CHAPTER ONE
Three weeks before Christmas, an angel looked down from heaven at the sadness in two fragile human hearts…
She didn’t like what she saw. Though they hadn’t yet met, these two living mortal souls shared a lot of sorrow between them. They were both just existing, dwelling too much on the past and not enough on the right now.
That wouldn’t do at all.
Maybe… Just maybe…there was something she could do to help them. It wouldn’t be easy, and maybe it was against the rules—she wasn’t completely sure because she was still somewhat new among the heavenly host—but she had to try.
There was a girl down there who still held a big piece of her heart, and it was hard to just watch over her and do nothing to help. That wasn’t her style.
*
Christmas was going to suck this year. Eileen had no doubt about it. She’d lost her mother last year, the day before Christmas Eve, and her best friend, Mary, had finally succumbed to the hard living she’d done for so long, just a few weeks ago.
Mary was the reason not a drop of liquor passed Eileen’s lips. She’d seen what it had done to her friend—causing her to get into one bad relationship after another, fueling her self-destructive streak until nobody could stop her downward spiral.
Interventions hadn’t worked. After one, Mary would be better for a while, then go right back to her old ways. Her ex hadn’t helped either. The bastard had remarried someone younger and prettier within months of the divorce becoming final, waltzing her all around town, rubbing Mary’s nose in it. Eileen had seen the way it had shaken her friend each time they’d run into the bastard.
Sadly, he’d been pretty much unavoidable. Mary’s job had kept her in the limelight, and he’d gone out of his way to show up wherever she was playing. Not every night, but often enough to keep them all guessing about whether or not he’d show, and what nasty passive-aggressive thing he’d say or do while there.
Because Mary was the star of their little band, she couldn’t leave. Oh, Eileen had taken the mic whenever Mary just couldn’t handle it anymore and had to leave the stage, but she couldn’t stay away long. The crowds came to see Mary. To hear her sing. Not Eileen.
Then, the accident had happened. A car accident at sunrise on a lonely road. That Mary had been drunk, sadly, didn’t surprise anyone who knew her well. She’d died on impact, and her tragic life had been snuffed out like a spent candle. No mercy. No remorse on the part of whatever had distracted her enough to cause her to drive into a tree.
At least, that’s what Eileen hoped. She didn’t really want to think about the fact that Mary might have aimed for the tree.
Her best friend, gone in a flash, in the prime of her life. No more snowy winter evenings spent at the ski lodge upstate, playing guitar and harmonizing softly in front of the fireplace. No more raucous evenings at the pub, playing requests ‘til all hours. No more St. Patrick’s Days or Christmases. No more Mary. No more friendship. Just like that, it was all over.
Eileen had done her best to keep the band going. They had contracts and commitments that none of the pub owners wanted to cancel—much to Eileen’s surprise. As she looked in their eyes, one after another, she realized they all felt some small bit of responsibility in providing the alcohol that had eventually ended their star attraction’s life.
And the rest of the band still had bills to pay. The crowds seemed to feel a sort of sentimentality toward them, now performing without their lead singer. Eileen had stepped up, as had Brendan and the others. She and Brendan had taken over most of the singing duties, and folks were familiar enough with them both that they didn’t complain, though many a drunken patron had lamented at length about the loss of Mary’s golden voice.
Eileen bore it as best she could, but she still felt the loss of her friend keenly. She would play the long gigs at the pubs, knowing the other members of the band needed the money—as did she—but she didn’t really enjoy it. Not anymore.
Mary had been the sister she’d never had since they’d first met in high school. Mary had been a year older, but they’d both been born on the same day—a huge coincidence that had bonded them—as had their shared love, and gift, for music. Mary mainly played keyboards of all kinds, and Eileen had started out with guitar. Both of them could switch off and do a passable job on other instruments, but for duet work—which they’d been assigned a lot in their advanced music classes in school—they’d stuck to what they knew best.
Mary would sing lead most of the time, with Eileen harmonizing, and they’d taken that skill into their band when the time had come, gathering some of their friends around them into a small group that played the Irish music scene on Long Island, where they all lived. They’d gotten popular enough over the years that they had bookings all over the metro area—New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, parts of New England, and even down to Baltimore and D.C.—but their home was on Long Island, at The Rose. It was a family-owned pub they played almost every week.
