Heavenly Angel Read Free

that Angel had been interviewed by the police and other investigators regarding Patricia and her general state of mind. The less Teresa was involved with that whole situation, the happier she was. It only increased her respect for Angel that he had esteemed her enough to tell her about his part in the upsetting story.
    Teresa remembered Grace’s voice, filled with stress and worry as she explained to her on the phone what had happened to Angel, knowing Teresa was interested in him. Teresa knew she needed to fill him in on her past. She hoped he’d appreciate how difficult it would be to share that story with him. She reached in the case and replaced the display boards. She smiled when she heard a familiar female voice behind her.
    “Well, isn’t that a pretty blush you’re sporting, Teresa? You must have a lot on your mind. A little birdie told me you have a date with a certain hotly handsome cowboy,” Grace said, snickering. Teresa smiled and hid her hot face in her hands. “Word travels fast on the ranch. Angel told Jack. Did he kiss you? I heard you brought him a pie. Aww, look at that blush, he did kiss you didn’t he?” she whispered then giggled. Teresa knew the last thing Grace would want to do was embarrass Teresa within the hearing of others. Grace understood her.
    “Yes, you bad girl, he did,” Teresa said in a barely audible voice.
    “Mmm, did you like it?” Grace asked as Teresa stood from the low stool behind the counter. “That’s a dumb question. I can tell you did. So he’s a good kisser?”
    “Wonderful.”
    “Good. It’s about damn time he made a move. Are you looking forward to your date?”
    “I’m a nervous wreck.”
    “What are you going to wear?”
    They chatted for a few minutes, and Grace reminded her about her bridesmaid dress fitting the following day. Teresa went back to work, and Grace returned to the embroidery shop.
    * * * *
    Teresa looked in the mirror nervously and wondered if the outfit she chose was all right. Angel was used to women in tight jeans and revealing tops, with big hair and long, manicured nails. She only owned one pair of jeans, and she didn’t think they fit the way Patricia’s had. She’d seen Patricia a time or two in the store before her arrest. Teresa remembered her being very thin, wearing a lot of makeup, hair teased and sprayed, almost plastic and fake in her perfection. No, Teresa would keep the dress on. It was feminine and nothing like anything Patricia would have worn. Maybe that was why Angel asked her out because she was nothing like that other woman.
    She clasped a necklace around her neck and put on her earrings, checking the clock. It was seven fifteen. Her heart lurched a little. She smiled, hearing Michael giggling with Marissa in the living room of her small apartment. On her salary, it was all she could afford, but it was clean and in a safe neighborhood, which was more important. Her heart jumped again a few minutes later when she heard Angel’s big pickup pull into one of the parking spaces outside her building. It was a diesel and hard to miss with the way it rumbled.
    She giggled when she heard Michael make a rumbling motor noise while he played on the floor with his trucks. “Truck! Brbrbrbrberb!”
    She primped one last time and waited for the doorbell to ring. When it came, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and walked to the door to open it. There he stood, handsome as could be, with a bouquet of pretty Gerber daisies in one hand and her pie plate in the other, empty and clean.
    “Hello, Teresa.”
    Heat rushed over her cheeks when she noticed him taking her in from head to toe. He was dressed in dark, pressed blue jeans, a white dress shirt, black snakeskin cowboy boots, and a fresh straw cowboy hat which he removed as he entered her home. She welcomed him into the apartment and took the pie plate and flowers from him and felt her cheeks heat again when, once her hands were full, he leaned in and kissed her on the