Providence: On Angels' Wings

by Lauren Wynn

  She rests her head on my shoulder. “I mean, I knew when you were assigned here it would be a long time until I saw you again, but I had hope that I would, and now…argh!” She pauses and hugs me. “Now I will never see you again,” she whispers, still resting her head on my shoulder. “I’m so bummed. I’ve really lost my best friend.” Lenox steps back and her shoulders hunch over. “Stupid Providence,” she mumbles.

  “Lenox. She’s not. I am the only one you can blame for this.”

  “Not true. I can totally blame her for being super-sexy and irresistible or whatever she is that made you choose her over …”

  Behind me, Grant says to Leo, “She got two for two right.”

  Leo replies, “Sexy—check, irresistible—check.”

  “Guys, you’re talking about my…oh, never mind.” I give up. They’re just trying to get a rise out of me. Lenox tugs on my arm like a child trying to get my attention.

  “I don’t know, Lenox.”

  “Why not, come on!” She begs.

  “You called her stupid two seconds ago.”

  “I didn’t mean it. Pretty please.” She bats her eyelashes.

  “No wonder they don’t assign her here.” Leo laughs.

  “She’d beat out Zan for fastest faller,” Grant adds.

  “I would not. I will be a great angel,” she says in a high-pitched voice. “Anyway, where was I…oh, yes, begging. Seriously. I will be nice. Please, you have clearly let these two wise guys meet her. I promise. I will be my sweet little self.”

  “Fine. Maybe she’ll have an outfit you can borrow.”

  “Ooh, yeah, how about a pair of those skinny jeans, super-cute.”

  I shake my head, wondering how we reached best-friend status back home. “Doubtful. Providence believes only about five people in the world look good in those jeans, said she wasn’t one of them.” I turn back to Grant and Leo and roll my eyes. Did I really just have a conversation about skinny jeans? Good grief.

  “Go flyin’ later? Clearly I could use some guy time.”

  They both just nod and laugh.

  “Let’s go,” I say to Lenox, sounding irritated.

  “Where to?” Lenox closes her eyes.

  “The car, it’s outside. We’re using the human mode of transportation.”

  I park on the street at the edge of Providence’s driveway. She is bent over, washing the bumper of her silver Civic. She curls her head up, looking at me upside down. She straightens up and skips over as I get out of the car.

  “Zan, what a nice surprise,” she sings, snuggling close to my body. The wet sponge in her hand drips on the back of my navy T-shirt.

  “Well, hello to you, Little One.”

  Lenox sneaks up behind me and takes hold of my arm with both hands. Providence nervously takes a step backward.

  “Who’s…”

  “Providence, I’d like you to meet someone…”

  “Yay, oh I’m so glad to meet you. I’m Lenox, Zan’s best friend, but you probably already know that.”

  No, no I didn’t know that. Matter of fact, I had no idea Zan had a best friend. And I certainly didn’t know his best friend would be tall, beautiful, and blond. And wearing my favorite shirt.

  Lenox continues without noticing the scowl on Providence’s face. “He has told me so much about you. Oh my goodness! I can’t believe you two are getting married. Married. Wow! That’s not something I get to talk about often. I do hope you will tell me all about it. But first, how did you ever manage to steal this guy’s heart?” Lenox lays her palm on my chest, over my heart. “He is a keeper, isn’t he?” she says cheerfully.

  Providence’s eyes widen, her cheeks blush, redness coats her ears, her heart races, and her stomach knots, making her feel as though she is going to throw up. She spins around and races for the deck stairs. I rip my arm away from Lenox and run after her, splashing dirty car water on the bottom of my jeans. Providence stumbles up the last step, nearly falling down when I catch her in my arms.

  As I stand in the driveway, I hear Lenox say, “Did I say something wrong?”

  “Get off me,” Providence yells. “Get off me. Let me go.” She tries to wiggle out of my arms, but I hold her tighter.

  “Providence, why are you so upset?”

  “Upset, upset?” She starts punching my arm, overwhelmed with anger. Suddenly, I’m thankful each blow of her fist doesn’t hurt.

