Angels at the Table (Angels Everywhere #7)(47)

“Who does it involve, then?” Shirley remained the skeptic.

“You’ll see,” she said. “Follow me.”

“Should I leave Lucie?” Will asked, and seemed doubtful.

“She’ll be fine, trust me.”

Will complied, although reluctantly.

“I just hope we’re doing the right thing,” Shirley said, the last to turn away from Lucie. “I’ve gotten into a heap of trouble before listening to Mercy.”

“I have a good feeling about this,” Goodness added. “Mercy’s got great ideas.”

——

Lucie’s cellphone beeped, indicating she had a text message. She reached in the side pocket of her purse and grabbed her phone. The number was one she didn’t recognize. With a tap of her finger she read the message. Four o’clock on top of the Empire State Building.

Frowning, Lucie tucked her cell back inside her purse while she mulled over who could possibly have sent her the text. Her first thought was that it might be Aren. It wasn’t though. She would have recognized his cell number.

Well, she wasn’t going. It would be ridiculous. She had several errands yet to run. Later she had dinner plans with her mother, and then that evening the two of them would attend Christmas Eve services at their church. Lucie had everything all planned out. Her day didn’t leave time for a wild-goose chase to the Empire State Building.

She wasn’t doing it.

Ten minutes later she glanced at her watch. Three thirty-three.

Even if she wanted to she would never reach the Empire State Building in time, and getting a cab in the city at this time of day and on Christmas Eve would be next to impossible.

No sooner had the thought entered her mind than a taxi pulled up to the curb next to her. A woman climbed out.

Lucie stared in amazement as no one rushed to get inside.

“You coming or not, lady?” the cabbie demanded. “I got people waiting.”

Looking around, Lucie slapped her hand against her chest. “Are you talking to me?”

“You waved me down, didn’t you?”

“Ah … no.”

“Fine, then.”

He started to pull away but Lucie stopped him. Running a couple of steps, she caught up with him and opened the passenger door. “Can you get me to the Empire State Building before four o’clock?”

“In this traffic? You’re joking, right?”

“Do what you can.” Lucie hadn’t intended to follow the instructions from her text and at the same time she couldn’t stop herself. Even if Aren hadn’t sent the message, she needed to know who had and why.

The taxi driver eased back into the bumper-to-bumper traffic. “It’ll be a miracle if we make your four o’clock appointment.”

“Do your best … if I don’t make it, then I don’t make it.” Even now Lucie wasn’t sure why she was in the cab. This was someone’s idea of a joke and a bad one at that. Perhaps Aren was behind it, luring her to this destination point to keep her waiting, the way she had kept him waiting last January.

Even while the thought raced through her mind, she knew he would never do that. It wasn’t in his nature to pull something that twisted.

Perhaps it was hope that convinced her to make her way there. A mixed-up kind of hope that led her to believe that somehow she and Aren could work things out.

“Well, would you look at that?” the cabbie whispered under his breath.

“I’m sorry?” Lucie said, leaning forward. Because she’d been wrapped up in her own thoughts she hadn’t heard the driver.

“Fifth Avenue,” he said and gestured for her to look out the windshield.

Lucie looked but didn’t see anything. “What about it?”

“It’s clear. It’s like the parting of the Red Sea. I’ve got an entire lane to myself. I’ve been driving a cab for nearly twenty years and I’ve never seen anything like this happen. You’d think I had a police escort.”

“Oh?” Lucie wasn’t sure what to say.

“You got an angel on your shoulder or something?” he called back to Lucie.

“No … I don’t think so.” Lucie was beginning to think she had some kind of crazy karma when it came to cabs. Her last experience had been equally unexplainable, with the newspaper flying around and the windows moving up and down of their own accord. Now this. She watched as the traffic seemed to divide just for them.

In no time at all the cab pulled to the curb outside the iconic skyscraper. The driver scratched the side of his head and seemed utterly amazed. “I don’t believe this but it’s five minutes to four. We made it all the way downtown in heavy traffic in unbelievable time. I’d say it’s a Christmas miracle, but I’m not saying a word to anyone—who’d believe me?”

“Five minutes early,” Lucie repeated in a state of shock herself.

She paid the driver and climbed out of the cab. Standing on the street, she held on to her knitted hat and looked up at the skyscraper.

Now that she was here, she might as well find out what this cryptic message was all about. The line to pay for the elevator ride and the view on the 102nd floor moved quickly. The woman selling tickets glanced at her watch. “We’re closing at four today, seeing that it’s Christmas Eve.”