Aren, this isn’t good.”

He’d thought about nothing else all night. Lucie needed to know, and the longer he kept it a secret, the more difficult it would become for him once the truth came out.

They started walking again, fast approaching the subway station.

“What did Lucie say?” Josie pressed.

Aren shrugged as if he didn’t remember, although he did, almost every word. “She talked about Eaton Well and how mean and unfair he was. At one point she even said she’d like to meet him just so she could tell him off.”

“Oh boy.”

“Even if I could tell her I wouldn’t … not with everything going so well. She’s still so angry.”

“But you wrote a wonderful review later.”

“I mentioned that, but she brushed it off, discounting the article. She couldn’t talk about anything but the first review.”

“But Aren, you’ve got to find a way to let her know sooner or later.”

Aren didn’t need his sister to tell him that. He knew. “I agree.”

“You of all people know what it’s like to be deceived. I know it’s a risk, but it’s one you have to take.”

In theory Aren couldn’t fault her logic. “I know what needs to be done, it’s just that … I don’t know how to do it and not break my agreement with the newspaper. Have you ever met someone you instantly clicked with? Lucie is smart and funny and intensely loyal and kind. She loves her family and her dog and you should see the way everyone at the restaurant feels about her and her mother. I don’t know when I’ve ever met a better group of people.”

“You’ve only been there twice.”

“I know, and it isn’t what they say, it’s how they all work together and support one another. That kind of camaraderie starts with management and works its way down. Lucie and her mother are destined to make Heavenly Delights a success. I can already see it.”

“All I can say is that you need to find a way to tell Lucie before this whole situation blows up in your face.”

Aren couldn’t put up a single argument. “She invited me to dinner at her apartment on Sunday.”

Josie took a swig of coffee and shook her head. “You’ve got to find a way before then.”

“But …”

“It’ll only get harder, the longer you put it off.”

Aren’s breath came out in foggy bursts in the cold. Snow had started to fall and while the signs of Christmas were all around him, he barely noticed.

“I’ll think of something,” he murmured, and he would.

Josie was right. He stood to lose both his job and Lucie, but it was a risk he had to take. “I’ll think of something.” It wouldn’t be easy but it simply had to be done.

“Call me when you come up with an idea.”

He promised he would even as the dread settled over him.

“Okay, now that that’s over with,” Josie continued as if she were glad to set aside the subject. “Tell me what happened at the play last night.”

Aren smiled at the memory. “Angels at Christmas was great, better than expected.”

“It’s been all over the news this morning, didn’t you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“Aren, good grief, you were there! You must have seen it.”

He felt totally perplexed; he didn’t have a clue what his sister was talking about.

“The actors were interviewed and they told this unbelievable story about how they were lifted two and three feet off the ground. They were reciting their lines the way they do every performance, and all of a sudden they were lifted off their feet and suspended in the air for several minutes.”

Of course Aren remembered. Lucie and he had talked about not being able to see the wires. “You mean that wasn’t part of the play?”

“No, and then another group of performers insisted someone else was singing with them. Actually more than one person.”

“The music was out of this world,” Aren agreed.

“Critics are saying it’s a publicity stunt and the actors insist it wasn’t. Everyone is talking about it on the radio this morning. And you know, I tend to agree with those critics. It sounds like some sort of publicity prank. I mean, how else do you explain that camel wandering down Broadway with trainers chasing after it?”

“The camel got loose?” Aren hadn’t heard a word about any of this.

“Honestly, Aren, you’ve got to get your head out of the clouds. This thing with Lucie is muddling up your brain.”

His brain was more than messed up. All he could think about was Lucie and how afraid he was of losing her again so soon after they’d found each other. That morning he’d turned on the radio but his thoughts had been wrapped around Lucie, and apparently he hadn’t been listening.

They parted soon afterward. Josie went in one direction and he took off in another.

Aren spent the better part of the day writing the review on his experience at the restaurant. Then, because he’d been at the play the night before, he was asked to write a short piece about what he saw and his own interpretation of the strange events from the night before, which was scheduled to run in that evening’s issue. The restaurant review took more time. He deliberately placed Lucie’s comments from the dinner as part of the piece. Once she read the article written by Eaton Well she’d know who he was and then they could talk freely. If she hated him, well, it would be a clean break before his heart was even more heavily involved. When he handed in his article, the feedback was positive.