  “Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I will not calm down,” she yells directly in my ear. “Who the hell is that and why is she wearing your shirt?” She pauses, glaring at Lenox, who is still standing in the driveway. “And why isn’t she wearing anything else?”

  “Providence, her name is Lenox. She was a good friend of mine from home, my old home.” For some reason, I feel inclined to add the “old” part, thinking it will help me. “After Grant and Leo left to come here, I spent most of my time with her.” I’m sensing that last comment undid everything the “old” comment helped with. “She’s wearing that shirt because when she showed up here—”

  “She looked like a hooker.” Providence interrupts.

  “Well, I was going to say, she wasn’t dressed in typical angel attire.”

  “Instead she looks like a…like a tall, blond, extremely beautiful and trampy angel.” She inhales deeply, trying to calm herself, and squirms around in my arms, trying to free herself of my grip. “Zan, let me go.”

  “No. I want to talk with you about this.”

  Fire rises in her, coloring her face bright red, a totally different fire from the kind that builds when I kiss her.

  “Talk to me about what? What’s this?” She kicks her legs up and knees me in the thigh.

  “Providence.”

  “Get your hands off of me. And don’t you dare try any of your light crap.” Rage rises in her voice. “You will not influence me out of this one.”

  “Providence, she is just an old friend.”

  “Friend? You told me you never had any girlfriends back home. I was your first. Doesn’t look that way to me, with her gropey hands touching you all over, slinking around all sexy in your shirt, my favorite shirt, may I add!!”

  “I told her she couldn’t keep it.”

  Her mouth falls open. “Wrong thing to say. You should have told her to keep her filthy angel paws off of it, and you…you big fat jerk. Now, get your hands off of me. Go grab your ‘friend,’ now that she’s conveniently close again.”

  “I’m so sorry.” I hear Lenox’s tiny voice from behind me. “I didn’t mean to offend you, honestly.” I turn my head to face her. “I’m terribly sorry if I said something wrong.”

  “It’s all right, Lenox. It’s just a misunderstanding.” Providence claws at my arms that are still wound securely around her.

  “Misunderstanding, my eye,” she mutters.

  “Lenox, please go back to the loft with Grant and Leo.”

  “Okay.” She lowers her head and pulls my T-shirt up over her head, placing it folded on the top step of the deck.

  “Oh, of course! Nice bra,” Providence mutters to herself. “Shouldn’t you, like, walk her home or something?” she barks.

  I turn to say good-bye, but Lenox is already gone, only a glimmer of golden haze remains where she was last standing.

  “No, I shouldn’t, like, walk her home. Providence, what’s going on here?”

  “I have the same question for you.” She tries again to squirm away. I lift her over my shoulder, carrying her like a sack of potatoes.

  She smacks my back. “Put me down.” She huffs. “Stupid angel skin.” I set her down on the picnic table bench. She angrily crosses her arms and twists her back to me, but I keep hold of her moist white T-shirt. “Probably didn’t even hurt, jerk,” she mumbles under her breath.

  “Did you want it to?” I ask in a serious tone.

  “Yes,” she screams. No!

  “Which is it?” A smirk creeps on my face.

  “Jerk! He is a keeper, isn
’t he?” she mocks. “I can’t believe you show up here with that…that perfect specimen of a being hanging on your arm, touching your chest, wearing your shirt, gushing about how she’s your best friend, and that I should somehow know that. Why don’t I know that, Zan? Why don’t I know that this totally hot angel girl, who’s super-cheery and sweet, is your best friend? Please do tell? And why was she here? Did she conveniently get an assignment in the same city as you?” She pauses for a moment. “You told me you’ve never had a girlfriend before, that I was your first. She looked like a girlfriend to me, Zan. Ugh!!” She bends over, rocking forward and back. “I think I’m going to throw up.” She rests with her head just above her knees.

