But he hadn’t approached her. She’d approached him.

She stared at him for a moment longer, expecting there to be a catch. Expecting him to suddenly turn cruel or lewd. But he simply regarded her with mild interest and a warm expression on his wrinkled face.

She finally put her thoughts into words. “Why are you being so kind to me?”

“Because I can be. We all fall on hard times now and then. I certainly have.”

She felt the almost overwhelming urge to give this kind stranger a hug, but she didn’t. Instead, she gave him a big, heartfelt smile, her first one, and it felt very good.

She looked at the motel again, and it didn’t look quite so bad anymore. It was run-down and old and needed a fresh paint job, but she was welcome there. As she walked into the courtyard leading to the manager’s office, she suddenly felt welcome there. An odd feeling of warmth came over her, taking the chill away as she followed Mr. Barlow. She exhaled slowly. This would have to do until she figured out how to get back to Heaven.

She frowned suddenly

“Wait a minute,” she said. “Did you say you need me to be a maid? As in a ‘cleaning rooms’ and ‘making beds’ maid?”

He turned and nodded at her. “That’s right.”

She sighed, but continued to follow the old man. It could be worse, she supposed. She could be working at Booty Call.

A nine-year-old little girl was going to solve all of Valerie’s problems. Well, all of her problems were really only one, extremely large problem. But the important thing was, after two months stuck in the earthly realm, she’d finally found somebody to help her.

Two months. She could hardly believe it. Working as a maid at the Paradise Inn, which included, as she’d predicted, cleaning rooms and making beds. Also, cleaning toilets, which was just absolutely disgusting. Not the work for an angel, that’s for sure. Not that she could entirely remember what she had and hadn’t done as an angel anymore. Details were still more unclear than she’d like them to be. But she knew that it beat being human any day of the week.