Hell On Heels(56)

“Oh thank heavens, you found my wolf,” the old woman cried joyfully. Her voice was melodic and bizarrely familiar to me. She smelled lightly of gardenias. Was she a retired old Hollywood actress I’d seen in the movies? She was certainly pretty enough. Her long lashes framed the most beautiful violet eyes I’d ever seen. Back in her day she must have been a knockout. As lovely as she was, she was sorely mistaken. Steve was not a wolf—he was a dog and he was mine. Of course Steve picked that very moment to look up at the old woman and wag his tail happily.
“Steve is yours?” I asked quietly, my heart breaking just a little bit.
Blanche stepped in to defend me, like that was going to do any good. She was invisible. “He’s not a wolf, he’s a dog and Dixie saved his life so he’s hers,” she insisted, moving to stand between the old woman and my Steve.
“Oh sweetie,” the old woman gently touched Blanche’s cheek. “It’s a wolf and it’s not a he. It’s a she.” She walked around Blanche and squatted next to me. “Thank you, my beautiful child for saving Lucky. My wolf means the world to me.” Her violet eyes searched my face. I felt caught. I couldn’t look away.
Her voice. . .what was it about her voice? Steve, aka Lucky, how I missed that he was a girl I’d never know, leaned into the old woman and lovingly licked her. She was so happy and I was so sad. It was like a bad dream. Blanche stood there in a stupor.
“You can see me?” she whispered.
“It would be pretty hard to miss you with that silver skin and those gorgeous blue eyes.” The old woman laughed.
Blanche was shocked to silence. A first in my experience, but I was speechless too. She should not be able to see Blanche, and if she could see her, she should be alarmed at the very least. . .terrified at the most. I was quite sure this was no ordinary old lady. She had a wolf for a pet and she could see my imaginary friend. She wasn’t a Demon—I could sense a Demon. She hadn’t tried to kill me, so I surmised she wasn’t an Angel. Plus Angels didn’t age. She was something else. I just had no idea what.
“Cat got your tongue, little girl?” The old woman smiled and winked at Blanche. “Lord knows it’s been working fine for the last two hours.” She chuckled. “You have an extraordinary imagination.”
I laughed, partially from shock and partially because of the look on Blanche’s face. “What are you?” I asked, wondering if she had any clue what we were.
“Just a crazy old lady with a wolf for a pet.” She smiled. My breath caught in my throat and I fought back the urge to reach out and touch her. It was similar to the feeling I got around my grandpa. I could tell Blanche had the same impulse.
The smell of cookies made me look up and I spotted a round, cheery nurse walking toward us. Grinning from ear to ear she moved closer and walked right through Blanche. Holy Hades, I’d never seen that before, but then again Blanche usually showed up when I was alone. I glanced quickly at the old woman to see if she noticed, but she seemed blissfully unaware that a four hundred pound perky gal in a nurse uniform just walked through the silver girl.
“Howdy Miss Evelyn, I see your dog came home.” She smiled and shook her head.
“It’s a wolf,” the old woman named Evelyn patiently corrected her.
“Wolf, smulf, you need to get a collar on that damn dog. It runs off more than it’s here.” She put out her big beefy hand and tenderly helped Miss Evelyn to her feet. “Who’s your little friend here?” she asked as she smoothed Miss Evelyn’s housecoat.
“This is Dixie.” Miss Evelyn smiled at me. “Dixie, this is Rhonda.”
“Nice to meetcha.” Rhonda extended her hand and I shook it. She was warm and soft and smelled like vanilla and sugar.
“Nice to meet you too,” I replied, watching Lucky get to her feet and press her body to Miss Evelyn. “Well, I’d better go,” I said, halfway hoping Miss Evelyn would ask me to stay. I went to shake her hand, but she pulled me into an embrace and hugged me hard. I stiffened. I wasn’t used to affection from women. My sisters all loved me, but no woman ever held me. I felt dizzy and a little lightheaded.
Tentatively I wrapped my arms around her and let my head lay on her shoulder. It felt so right. I didn’t want to let go.
“Come back and see me sometime, Dixie,” she whispered. “And bring Blanche.”
She disengaged herself, took Rhonda’s big hand in her slender one and walked back into the senior home. Lucky followed close on her heels. The sense of loss I felt was acute. What in the Hell just happened here? I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair. This was going to go down as the weirdest day ever.