by Meier, Susan
“I was just there this afternoon.”
“We know. But it’s best if you come back.”
Her heart shivered. “Come back?”
“Please. It’s important.”
She jumped out of bed, slid out of her pajamas, into shorts and a T-shirt, hopped into flip-flops, and raced to her car.
“Please don’t let him die. Please don’t let him die. Please don’t let him die,” she chanted the whole way to Harmony Hills Hideaway. When she got out of the car, she looked up at the sky. “Please do not let him die. I will be alone. Totally alone. Friends don’t make up for no mom and no dad. They might try to make up for no siblings, but it’s not the same. I don’t have anyone. Please do not take him.
“I don’t care if he can’t talk to me. I don’t care if we never get to share another word. Just don’t take him.”
They were waiting for her when she arrived. Dr. Hanson caught her arm and took her into a little room with a small table and two chairs. He motioned for her to sit.
She sat.
“Ellie, I’m very sorry to have to tell you your father has died.”
Even though, in her heart of hearts, she’d known that was why they’d called her here, her heart splintered. Her voice broke. “What?”
“He had a stroke.”
She rose, though she didn’t know why. “A stroke?”
“He had a history of heart disease. We were treating it, of course, but medicating isn’t fixing.”
She sat again, confusion and disbelief swimming through her brain like a school of sharks. Hungry but with no place to go.
The doctor rose. “You can see him for a few minutes if you’d like.” He smiled gently. “Is there anyone for us to call?”
A week ago, she would have said Finn. Right now, she could say Ashley. But Ashley had a family. Parents. Husband. Kids. Sisters. She was always horning in on Ashley’s life.
Tears welled up behind her eyes and burned in her sinuses but she stopped them. “No. I’m fine.”
She went into her father’s room, laid her head on his chest, and let herself cry. She cried because she’d never been home enough, cried because she would miss his visits to her in Pittsburgh, cried because he’d never make her a grilled cheese again, and cried because life really was a bitch to her. She cried because she would miss her daddy and cried because she was alone.
So alone her bones felt empty.
So alone the air around her felt different.
So alone she didn’t have time to be sad or upset. She had to go. She had to take care of things.
She lifted her head and walked out into the hall where the sad nurses stood waiting. She thanked them for taking good care of her dad and hugged them because they seemed to need it. Then she walked out of Harmony Hills Hideaway into the hot August night.
At the funeral home, she called her team. Within ten minutes, Dan, Jason, and B.B. stood in her office. She rose, cleared her throat. “My dad died.”
B.B. burst into tears. Jason cursed. Dan fell to the chair in front of her desk. “Damn it all anyway.”
“I don’t know if any of you had been to visit him lately, but he had gone downhill very quickly.” The lump in her throat swelled to the point that she had to swallow to speak. “The doctor called a few days ago and…” She stopped, her face trembled, and the tears in her eyes spilled over.
“Oh, sweetie.” B.B. ran to her and enveloped her in a hug. “I am so sorry. Your dad was a wonderful, wonderful guy. I’ve missed him so much the past few months that I couldn’t even explain it. But you. Oh my God. You lost your dad. I’m so sorry.”
Deep-voiced Jason said, “I’m sorry too.” He walked over and hugged her from behind, his big arms also reaching around B.B.
Dan rose and hugged the group from the side. He didn’t speak. He couldn’t. His loud sobs filled the room.
After a minute or so, Dan stepped away. “We should go get him.”
B.B. wiped her eyes. “We should.”
Jason put his hand on B.B.’s shoulder. “I know you want to do this, but we can’t.” He faced Ellie. “We can pick him up, but we have to take him to Finn. It’s better that way.”
On a professional level, Ellie understood that. Plus, she wanted Finn to get the payment for the funeral. Still, she had conditions.
“Finn can do the work, but my dad stays here. He comes home.”
The entire team went to Harmony Hills Hideaway. Dan held the door for Jason, who pushed the gurney. B.B. held on to Ellie’s arm.
They tucked her dad under clean sheets and drove him home. Then Dan called Finn.
…
Finn stood by his desk, his heart in his throat. “He died?”
Dan said, “Yes. We brought the body here because we’d like to have the funeral here, but we need you to embalm. The usual rates will apply.”
“Screw the rates. Tell Ellie I’ll be right over.”
