Chapter Twenty-Four

Jack

Warren Scientific

WRINKLING HIS NOSE, Jack slopped the mop back into the bucket set on wheels. He had not paid any attention to the advances in this sort of thing while he was in Heaven. Other than the pole on the mop, it might as well have been the rags he had used on his hands and knees to clean stone floors centuries ago.

And the mop reeked as if it had been in use for at least half that time. Even the chemicals in the cleaner could not mask the odors of mildew.

He moved the bucket forward, trying not to slosh out the murky water inside it. His goal was to reach the room where he could see light coming from under the door, but he had to make it look as if he belonged here. The truth was that he did, because he had been hired only yesterday as part of the maintenance team. He was sure it had been heavenly intervention by his supervisor that got him assigned to work in the very wing of the labs where he needed to be.

Jack knocked on the door outlined with light. He did not wait for an answer before he swung it open and walked in, whistling and swiping the mop across the tile floor. He glanced across the room to where Dr. Michael Archer was looking up in surprise from some notes he was writing. Jack wanted to ask him why he was lingering in the lab instead of at home with Gabrielle D’Angelo and Carol, but he only gave Mike a smile.

“Who are you?” Mike’s eyes were dull with exhaustion and what Jack knew was disquiet.

Again he wished he could say something to ease the young man’s situation, but that was impossible. Announcing that you were an angel come from Heaven to correct a mistake was not the best way to get a conversation going.

“My name’s Jack.” He remembered to speak more casually as the living did on Earth. He pointed to the mop and bucket he was leading around like a wooden pet. “I was sent up here to do some cleaning. If I’m in the way, Dr. Archer...”

“No, c’mon in. I’ve got a few minutes before I can take my next readings. Why don’t you start on the other side of the room?”

“Thanks.”

Jack ran the mop in a haphazard pattern along the floor, stealing glances at Mike whenever he could. Each glance threatened to break his heart. There was a weight on Mike’s shoulders that no earthly eyes could discern, but it ground down into him, making him hunch.

Something buzzed. A timer, Jack realized when Mike set down his pen and drew on some gloves.

“Do you need me to leave, Dr. Archer?” he asked.

“As long as you don’t come over here, it’ll be fine. Just give me a few minutes, and then I’ll get out of your way, so you can finish up in here.”

“Thanks.” He pointed to a stool. “Do you mind if I sit while you’re working?”

“Make yourself comfortable.”

“This is quite a place. All these fancy machines that do so many different things.”

Mike drew some fluid out of a tube and dripped it onto a flat piece of glass. “I’ve got to admit, I don’t know how most of the equipment beyond this lab works.” He stifled a yawn, his mouth and jaw working to contain it before he leaned forward to look into the microscope. Under his breath, he added, “C’mon. Do what you’re supposed to.”

Jack was tempted to blurt out an apology for causing the problems with Mike’s experiments. Instead he asked, “Is it what you expected?”

“Yes.” He pushed back from the microscope and smiled wearily. “At last things are getting back on track. Let me make one more adjustment to another vial, then I’ll get out of your way.”

“Take your time, Dr. Archer.”

Jack sat and tried not to think about the itch in the middle of his back where his wings had been until he was sent here. He would have his wings back once he made everything right. He just wished he knew how to do that when Mike was here, and Gabrielle D’Angelo must be back at the house where they lived.

He considered a few ideas, but tossed them aside. He had to remember that he did not have the abilities he had in Heaven. He must find an earthly way to fix his mistake.

“All right,” Mike said, whirling on the stool to face him again. “The timer’s set at five minutes. Just give it a quick once over, so I can take my next measurement.”

Picking up the mop from the pail, Jack wrung it out before moving around the room. He made great sweeping strokes, so he could walk closer to where Mike was working. It did not take many in the small room where most of the floor was taken up by the table in its center.

He paused an arm’s length from where Mike sat. Now what? His supervisor seemed to believe Jack could fix everything now that he was here on Earth. But as he stood and watched Mike concentrating on his work, he wondered if it was even possible to put everything to rights.

“Have faith,” he mumbled to himself.

Mike looked up. “Did you say something, Jack?”

“No, sir.”

“Just a warning that I give to everyone around here. If you’re talking to me, start with ‘Mike,’ because otherwise I may be so lost in my work that I won’t notice until you’re halfway through what you’re saying.” He gave a tired grin. “People get tired of repeating themselves around me, so I try to be up-front on that. I hope you understand. My work sometimes requires every bit of my attention.”

“Obviously,” Jack said with care, hoping this was the opening he had been waiting for, “because you’re here late on a Friday night when everyone else has left.”

“Friday?” His eyes widened, and his brows rose. “I didn’t realize it was Friday already.”

“You must have a very understanding wife.”

“I’m not married.”

“A very understanding girlfriend, then.”

“I don’t have one of those either.”

Jack gave a terse laugh to hide his amazement. “A young man like you without a girlfriend? That’s a shame.”

“Hey, don’t waste pity on me. I’ve got lots of friends and a very full life.”

“But how can a life be full without someone very special to share it?”

Mike laughed and gestured toward the test tubes and petri dishes. “I’ve got lots of someones very special to share my life. If this experiment goes the way I hope it will, I won’t have much time for anything else but taking it to the next level.”

“So who’s the cute babe in that picture?” Jack asked, not wanting to let Mike change the subject. He pointed to the lone photograph on the bulletin board that was a blizzard of papers, some having hung there so long they were yellowing.

“Gabby. Yes, she’s quite a babe.”

“The baby’s name is Gabby? Even before she starts talking?”

Mike started, and Jack knew his intentional ruse to trip up the doctor had made its point. “Oh, that’s Ceebee—I mean, Carol.”

“A niece?”

“A friend’s baby.”

“Gabby’s baby?”

Again he flinched, but so slightly that Jack would have missed it if he had not been watching closely. The doctor was trying to hide what clearly was bothering him a great deal. Jack suspected that it was because Mike still had not told Gabrielle D’Angelo the truth.

“Yes,” Mike said quietly, “Ceebee is Gabby’s baby.”

Jack bent toward the photo. “I can see something of her in the baby, but she must look more like her dad. Does she?”

That barely perceptible flinch again. “The dad isn’t...” He lowered his gaze toward his notes.

“I understand,” Jack said with a “tsk-tsk.” Choosing his words with care again, he added, “Some guys just aren’t meant to be fathers, I guess.”

“I guess.”

“She’s lucky to have you around to help. That she gave you a photo of her and her baby shows she thinks you’re someone special.”

“I think she’s pretty special, too.” A flush climbed up his cheeks and settled in the tips of his ears. “Look, Jack. I need to finish up here.”

“And get home? I understand.”

Mike bent over his work again. Jack made a pretense of cleaning up, but he hoped his job here in the lab was done.

If not, he knew what he had to do next.

Plan B: Gabrielle D’Angelo.