Holding Out for an Angel
By Skye Taylor
“So?” Tony asked, leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head. “You guys making any New Year’s resolutions?”
Jake looked up from his book. “Why? Nobody ever keeps them?”
“Top of my list is to stay away from she-devils.” The fact that his ex-fiancé had thrown his ring in his face the night before their wedding had left Sam Westmoreland more than a little hurt and wary of women in general. A recent blind date had reinforced his self-protective instincts.
“Not all women are like that,” Tony argued. Newly married himself and still over the moon about his bride, he was eager to share his happiness with his closest friends. Jake was already married, to his high school sweetheart with a precious little girl to love. It only remained to get his buddy Sam hooked up with the right woman.
The three friends had grown up together and while they all had very different day-jobs, they really loved their part-time volunteer positions with the Tide’s Way fire department, and always did their best to get scheduled to work the same shifts – usually the night shift.
Tonight was New Year’s Eve and likely to be crazier than usual, at least for the ambulance crew, which included Tony and Sam. They’d tried to talk Jake into taking the EMT courses with them, but he’d had an unfortunate experience with a premature birth the previous year and didn’t think he was cut out for medical emergencies. He preferred dashing into burning buildings to perform his rescues. But for the moment, nothing bad was happening in town and they were sitting around the table in the firehouse, feet up and relaxing with the television tuned into the festivities in Time’s Square.
“You just need to meet the right woman.”
“That’s what you said when you talked me into taking your wife’s co-worker out to dinner.” Never had Sam enjoyed an evening with a beautiful woman less. The woman had been so full of herself no one else mattered, including the man who was footing the bill and trying to remain a gentleman in spite of her nastiness to him and everyone else.
Tony had the grace to look sheepish. “Yeah, that was a mistake. I had no idea.” He’d been embarrassed by the woman’s behavior and eventually he and Sam had retreated to the bar and left Tony’s wife to cope with her friend alone. The double date had been her idea, and her responsibility.
“So, what do you think, Jake?” Tony pulled Jake’s attention out his book a second time.
“What do I think about what”
“Sam here. He needs a good woman. Know any?”
Jake looked at Sam with a strange, sad expression in his eyes. Sam suspected Jake’s marriage wasn’t the blissful union Tony’s was, but Jake would never admit it. He’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant and done the right thing by her, giving up his plans to go to college and diving into the working world to support his new family.
“What are the criteria?” Tony asked holding up one hand, fingers splayed. “Dynamite looks.” He folded down one finger. “Fabulous cook. Great in the sack.” He continued to fold down fingers as he ticked off desirable traits in the perfect woman.
“I’m holding out for an angel,” Sam said shaking his head. “Looks can be deceiving. I can teach her how to cook if I have to, and we can teach each other what feels great in bed. But she has to have the heart of an angel.”
“How will you know?” Tony raised his brows. “Barbara seemed pretty angelic to me and you did put a ring on her finger so you must have thought so at the time.”
“I’ll just know.” If experience had taught Sam anything, it was to see beyond the tumbling locks of silky hair and a sexy body. He’d be looking into her eyes. Into her soul next time. He wanted a woman who was kind and loving from the inside out. A woman he could trust with his heart. “I’ll know it here.” He tapped his chest. “Gut feeling.”
Jake snorted. “Good luck with that.”
Before either Tony or Sam could reply the blare of the alarm brought their feet slamming to the floor. The evening mayhem had begun.
Ariel couldn’t believe she’d been talked into this stupid party. A costume party? On New Year’s Eve? Who had costume parties on New Year’s Eve? Worse was the man she’d agreed to attend with.
The only reason Craig would have asked her to be his date had to be pressure from her uncle who was his boss. Poor Ariel, always the wall-flower, and Uncle Max was determined to get her married off to an up-and-comer. A handsome man with a rich future. You need to have confidence in yourself, Uncle Max liked to tell her.
If only it were that easy. Men didn’t get in line for mousy little women like her. Everything about her was mousy, from the mousy brown hair to her slightly overgenerous curves and too few inches to her less than vivacious personality. It was easy for Uncle Max – he was outgoing, handsome, and bigger than life. He had no idea what it was like to be her. Or what it had been like to be overlooked her entire life – last girl chosen for any team, least likely to be asked out, never called on in class.
She had two truly dear friends and she wished she’d stayed home with them tonight, curled up in her jammies, eating too many forbidden treats, watching the ball drop in Time’s Square. But no. Here she was, dressed in this ridiculous angel costume, waiting for an Uber ride because Craig hadn’t even waited until midnight to find someone with long legs and a willingness to jump into bed. As the ball dropped and everyone else was kissing and tooting horns, she was once again relegated to wall-flower status. No New Year’s kiss for her. No happy wishes and hugs. No flute of champagne to clink against her date’s.
“Are you Miss Thomas?”
So wrapped up in her little pity party, Ariel hadn’t seen the little blue Toyota pull up.
“I am. Sorry.”
The young man leaned across and pushed the door open for her. He had dark skin, a head full of unruly curls, and a wide, friendly grin. “Hop in. You look cold.”