He arrived at the funeral home to find it completely quiet Dan stood by the table as if guarding Mark. Jason leaned against one of the cabinets, silent, his eyes red.
Closing the basement door behind him, he said, “I’m really sorry.”
Dan cleared his throat and pushed away from the table. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Where’s Ellie?”
“Upstairs.”
“Is she okay?”
Dan glared at him. “Her father died. Of course she’s not okay.”
Excusing Dan’s outburst, considering that he’d just lost a good friend, Finn set his scrubs and bag of tools on a side table. “I should go up there.”
Dan stopped him with a hand on his chest. “B.B.’s with her. They called Ashley. She’s fine.”
Finn stepped back. He didn’t know how much Ellie had shared with her staff about their affair or their breakup, but as his mother had reminded him, enough people had seen his car at her house to guess they were dating.
He supposed everybody had also guessed they’d broken up.
But his heart hurt for Ellie anyway.
Still, it would be wrong to go to her apartment and comfort her. They’d made a clean break. It was best to keep it that way.
He sucked in a breath. “I’ll just change into my scrubs.”
Jason said, “You do that.”
Finn got the message. They trusted him with Mark because he was good at what he did. But they all knew he’d hurt Ellie, so she would be off-limits.
Fine.
He was the one who had wanted out of the relationship because he didn’t want to love, didn’t believe in love. If that meant he had to step back in her hour of need, he understood.
But his heart still hurt for her. Maybe more than it should. The struggle not to go upstairs and comfort her went on the entire time he stayed in her basement, and followed him home.
…
Ellie awoke the next morning feeling as if there were a boulder in her sinuses and an elephant on her chest.
She shifted to get out of bed, but there really was something on her chest. She struggled to get out from under it.
B.B. bounced up. “Ouch. Hey, don’t shove me because I fell asleep.”
Ellie laughed, and it felt so good, she laughed again. “You fell asleep on my chest! What are you doing here?”
“Ashley and I took shifts. We didn’t want you to be alone.”
“Oh.”
The knowledge that her father was dead ruffled through her. Tears filled her eyes and she had to sniff them back.
B.B. squeezed Ellie’s foot. “Are you okay?”
“No.” She rolled out of bed. “But I just lost my dad and I want to be sad. So I’m thinking all this is normal.”
B.B. stretched. “Yeah. Me, too. Want to go to the diner for breakfast?”
Ellie stopped in front of the mirror, saw her puffy face and red eyes. “Not hardly.”
“You know everybody and their dog will be here for the wake?”
She nodded.
“So let’s get you showered an
d get an ice pack on those eyes.”
She stopped Barbara Beth with a hand on her chest. “You get the ice pack. I’ll shower alone.”
Barbara Beth laughed. “That’s funny.” She gave her a quick hug. “It’s just like we’re friends.”
Ellie shook her head. “Against all odds, Queen B, I think we are.”
She stepped into the shower, scrubbed herself off, and began washing her hair. More than anything else, she wanted to step into Finn’s arms, have him comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But it wasn’t. Her dad was dead. Gone forever. She’d had a few good conversations with him when she first came home, a few fun conversations with him when he thought she was a candy striper, and a few sad conversations with him when he was sleeping, and she’d poured out her heart.
Lots of people didn’t get that. In a way she was lucky. He’d known he was dying and he’d insisted she stay home. Thank God she had.
She walked into the kitchen in jeans, a T-shirt, and wet hair to find Ashley making breakfast.
B.B. grabbed her purse and kissed her cheek. “Now that Ashley’s here I’ve gotta run.”
Ellie smiled. “Okay.”
When she was gone, Ashley laughed. “It looks like you and old Queen B bonded.”
She sucked in a breath. Barbara Beth hadn’t just forgotten herself and her own grief the night before, she’d also comforted Ellie. And she’d thought ahead, taking the PowerPoint presentation to the town to make sure they succeeded. Deep in her heart, Ellie realized she liked her. Not just as an employee, but as a friend. “Yeah. We did.”
Ashley set eggs and toast in front of her. “But?”
“But it’s sort of too late.”
Ashley took the seat across from her. “You know I won’t leave until you eat. So don’t try the old ‘pushing food around on your plate’ routine. I have kids. I know that trick. Plus, you’re going to need the stamina for this afternoon’s viewing.”
