Divinity (2 page)

“I was afraid, Alex.”

He laid his palm against her cheek, brushing a stray tear away with his thumb. His voice crackled hoarsely when he spoke. “Do you have any idea how happy that makes me?”

“You’re happy that I was afraid?” Julia searched his eyes. Perhaps he had lost his mind.

“Julia,” he said, his eyes moistening, “you were afraid because you wanted to live.”

“Don’t cry, Alex. I’ll lose it if you cry,” she said, closing her eyes and pressing her cheek against his hand. She took a deep breath. “I’ve come a long way in a year, I guess.”

“We have,” he corrected her.

They sat in silence, holding hands and sipping wine, and the weight lifted from Julia’s shoulders for a while, until Alex sat back. He ran his fingers through his soft curls in that way he always did when he was going to say something he wasn’t sure Julia would like.

“What is it?” Julia asked.

“It’s just…” Alex pulled his chair closer. “Why weren’t you and the baby burned?”

“I don’t know,” Julia said, her eyes falling once again to her unmarred skin.

“A miracle.” Alex shivered.

“I’m just glad they don’t know who I am.” Julia took a long drink of her wine, and then added with a laugh, “Did you see the sketch?”

“Don’t worry, it looks nothing like you. Seems everyone was so focused on the baby, nobody got a good look at you.” Alex chuckled. “Do you think the baby’s okay?”

“I’m sure he will be. He didn’t even suffer a heat blister.” She looked away, thinking back to the explosion. When the second blast hit, the only thing she felt was a light, cool breeze surrounding her—almost shielding her. She was not about to tell anyone that, not even Alex; they would think she was crazy.

“Let’s change the subject,” she said with a playful smile. “Are you going to tell me? What is the ‘secret project’ you’ve been working on for the past few weeks?”

Alex laughed, reaching across the table to hold her hand. “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

Julia smiled. She always enjoyed Alex’s touch, yet she couldn’t help but look at her hand once more, knowing that it should have been untouchable, blistered and burned beyond recognition.

Gabriel stepped up beside Michael, plumes of cloud lifting and swirling away with every footfall. Side by side, they had nearly identical wings and long, flowing white robes, but those were the only things similar about the two. Gabriel’s short, straight blond hair made Michael’s seem even darker, with soft brown curls resting on his shoulders. And though Gabriel wasn’t pale, standing beside Michael’s dark-skinned form made him seem so. “Michael.”

“Gabriel,” Michael greeted him. “Did you witness what she has done?”

The two Archangels peered through the clouds to the Earth below. “You are referring to the accident? The rescue of the baby?”

“I am.”

“Yes, I did,” Gabriel said. “Though I am not sure how she was able to protect herself in that way.”

“She is beginning to find herself, Gabriel. She will need guidance.”

Gabriel’s wings tensed and a frown creased his face. “Guidance from whom?”

Michael turned to face him. They stood for a moment, gazes locked on one another, Gabriel’s steel-blue eyes with their strange brown flecks staring into Michael’s deep, dark brown eyes. The tips of their wings disappeared into the clouds at their feet.

“Me?” Gabriel took a step back. “I would think there must be someone more aptly suited to the task.”

Michael set one large hand on his broad shoulder. “Who better to guide her than her own father?”

II

L
ONG
after Alex went home, Julia lay in bed, wrapped in her favorite down comforter, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the cool air that had surrounded her body in the midst of the blast. She relived the moment many times, trying to figure out what had happened and how she had survived.

After twenty minutes she threw back her comforter and made her way out to her laptop. What she really needed right now was her best friend. She supposed some might think it was odd that she had never actually met her friend face to face, but Julia didn’t. She had never felt more connected to another person in her life than she felt to Charlie.

The question right now was, where would she find her? Would she be on her instant messaging, or would she have it switched off so she could play Texas Hold ‘Em uninterrupted? That was where they’d first met, chatting in a sidebar as they lost millions of fake poker chips to the other players. Julia checked the clock. 1:30 AM. That would be 3:30 PM in Australia where Charlie lived, and perfect timing. They’d have an hour to chat before Charlie’s live-in boyfriend arrived. It also meant that Charlie was likely in a poker room.

Julia logged in and quickly found her friend flirting with a guy named Larry whose picture looked like he’d stolen it from a male model website. Charlie’s picture was real, and beautiful. It was a headshot she’d taken with her cellphone, and it made her look like a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Swedish supermodel. All the guys hit on her online, but Charlie usually kept her distance. Last thing she needed was another stalker.

Julia sent Charlie a private message.