“It’s this absurd outfit,” Ariel said as she slid into the front seat, doing her best to fold the flapping wings behind her and subdue the flowing white gown before shutting the door. “A teddy bear costume would have been a better choice tonight.”
The man eyed her from the ring of glitter meant to be a halo to her feet clad in white ballet slippers and shook his head. “What made you choose it in the first place?” He pulled away from the curb and melted into the flow of traffic.
“Not my idea,” she defended herself. “It was my date’s.”
Uber man glanced at her quickly before turning his attention back to the road that appeared slick and black and maybe even icy. “Where’s the date now?”
Ariel gazed out the side window, not wanting to see the pity in the man’s eyes. She shrugged. “Not a clue.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to pry.” He hunched forward in his seat, looking more closely at the road. “It sure is nasty out tonight.”
“Umm.” Ariel agreed. Nasty in more ways than just the weather.
Not that she’d expected anything better from Craig.
Somewhere, out there, she was sure the right man for her existed. It was how to go about finding him that had her baffled. He had to be kind. And thoughtful. He had to be the sort of man who did things for others because he cared and not because it brought him gain or advancement. The kind of man who would rescue an abandoned animal, or offer comfort to a frightened child and didn’t expect to get paid for doing it. In her line of work, she hadn’t met many men who fit that description, though. Everyone in the investment firm where her Uncle Max had gotten her a job seemed to tag dollar signs onto every transaction, even human ones.
Her attention was suddenly jerked back to the road as the little Toyota slithered sideways and her driver fought with the wheel. A mini-van coming in the other direction was having the same problem. All that inky black was ice after all.
She saw it coming and braced her feet hard against the floorboards. The Uber driver cursed fluently, and Ariel tried not to scream, but fear won out. Then came an awful crashing, the sound of shattering glass, and the car spun wildly. Three times it spun before the rear struck something immovable and the Toyota came to a jarring, painful halt.
Sam was out of the ambulance before Tony brought it to a complete stop. He opened a hatch and grabbed a first-in bag and then ran toward a little Toyota with its rear end crumpled against a telephone pole.
He tried the passenger side door and thankfully, it opened easily. An angel half fell into his arms, restrained only by her seat belt.
He gaped at the vision, the glittering halo in her soft brown curls, and the flowing white gown that swallowed her small body. Then he shook off his stunned hesitation and spoke to her.
“Ma’am? Are you hurt?”
She pushed at his chest trying to right herself. “Please check on the driver. I think he’s hurt worse than me.”
Sam glanced across the interior of the car. His angel was probably right. The man did look worse.
“Don’t move,” he advised her as he reached across to put two fingers on the man’s neck checking for a pulse. The man was alive, at least for now. But blood poured from a gash across the man’s forehead.
Sam straightened and whistled to get Tony’s attention. He pointed toward the driver’s side, and his partner altered his course to come up on the other side of the Toyota.
“What’s your name?” Sam squatted down beside the fallen angel and began a visual assessment of her condition. “Do you know what day it is?”
She pushed his hand away when he shone his penlight into her eyes. “Ariel and it’s New Year’s Eve. But there’s another car. A minivan, I mean. It went into the ditch.” She tried to sit up and point.
She had cuts on her face and hands, but her seat belt had kept her from smashing her head on the dash and she appeared to be coherent, so Sam reluctantly stood and looked toward the ditch.
The taillights of the other vehicle glowed red in the dark, but that was all he could see of it.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” Sam told the angel. Then he jogged toward the ditch.
Ariel hurt everywhere, but considering the frantic work going on next to her, she was lucky. She glanced back toward the edge of the road and saw her rescuer assist a man up onto the road. With his shoulder under the other man’s armpit they made their way toward the ambulance. The EMT helped the guy to sit, but the other driver kept pointing toward his minivan and arguing. Finally the EMT left him and trotted back to the minivan.
Someone else must have been inside besides just the driver. She wanted to help, but the man had told her to stay put. He’d been gentle, about it, but there had been a no-nonsense tone to his voice. She did as he asked.
A moment later he reappeared, carrying a golden retriever in his arms. The dog was clearly alive because he was licking the man’s face, but it looked like the dog’s leg might be broken. It hung at an odd angle. Their rescuer pulled a blanket from the ambulance and kicked it open with one toe, then gently laid the dog down. He squatted next to the dog and scratched it behind the ears before giving it a quick examination. Then he pulled a cell phone from his pocket and made a call.
~~~~~
“You two are a match made in heaven,” Tony said grinning.
“I told you I was holding out for an angel. I just didn’t know God would take me so literally.” Sam was grinning, too. He hadn’t stopped grinning in months. Not since his angel had fallen into his arms. The fact that her name meant Angel was just frosting on the cake. She’d been more concerned about everyone but herself that awful night. Even the dog had come before worrying about her own injuries. As they’d gotten to know each other better, he’d discovered she was everything he’d had on his list. Kind from the inside out. Sweet, caring, gentle and oh, my God, could she kiss.
She could kiss the socks off him, and as he watched her dance with her Uncle Max, her white wedding dress swirling about her perfect little body, with a halo of tiny white flowers in her hair, he was looking forward to a lifetime of angel kisses.
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