Angels at the Table (Angels Everywhere #7)(42)

“Ever again?”

Lucie closed her eyes and tightened her hold on her cellphone. Already it was pressed against her ear so hard it would leave an indentation. “I … don’t know.” Now wasn’t the time to make that kind of decision.

“Leaving me dangling seems rather unfair, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” she had to agree.

“Then decide. If you want to take a break then let’s do it. We can meet again in a month or two and talk then.”

“I … need longer.”

“Three months?”

“I don’t know.” She closed her eyes.

Aren chuckled softly and without humor. “I believe I’m getting the message. You want me completely out of your life but you don’t have the courage to say it.”

Lucie didn’t know if that was true or not. “I … don’t know what to say. I need time.”

“Then take all the time you need. But I’m sticking by my review. I don’t know what happened that night with the sole, but in my opinion it should never have been served.

“You had over three hundred patrons who strongly disagreed with me and I had the opportunity to dine a second time at Heavenly Delights, and I was glad I did because the meal was wonderful. I wrote a rave review. I gave you another chance.”

“I know,” she whispered, feeling dreadful. He had written a positive review but that was after he knew she was the chef.

“It’s a shame you’re unwilling to do the same for me.”

Before she could say another word, Aren whispered, “Good-bye, Lucie,” and hung up.

“How did Lucie get that newspaper?” Mercy cried, watching events unfold from the Brooklyn skyline above Lucie’s apartment. “Who was assigned to watch her?”

Will reluctantly raised his hand. “She was in the basement. I didn’t even see who gave it to her. I’m so sorry … and now everything is ruined, and once again it’s all my fault.”

Gabriel appeared beside them, arriving unexpectedly and with little fanfare. “So how is the romance developing between Lucie and Aren?” he asked, although Mercy strongly suspected he already knew the answer.

No one seemed inclined to respond.

“She just told him she doesn’t want to see him,” Shirley muttered. “And it’s all our fault.”

“We messed with her sauce for the fish and that upset God’s plan,” Will admitted.

“That’s the problem,” Gabriel said and folded his arms over his massive chest. “And it’s a big one. There’s a very good reason Prayer Ambassadors are asked not to get involved with matters on Earth. When you do, things can get messy.”

“Real messy,” Shirley agreed. “And I’m to blame.”

“I’m at fault, too,” Goodness confessed.

“We’re all guilty,” Mercy chimed in, and the worst of it was they’d led young Will astray as well.

“Can we fix it?” Will asked eagerly.

Gabriel looked from one to the other. “I think it might be best if you left it alone and let Lucie and Aren sort this out for themselves,” he suggested.

“But will they?” Mercy pleaded, needing to know. It grieved her that two people who seemed so right together would allow this to stand between them. She wanted to help but knew she dared not.

“What happens is up to them,” Gabriel said, and then he did something completely out of character. Gabriel gently patted Mercy’s shoulder. “We aren’t meant to understand why humans make the decisions they do. It’s all about free will.”

“But Aren and Lucie are so right for each other,” Will argued.

“Are they?” Gabriel posed the question.

Unfortunately the answer was one Shirley, Goodness, Mercy, and Will didn’t know.

Chapter Fifteen

“Why the glum look?” Josie asked when Aren met his sister Monday morning. “I thought you spent the day with Lucie and she cooked you dinner.”

“I didn’t go.”

“What?” Josie nearly stumbled into the man standing in front of her in the Starbucks line. “Why not? Being with Lucie was all you could talk about on Saturday.”

That wasn’t entirely true. The one doing the talking had been his sister. Josie had been bemoaning the sorry state of her life after she saw Jack. Aren wished now he’d been a little more sympathetic seeing that he was currently the one on the receiving end of rejection.

“It’s over between us,” he stated matter-of-factly, as if it was of little consequence. In reality, Lucie was all he’d thought about from the moment he’d disconnected the call. She’d made her feelings clear. No matter what he said, Lucie wasn’t going to change her mind. She wanted a breather, or so she said, but he didn’t need a crystal ball to read her mind. Lucie didn’t want anything more to do with him, only she hadn’t been strong enough to say it.

One look told him Josie had figured out what had happened. “Lucie read the column, didn’t she?”

The Starbucks line moved forward and so did they. “Yeah, and sweet as she appears, she doesn’t have a forgiving nature.”

Josie frowned. “Are you going to leave it like that?”