Pearl chuckled. “We don’t take insurance up here.”
Eve swallowed. Was she in danger? Why would this woman laugh about that? No matter. She would pay up and get out of here. “Okay, then I’ll just, uh, put it on my credit card.” She walked over to the white dresser nearby and pulled the top drawer open, searching for her purse.
“Credit cards aren’t necessary here, either,” Pearl said.
“But… where’s my bag?” Eve asked. “Where’s my phone?” Panic swelled in her, and she began to dart around the room. Nothing felt right here. Nothing made sense.
“They don’t matter here.”
Here? Where was here? Eve searched the bed to see if maybe her bag was tucked under the sheet. Nothing. She turned and eyed the woman with suspicion. “Do I have a concussion?”
Pearl chuckled. “No.”
Okay, scratch that idea. “But… I am on some kind of medication though, right?” It was the only thing that would explain why she’d have a hallucination like this. The surreal surroundings… Her deceased cat… No personal belongings to help identify her… “’Cause I think I’m having a reaction. Everything… is white.”
“Yes,” Pearl whispered with a grin. “Isn’t it beautiful? So peaceful.”
“No, it’s not peaceful, it’s crazy!” Eve blurted out, frustration pouring into her voice. “Or I am.” She eyed Pearl, a sudden suspicion about what was going on coming to mind. “Did Carter put you up to this?” It would be low for him, really low, but maybe he was more desperate for the partnership than he’d let on. Had she underestimated his drive? Had he made her think he was more of a family man than he was?
“No.”
“I mean, that is devious,” she said, taking hold of the idea. Maybe that was what was going on, even if she didn’t want to admit it. How well did she really know the man? To plan something insane like this just to get her to back off… “He’s got that warm, friendly smile. Wow, he must really want the partnership.”
“You know,” Pearl said with a knowledgeable shake of her head, “as I see it, he’s going to get it.”
“Over my dead body,” Eve declared hotly.
Pearl made a noise of agreement and pointed at her, brows raised.
Eve frowned. No. No way. “What?” The woman couldn’t possibly mean…
“Miss Morgan, do you remember when you tripped and fell on the ice and hit your head very hard when you were making that cold call?”
Eve’s stomach flipped as a flash of memory swept into her. Oh, right—she was talking to Ted and pitching him when her heel had slipped. But wait… She narrowed her eyes. “How do you even know that?”
Pearl walked toward her and touched her upper arms, nudging her to sit back on the bed. She stood over her and said as plain as day, “Miss Morgan. You are in heaven.”
Okay. “Heaven,” Eve said, her disbelief certainly ringing through in her voice. Sure she was. And cows jumped over the moon—which was made of cheese, of course.
Then she saw the cat she was sure was Snowball walk right through a nearby column, coming out on the other side and continuing on its merry way. Right. Through. It.
She gasped and pointed. “Did you see that?”
Pearl sniffed and swiped at her nose casually. “Oh, Snowball does that all the time up here.”
“But… Snowball’s been gone for a long time.” How was she really supposed to wrap her mind around what Pearl was saying, even with the oddity she just saw? Nothing made sense. And yet, something about what she was saying wouldn’t stop nagging at her—the way she’d hit her head, and everything had gone black after that.
She bit her lower lip.
Pearl sat down beside Eve and wrapped her arm around her. “Time can be very confusing. But in the meantime, you’ll settle in.”
“So…” Eve took a deep breath and made herself acknowledge what she couldn’t believe—didn’t want to believe. “What you’re saying is that… I’m… dead.”
“But I can’t be dead yet!” Eve, clutching the woman’s hand, protested as Pearl led her down a hallway past other people clad in white. Her free hand was waving in the air, echoing her disbelief at the current state of affairs. No way. No. Way. “I wasn’t even finished living. I never even started… I had all these things to do. I was going to start my own hedge firm and buy a country house and get married—and I never even let myself fall in love.” The words flowed hot and furious from her as she poured out her feelings. “It just… can’t be over…”
“No, no,” Pearl soothed and led her to a nearby bench. “Don’t cry, Miss Morgan. We are angels. Angels can’t cry.”
Eve stared at Pearl in disbelief. “Angels?” How could that possibly be true? Not only was she dead, but she was an angel, to boot? This was all too hard to believe.
The woman patted her on the back, and Eve eyed the hallway, taking everything in in a new light. Were all these people angels? Was she really one now?
“Let’s talk somewhere more private,” Pearl suggested, gripping Eve’s hand. The hall faded away, and just like that, Eve found herself on a serene, isolated beach. The sky was expansive, and soft waves licked the sandy shore. She had on a white wrap, just like Pearl, to protect her from the gentle, cool breeze coming off the water.
No doubt about it. Pearl was telling the truth. No one could vanish and appear at will, not when alive, anyway. Eve was here on this shore, experiencing this place fully. Awake, yes—but not alive.
She was an angel, then.
“So this is it?” she said as she stumbled along the sand beside the woman. “This is the end?” So many things left undone. What was her purpose now?
“Oh, no. We like to think of this as the new beginning,” Pearl explained.
“What do we do here?”
Pearl paused in her steps and turned to Eve, leaning back against an outcropping of rocks. “Well, among… other things, we answer prayers. I’m a guardian angel. You’ve been selected to be a Christmas angel.”
Eve blinked. This had to be a joke. “Christmas? Now I know there’s been a mistake.” She couldn’t help the dryness in her tone. After all, she wasn’t exactly the world’s biggest Christmas fan. Of all the people they could have chosen to be that particular kind of angel, why her? It didn’t make sense.
“I agree,” Pearl said wryly. “It’s not an obvious choice. We have a shortage this season.”
“I barely celebrate Christmas,” Eve protested.
“Well, now you can.”
Right. Eve let out a heavy sigh and looked out at the water. “With all due respect, Pearl, I just don’t see myself celebrating anything for a long, long time.”
Pearl seemed to choose her words carefully. “Perhaps when you go back, you will change. You’re being sent down to answer a Christmas wish.”
That got Eve’s attention. She swallowed. “I get to go back.” She didn’t have to stay up here in the all-white weirdness for eternity.
“Mm-hmm. For a