Charlie was a master at picking up Julia’s tells, and this time was no exception. Julia stared at the screen, her fingers poised above her keyboard, waiting for her brain to slow down long enough to send out a type-able sentence. A tear slid down her cheek and she brushed it away. What was she even crying for? Confusion?

While waiting for Charlie to respond, Julia processed her own words. Shock, that was it. Wouldn’t anyone be in shock after such a harrowing experience?

Julia said goodbye and closed up the laptop. Charlie was right. Unexplainable stuff did happen to people all the time. Her friend always made everything seem okay, and Julia felt quite peaceful as she made her way back into bed, snuggled under the warmth of her comforter. That is, until the dreams started.

Julia pulled into the empty parking lot of her restaurant and rubbed her eyes. She’d only gotten three hours of sleep the night before, and most of that time was spent reliving the car accident in her dreams. When she stepped out of her car an offensive smell greeted her.

“Way to forget to have the garbage picked up,” she grumbled. She would have to make sure to talk to Sandra about that. Sandra was the manager of Julia’s restaurant.

It was an old log building, once an old-fashioned service station. The island where the gas pumps had once been now housed a large concrete planter, and the drive between the planter and the building made for a great setup to include valet parking on the weekends. Julia had gutted the building and added a huge extension to the back for the kitchen. It had been vacant for almost fifty years before she bought it, so there wasn’t even a lingering odor of gasoline. She thought that might have been better than the odor which surrounded the place now.

The door was unlocked, and Julia could hear Sandra’s harmonies battling for air time with the vacuum cleaner as she prepped the dining room for opening.

“Sandra?” Julia shouted over the noise, hoping to avoid startling the portly woman. When Sandra didn’t respond, Julia made her way into the dining room where the noise came from. Julia came around the corner and gasped. Instead of Sandra’s form, she saw only light, as though a star were floating there in front of her, sharp points of light jutting out from a glowing core.

Julia blinked hard a few times. This was something that had plagued her since childhood, something she had kept to herself until she was old enough to go to the doctor on her own. When she did that and had all sorts of tests done, it turned out there was nothing wrong with her. Julia had come to realize (after a long conversation with a new-age healer) that while some people could see auras surrounding people, she could occasionally see their inner aura, or their spirit energy. It happened more when she was exhausted than any other time, but when it did happen, it was like Julia got a window into the person’s soul.

A few more hard blinks returned her vision to normal, which was a relief since she never really knew how long it would last. She pulled out a chair and sat down, waiting for Sandra to realize she was there.

A few moments later Sandra swung the vacuum around, saw Julia sitting there, and gave a start.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” she said, leaning over to turn off the loud machine.

“I didn’t see your car out there.”

“My Bobby drove me in this morning,” Sandra said, her face lighting up the way it always did when she talked about her new boyfriend. “Flat tire. Couldn’t find the bloody hole, though. Some little prankster must’ve let the air out.”

“Sorry to hear that. I could have opened up alone, though.”

“It’s my job, Julia,” Sandra scoffed as she went about wrapping the cord up and putting the vacuum away while she talked. “Besides, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Sandra’s Cockney accent always kicked into high gear whenever she wanted something. Julia thought it was because she felt uncomfortable asking.

“Oh?”

“I was thinking if we had one more part-timer, we’d be able to take one of the girls off the floor some nights and train her.”

“Train her as…?”

“I’d love to have someone to cover for me so I could take a holiday back home. Mum’s getting on, you know.”

“Sandra, you say the word and I’ll step in and cover for you. You deserve time off, too!”

“You have other things to do, like court that fine young man of yours. Besides, where I come from, we don’t get the boss to cover for us,” Sandra said, putting her hands on her ample hips.

“Well, where I come from, you aren’t a good boss unless you’re willing to step in and do the work yourself.” Julia mirrored Sandra’s hands to hip movement playfully.

“Is that right? That’s where you come from, is it?” Sandra was quick to remind Julia that she was one of the few people who knew Julia was adopted as a child.

“Hey, I’m making it up as I go,” Julia said, flipping on the light switch to the office as she opened the door.

“That you are, my dear. And a damn fine job you’re doing.” Sandra wandered back out to the dining room to push all the chairs back in and resumed her light-hearted singing.

Julia stepped into her office and had to smile when she saw the stack of resumes that Sandra had left on her desk. She doubted she could find anyone to fill Sandra’s shoes, even temporarily, but perhaps they would stumble upon someone able to cover the other shifts. Julia would be more than happy to handle the scheduling and paperwork, and the kitchen staff should be able to deal with the food orders.