  “Providence.” I take a deep breath. I’d better start this off right. “First, I love you.” She groans. “Second, I have never lied to you. You are my first girlfriend, ever, in my entire existence. Relationships, like the one you and I have, don’t happen there. We are essentially all brothers and sisters there. After Leo and Grant left, Lenox became my best friend. Prov…” I place my hand on her thigh. “This is the first time she has ever been away from home, first time. And believe me, we gave her some coaching on her outfit. None of us would send a sister out in that, which is why she put on my shirt. She grabbed it out of my bedroom, and it didn’t dawn on me that her wearing it would bother you. And since she hasn’t been here before, she didn’t really understand that it wasn’t okay for her touch me like she did.” I pause. “I’m truly sorry for not telling you that my best friend back home was of female design. But honestly, I haven’t thought about her since I set foot in Cincinnati.”

  She mumbles something inaudible.

  “Groan all you want but it’s true. The first day I was so overwhelmed with learning everything from Grant and Leo, and the second day, well…I saw you, and all thoughts of my home vanished. And to answer your other question, no, she was not assigned here. And this might piss you off even more than you already are, but I want to be honest with you…Gabriel sent her here to try to get me to change my mind.”

  She traces her fingertip along the outline of my hand on her thigh. “So, what did you tell her?”

  “I told her my decision was made. That I love you, and I’m marrying you.”

  She stares down at our hands, now running her finger in between my knuckles. I reach over and brush a wisp of hair out of her eye that came loose from her ponytail.

  “I may have overreacted…” She turns up her chin with a pouty look on her face.

  I smirk. “Oh yeah?” I raise my eyebrows. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “I don’t know why, I just…she just grabbed your arm and touched your chest, my chest, and I just lost it. And then the shirt. I was just so…”

  “I know…I’ve been there before. I recall that feeling all too well, Prov.”

  “You have never been jealous with me.”

  “Oh, how quickly you forget… your date with Chance.”

  “Oh, right. But that barely counts. You practically forced me to go out with him.”

  “That was my low point.”

  “How’s this for a high point?” She cups her hand on my cheeks and lightly kisses my lips.

  “I’ve had higher,” I reply.

  “Zan.” She bites her bottom lip.

  “I’m half kidding. I’ll give you a list later.”

  She loops her fingers around mine resting them in my lap and smiles.

  “Please tell Lenox I’m sorry. If she’s around I’d love to meet her again, and I promise to behave.”

  “If she’s still there, I’ll tell her.”

  “You are staying with me tonight, though, right?”

  “Providence.” I give her the are-you-being-serious look. She giggles. “I told her she could maybe borrow some clothes from you. She asked for skinny jeans.”

  “Of course she would. And that makes six—six people on this planet with perfectly proportionate thigh-to-calf ratios.”

  “I do love you,” I say, as she rests her head on my shoulder.

  We spent the rest of the afternoon working around her house. We finished washing her car and I was thankful to have the Cascade shirt to change into since Providence managed to drench me in the car washing process. We took a short walk and I helped her with dinner, leaving just before it was served. We didn’t want her dad to ask questions about my eating habits, or lack thereof.

  I walk through the door and crash onto the dining room chair, letting my feet fall in front of me. I let out a sigh.

  “So, introductions went well,” Leo says sarcastically.

  I shake my head no. “Quite the opposite.”

  “All good now?” he asks.

  “Yes.”

  “Gabriel came for Lenox. She said she was sorry, she didn’t realize she wasn’t supposed to hang on you.”

  “I should have talked to her about that. I mean, seriously, she was holding onto my arm so tightly with both hands, I could have swung her around in circles. It’s no wonder Providence got so pissed.”

  “And the shirt? I see you got it back.”

  “The straw that broke the camel’s back.”

  “Wanna go shoot some hoops?”

  “Absolutely.”

  The Exam

  Dim morning light streams through the slats in the white blinds covering Providence’s bedroom window. I lean back in the chair, hovering on the back two legs, looking up from the desk at the red, plaid-fabric board stuffed with pictures, including two new additions, both from our engagement dinner: one of Providence and me and one of the six of us. I fall back onto all four legs and slam shut the last book in my two-foot pile of law texts, having read them all at least five times through. I rub my eyes, believing they should hurt about now. It’s twenty till seven and Providence rests sound asleep in the bed behind me. I took a much-needed and arguably deserved break to check in with Grant and Leo a couple hours ago, and, instead of meeting them at the park, I decide to curl up behind Providence until she gets up to ready herself for school.

