Free Angel Wings by Suzanne Stengl

gift registries, picking out flowers, choosing wedding cakes. She even planned a bridal shower for Hanna.” Another pause, and a tightening of his eyes. “Which, I understand, you missed.”
    Jessibelle heard the note of condemnation, smiled sweetly, and waited for Rodney to get to the point. If there was one.
    “Anyway, Daphne is always telling Hanna what a great catch I am.”
    “Daphne has good taste,” Jessibelle said, for lack of anything else to say.
    “Yes, she does,” Rodney agreed.
    “Is she the one who left her boyfriend at a very bad time?” Bea asked, not even pretending to look for her homework.
    “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Rodney snapped at her.
    “No,” Bea smiled, full of apparent innocence. “Go on. This is interesting.”
    Rodney looked at the floor and appeared to be counting. “You need to talk to Hanna,” he said. “Convince her I’m the right guy for her.”
    The irony of his words made her laugh. “I was once convinced you were the right guy for me.”
    His shoulders fell and he looked like he was going to have to explain something to a small child. “That was ancient history, Jessibelle. We never really had anything.”
    How could she have been so blind? “Nothing? At all?” She knew it was true, but she wanted to hear him say it.
    “No,” he said, determined. “No spark. No passion. No earth moving. We’re simply friends, Jessibelle. Just friends.”
    A short sharp spike of irritation rushed over Jessibelle. “No,” she said. “We’re not friends.” And she felt no loss.
    He frowned, and Jessibelle remembered how he always got whatever he wanted from her. Because her goal in life—then—had been to please Rodney.
    “Maybe there won’t be a wedding,” Bea said.
    “There will be,” Rodney told her, glancing at Bea over his shoulder. “It can’t be cancelled at this point.”
    “Why not?” Bea asked.
    Rodney looked up at the ceiling and then he slowly turned to face Bea who sat at the Reception Desk, with her elbows on the desk and her chin in her hands.
    “All of my relatives are coming,” he said. “People have booked flights.” He counted off on his fingers. “My Aunt Deborah is coming. My grandmother Lackster is coming. Even my cousin Eric is coming.”
    “Even your cousin Eric? What’s so special about him?”
    “He’s Eric Madison. And he’s coming all the way from Los Angeles,” Rodney informed Bea.
    Bea looked at him, blankly.
    “You haven’t heard of him? The race car driver?”
    “Nope. But I’m sure he’ll be happy to get out of Los Angeles,” Bea said. “Smoggy there.”
    The City Realty main door opened again and Daphne Whithammer entered, walking quickly. She wore one of her three-piece white suits, with her white heels, and she carried a little white purse tucked under her arm. Her blonde hair fell in loose curls down her back. When she saw Rodney, her face lit up with cheerfulness. “Rodney! What a surprise!”
    Then she noticed Jessibelle and some of the cheerfulness slipped. Daphne stared at Jessibelle, looked back at Rodney, and then at Jessibelle again.
    “I work here,” Jessibelle said.
    Daphne looked confused.
    “Good morning, Daphne,” Jessibelle said. “Is there something I can help you with? Are you looking at real estate?”
    “No, I just wanted to talk to you about—” Daphne glanced at Rodney, and seemed to shift gears. “I wondered if you’d found a dress for the wedding yet?”
    “I have.”
    “Because I have time this—you have?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well,” Daphne said, shifting gears one more time. “That’s all then.”
    Rodney checked his watch, picked up his laptop and said, “I’ve got to go.”
    And he did.
    Daphne watched him leave, letting her gaze wash over him. When the door had closed behind him, she turned to Jessibelle. “Was he telling you about Hanna?”
    “Yes.”
    “She actually wants to cancel the wedding?” Daphne looked stunned. “She’s out of her