The guys were setting up while Eileen fixed her makeup in the ladies’ room. She would stop at the bar on the way back to pick up bottled water for herself, and maybe a few for the rest of the band. She didn’t mind if they had a beer or two, but nobody seemed to want to drink to excess anymore. Not after what had happened to Mary.
Of course, nobody else in the band seemed to be an alcoholic—closet or otherwise. Eileen had played the if only game so many times with herself in the weeks since Mary’s funeral. If only they’d tried another intervention. If only Eileen could have done something about Mary’s ex. If only Mary had never met him. If only, if only, if only. The list went on and on.
Eileen sighed, finished touching up her mascara, and put her makeup bag away. She looked at herself in the mirror. Average height. Slightly auburn hair. Fair complexion. Green eyes accentuated artfully—she hoped—by just the right amount of makeup. She didn’t really go for glitter. The natural look was more her speed. Mary had been the shiny one. The glitzy one. The one everyone’s eye was drawn to, no matter the occasion. She’d been the bright light at the center of their group.
Eileen only hoped she could hold the band together for a little while longer. They had bookings into the New Year, but after that, she had no idea what would happen. The odd goodwill generated by the loss of their star wouldn’t last forever, and it felt like the rest of the band was looking for Eileen to sort things out and figure a way forward for them all.
She hadn’t asked for that responsibility, but it seemed to have fallen to her nonetheless.
Taking a deep breath, Eileen headed out into the pub. The band was set up at one end of the small dance floor, tables all around. A few brave souls would probably get up and dance before the night was through, but most just sat, ate dinner, drank and listened or sang along, depending on their mood and the songs the band chose to play.
She was walking fast, head down, thinking deep thoughts and expecting the place to be relatively empty this early in the evening. But it wasn’t empty, and she collided with a wall. Or what she thought, at first, was a wall. It took a moment to register that it was a person. A very tall, very hard-bodied person.
She looked up—and then up some more—into amused blue eyes.
“I— I’m sorry!” she stuttered, suddenly breathless. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” She stepped back hastily, sorry to lose his warmth and the scent, that only just registered, of his yummy aftershave.
“It’s okay, ma’am. Are you all right? No broken toes?”
She frowned. He’d just ma’am’d her. She wasn’t that old. Taking a closer look at him, she thought he was probably a little older than she was, so he had no right to call her that. She wanted to dislike him on that alone, but he seemed so…
Charming. That’s what he was. Totally and completely charming with his ocean-blue gaze and his polite manner. Faint lines around his eyes held stories and life experience she could only guess at. His deep voice seemed calculated to make her shiver, and he had just the right look of amused concern on his face. Just her luck to run head-first into Prince Effing Charming.
No, thank you. Mary’s ex had been another Prince Charming—though not as devastatingly handsome as this one—but he’d been nothing but bad news under that smooth exterior. Really bad news.
“My toes seem to be intact, thanks,” she told him, backing away so she could move around him. “Again, sorry for nearly running you over. I’ll tell Liam at the bar to get you a drink on me.”
He seemed surprised by her gesture, his head cocking to one side as he studied her. “There’s no need—” he began, but she cut him off, waving her hand as she moved past him.
“No worries,” she said as breezily as she could manage, trying to complete her escape. “This gig comes with a few freebies, and I never use them.”
No doubt about it, the confusion on his face was real. He didn’t realize she was part of the band. He’d figure it out soon enough, if he stayed for any length of time. The musical part of the evening was about ready to start, just as soon as she took her place on the bandstand.
She could feel Prince Charming’s eyes follow her as she made her way first to the bar and then to the small platform on which the rest of the band was already set up. She just had to do a final tune on her guitar strings and they’d be good to go. She delivered a few beers to the boys and set her bottled water within easy reach before sitting down and collecting her guitar. Time to go to work.
*
The angel looked at another spirit who was lurking beside her. “Well, they’ve met. Now, let’s see what develops.”
“If I know Eileen, she’ll chicken out at the first sign of difficulties. This isn’t going to be easy,” the younger spirit said with a frown.
“Have a little faith,” the older and far wiser angel replied, but secretly, she worried about the same thing…