  I slip under the covers, gently placing my arm over her, resting my palm flat against her chest, feeling her beating heart through her thin T-shirt. I snuggle so close that my chest is flush with her back and my knees fit cozily against the backs of her legs. She moans quietly and raises her head, allowing me to stretch my other arm to rest under her pillow.

  She rubs her palm down my bare arm, leaving it on top of my hand resting against her chest. “Please tell me it’s not time to get up yet,” she faintly whispers.

  I raise my head from the pillow and kiss her neck. “It’s not time to get up yet,” I quietly reply.

  “Oh, thank God.”

  Interestingly enough, I heard that in my mind and aloud. I smile. I’ve still got it. For now anyway.

  The radio blares and Providence hits the snooze button with one swift wave of her arm. I hear footsteps and quickly transform as Providence’s dad opens her bedroom door. Instantly, she flips over to face the door, nearly out of breath from fright, and her heart beats wildly.

  Mr. Corban peeks his head in, “You have exams on Friday, right?”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah.” Her voice shakes.

  “Well, good luck,” he says, scanning his eyes over the room.

  “Thanks. But…are you going somewhere?”

  “Just to work.”

  “Okay, well…I’ll see you. Tell me good luck again on Friday.”

  He nods. “Have a good one.” His eyes sweep the room once more and he closes the door.

  “Holy crap! He totally thought you were here,” she whispers. “Where are you any…” she says, starting to sit up before I transform and pull her back down so we are nose to nose on the pillow. “Good thing we’re buying our own house before you’re human. Don’t want that happening when you no longer can perform your little vanishing act.”

  “Who says we’re sleeping in the same bed before we get married?” I raise my eyebrows with a grin.

  She throws a leg ove
r me, cups my cheeks, and kisses me, pulling me to sit upright. She rubs her hands on my neck and jawbone, kisses my ear, neck, and nose before moving back to my lips. She closes her eyes, holds her breath, still kissing me, and a fog clouds over her mind, heat coursing through veins.

  Abruptly, she pulls back and jumps off the bed. “I’m getting ready for school now.”

  I fumble for her arm, her hand. She laughs seeing the shock on my face.

  “Providence…”

  She looks back over her shoulder, winks, and swings her hips from side to side wearing only a pink tank top and matching, pink, pajama shorts, super-short shorts, wonderfully revealing short shorts.

  I groan and flop back onto the bed. “You’re driving me mad, woman,” I mutter to myself. I may not have feelings of my own, but hers are intense enough for both of us, and knowing that, she played me like a fiddle. I laugh.

  By the time I arrive at the office, the paperwork for the house is already in an ivory folder on my desk with a yellow self-stick note on top reading:

  Offer accepted, Closing Friday, 2:00 p.m.

  At the house, keys are yours once you sign on the dotted line.

  Congrats! Luke

  I open and turn on my laptop and face the monitor finding another self-stick note, only this one is purple and in swoopy handwriting from Luke’s assistant.

  Zan,

  I faxed your loan application to the bank this morning and followed up with a phone call. Should be taken care of no later than tomorrow afternoon, please drop by after your exam.

  Thx, Lacey

  P.S. AND…get a cell phone! Seriously!

  Lacey has been hassling me about getting a cell phone since I started working here more than two months ago. I suspect, when I come back from my “trip,” I actually am going to have to get one. But I’ve gone my entire existence without one. I can wait a little longer.

  I stretch my arms above my head and check the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of my computer. Nearly eight o’clock. The sun is falling behind the building to my west. I swivel around to face the window. Only traces of natural light flow through the arched window. I finalize and send the last contract to Luke. I smile as I shutdown my computer for the evening, recalling Leo saying, “All in a day’s work, Zan.” Little did I know then that this would become my day’s work.