Big Love Read Free

Nell began. But that was all she had the chance to say before a woman dressed in all white and smelling like donuts flew into the room. The woman took one look at Zing and blurted, “Who the hell are you and what’re you doing in here?”
    Zing recognized the woman right away. She was Carol, Nell’s best friend and business partner. She was well-known for her abrasive demeanor. She was what was commonly referred to as a curmudgeon.
    “I’m Zing. Nell’s guardian angel.”
    “Yeah, well, where were you when she needed you?” Carol said, jabbing her finger at Nell’s bandaged head. She hovered over the bed.
    “I was playing Hacky Sack when I should have been paying attention to Nell,” Zing said, staring at the toes of her pink Crocs.
    “Why’d you let this nut job in your room?” Carol asked.
    “I was unconscious,” Nell said. She looked at Zing and smiled apologetically. “This is my friend, Carol.”
    “I know,” Zing said. Not only did she know Carol’s name but she knew a lot of other things about her as well. She knew Carol wasn’t exactly pretty, but she wanted to be. She also wanted to lose twenty pounds, but blamed working in a bakery for the extra weight. She knew that Carol’s mean attitude and sharp words were mostly an act that covered up a soft, gooey interior, much like one of her jelly donuts.
    Zing also knew a lot about Nell’s life, although there wasn’t that much to know. Nell worked all the time, and when she wasn’t doing that she clicked away at her computer. Truth be told, Nell was boring. That’s why Zing didn’t pay much attention to her—Nell wasn’t a risk taker, not like Miracle-the-daredevil that Annabelle guarded. Miracle was always doing something worth watching. Miracle kept Annabelle on her toes.
    The one thing Zing didn’t know about Nell was this person she was supposedly dating. Guardian angels had limits and one of those limits was that they couldn’t see anything on earth except their human. That’s why Zing had never seen Dove—because Nell had never actually been in the same room as Dove.
    “Hey you, I asked you a question,” Carol said. “I want to know your real name.”
    “Real name?” Zing asked.
    “Zing is a nickname, right? What’s your real name? I want to know so I can report your ass to your supervisor,” Carol said.
    “My real name is Zing.”
    “What the hell kind of name is that? You a foreigner or something?”
    “In a manner of speaking, yes. Where I come from we get to name ourselves. I chose Zing because it sounds so. . . zingy.”
    “Just what I thought,” Carol said. “A frickin’ nut job.”
    “Don’t call her that,” Nell said. “She’s been very nice to me.”
    “So, she’s a nice nut job,” Carol said. She sat on the edge of Nell’s bed and frowned down at her friend. “You gave me quite the scare, you know that? How the hell did you manage to fall into a manhole anyhow?”
    “She wasn’t paying attention where she was walking,” Zing said.
    “Were you there when it happened?” Carol asked.
    “I was supposed to be there to prevent it. My bad,” Zing said.
    “Yeah, okay…” Carol rolled her eyes.
    “I was looking at my phone instead of watching where I was going,” Nell said.
    “What was so interesting that you had to look at it right then when you were supposed to be watching where you were going?” Carol asked in a tone of voice that said she already knew the answer.
    “I was texting Dove. We were arguing. She still won’t meet me in person.” She sniffled and continued weakly, “I don’t know, maybe she’s done with me. She is a novelist after all. I’m sure lots of fangirls offer themselves up to her. She’s beautiful and talented and who am I? I make donuts. Maybe she doesn’t want to meet me because I’m not worthy.” She burst into tears.
    Zing pulled out another tissue for Nell, but Carol tore it out of her hand and gave it to Nell.
    At that moment, a short, bald man with a