Accidentaly Divine by Dakota Cassidy (best large ereader .TXT) 📗

had come out of a travel pamphlet. Yet, she was curious. “Do I get to pick my cases?”

“If only,” he muttered, then straightened. “No. You’re assigned case by case.”

Oh. But wait…

If Dex had been with her for almost a year, that meant she’d been pathetic enough to be assigned a guardian angel who’d had to come to Earth to deal with her. Didn’t it?

“Does everyone have a guardian angel?”

Now he beamed a grin, his chocolate eyes dancing. “Uh-huh. Some more present than others,” he hedged as he appeared to realize the trap he’d stepped into.

So whoever was in charge did think she was pathetic. Licking her dry lips, she asked, “And why were you assigned to me, Dex?”

He shifted uncomfortably before running his palms along his thick thighs. “Because everyone needs a little help from time to time, George. That’s all this year has been. A little help from a friend.”

His answer was quite pointed, and it was then she realized he probably knew everything.

Everything.

And it was also then she wanted to die. Curl up in a corner and die. Not because she’d just seen something so spectacular it was literally unbelievable, but because Dex knew.

It was wrong to assume these women knew her secrets, too, but that Dex knew left her feeling exposed.

Yet, she forced herself to sit still and not squirm in extreme discomfort. “Who assigns the cases? Whoever’s in charge upstairs? My dry cleaner? You?”

His lips thinned a little before he smiled. “A superior from upstairs.”

“Why hasn’t that superior come and talked to me to give me my assignment? They’re my superior, too, right?”

Dex smiled reassuringly at her. “When your wings show up, you’ll know your assignment. Trust me, George.”

She fought another bout of skepticism and stared at all these pretty, well-dressed people who were waiting for her to have a breakdown, determined not to have a breakdown.

“Okay, so what if I don’t want to be a guardian angel? I mean, c’mon, Dex. You know what my life is like and all the stupid mistakes I make. If you’re my guardian angel, you know my judgment is beyond impaired. I do foolish, impulsive things. In fact, I’d bet that’s why I have a guardian angel—because I’m not exactly a sure bet for sound choices. How can I be trusted with another person’s well-being when I can’t handle my own issues, Dex? That’s crazy.”

She knew who she was. Make no mistake. She was insecure and clumsy, sometimes awkward, and a people pleaser who tried way harder than she should to fit in wherever she needed fitting—mostly to her detriment. Who’d want those qualities in a guardian angel?

“That’s why I’m here, George. To help you learn how to be a guardian angel.”

He said that as if he’d made some huge difference in her life. Um, hello. Not the case at all. She was still the same girl she’d been a year ago. Still single. Still trying to be someone she wasn’t. Still lonely but for Gladys. George shook her head to ward off the sadness, a deep, bone-weary sadness…

Anyway, and in other words, nothing had changed since he’d been on duty as her angel, except now she had wings.

Whoop-whoop.

George made a face. “You’ve been my guardian angel for a year, and I don’t want to bang on you and your job performance because you know how much I like you, Dex. I mean, we’re friends of sorts. I love our coffee breaks together and the seniors adore you, but how am I any different than I was last year? How can you teach me to be an angel when you haven’t exactly turned my life around?”

“Ouch,” he said, rubbing the spot on his broad chest where his heart was located. Still, he smiled. “But I beg to differ, Ms. Maverick. You might not know it, but you have changed. It hasn’t been a lot, I’ll admit, but you’ve changed. Mostly in the way you handle confrontation and don’t allow people to take advantage of you. Well, mostly. Forget that and focus on the positive. For example, who’s no longer letting Bunny Hoffmeyer steal her assigned parking spot at work?”

That was fair. He had talked her into rationally confronting Bunny and putting her foot down. Some days, George’s job required she carry a lot of bulky things into the building for events she planned for the seniors.

Bunny Hoffmeyer was notorious for showing up to work forty minutes earlier, sliding into her space and running off to hole up in her office in HR before George could get a word with her.

Bunny knew what she was doing. Believe that. It’s why she’d locked herself in her office and told her secretary not to disturb her. Yet, George had poo-pooed Dex’s suggestion that she talk to Bunny and try to work things out. It was easier to simply avoid a confrontation and walk from the parking area for visitors.

Until…she’d twisted her ankle in a pothole in the general parking lot, almost two blocks away from the senior condos, and dropping an entire sheet cake for an anniversary party Mr. Butler had secretly planned for his wife. She’d been so angry, she’d cried.

But rather than confront Bunny, who was loud and intimidating, George had gone back out and bought an entirely new cake at her own expense.

As a result, she’d been a solid two hours late for work. When Dex had seen how distraught she was, he’d given her a good talking to, then he’d given her a helpful tip on how to approach Bunny. He’d even gone with her as support.

George didn’t like it, but she’d done it because she’d earned that parking space one difficult senior at a time, and Dex had convinced her it was her right to stand up for herself.

So she nodded her head and gave him a thumb’s up. “Yes, yes. You helped me score my parking space peacefully, and no one was challenged to a fist fight in the parking lot.”

“Exactly,” he said on a bob