Ellie met her gaze. “Is that what I decided on?”
“Yes. One day viewing, funeral tomorrow morning.”
“Maybe I should have done two days?”
“With funeral home prices the way they are?”
Ellie laughed.
Ashley caught her hand. “One is good. Everybody who wants to say good-bye is right here in Harmony Hills. You’ll have one insane day of everybody here to express condolences and one day for the funeral. Then you can rest.”
She raised her eyes to meet Ashley’s. “You mean, then I can go home.”
Ashley pursued her lips together. “But you’re doing so well here.”
“And I no longer need the money. I don’t need to run McDermott’s.” She drew in a breath. “If I stay now I won’t be beating Finn out of need.” She shook her head. “I’m not even sure why I’d be doing it.”
Ashley glanced at her with watery eyes. “But he hurt you.”
She smiled. “I know. But that doesn’t mean I have to hurt him back.”
“You’re too good.”
“No. I’m just being fair.”
“Which means you’re leaving.”
Ellie nodded. “Going back to my job full-time, yeah. And my apartment. And my own bed.” She smiled sadly. “Don’t be upset.”
“I’m okay.” Ashley swiped away her tears and squeezed Ellie’s hand. “Besides, this isn’t about me. For the next two days it’s all about you.”
Ellie nodded. She spent an hour with Ashley figuring out what to wear to a wake that would last from one o’clock in the afternoon to eight o’clock that night on a hot August day. Then Ashley had to go home.
“Let me call B.B. or someone from the Belles.”
“No, I’m fine. Actually, I’d like some alone time.”
Ashley nodded and left.
When she heard the sound of Ashley’s car leaving, Ellie went downstairs to her office and rummaged for the agreements Finn had drawn up. She found them, reread them, and signed them, then shoved them back in the manila envelope and headed for his office.
Seeing his Range Rover in the parking lot, she pulled in, cut the engine, and jumped out before she changed her mind. This was what she needed to do. Let him have the funeral home business that he needed.
She opened the front door and walked back the hall to the office, where LuAnn immediately rose. “Oh, honey, I am so sorry about your dad.”
Not really trusting herself to speak, she only nodded.
“Are you here to see Finn?”
She nodded again, but before LuAnn could hit the intercom button on the phone, Finn came out of his office.
He walked over. “Ellie.”
He moved to hug her but she stepped back.
She met his gaze. “I think we have some business to discuss. Can we go into your office?”
“Sure.”
She walked in ahead of him, and he closed the door behind her. “I am so sorry about your dad.”
“It was shocking. I thought he had years. Maybe even decades.” She pushed the manila envelope across the desk at him. “That’s why I wouldn’t sell to you. I thought I needed money for his care. But since I don’t anymore, I signed this.”
He sat up. “What?”
“No point to me staying here, and I wasn’t a hundred percent happy running the business.”
Their gazes met. “You’re saving me?”
She shook her head fiercely. “This is a business decision.” She glanced up at his handsome face, his usually bright eyes that were so serious today, and she let the pain of losing him wash over her. In one week she’d lost both of the men she loved. One short, painful week.
The shallow emptiness of her heartbeat echoed through her body, as if weeping from loneliness.
She rose. “No more competition. I need to get back to Pittsburgh. So it’s all yours now.”
“I’ll take this to my lawyer. There are deed searches on the property to be done. Checking for liens and such. It’ll be a few weeks before you get the money.”
She smiled weakly, glad he wasn’t arguing out of sympathy or maybe misplaced loyalty. “That’s fine.”
Without another word, she turned and walked out of his office. Out of his life.
Chapter Sixteen
Mark McDermott’s wake was the biggest Finn had ever seen. Everybody in town came to pay their respects to the man who had at one time or another comforted them in their hour of need. There hadn’t been enough room to put all the flowers around the casket, so Finn and Dan had placed them in the overflow rooms. Page after page of the visitors’ signature book had been filled. Sympathy cards with money to offset expenses piled up in the see-through bin.
And Ellie, dressed in her little black sheath, the one he’d told her made her butt look sexy, stood by the open coffin, crying, shaking hands, accepting hugs, passing people to B.B., Dan, and Jason, who cried almost as much as Ellie did.
The next day, the funeral was a huge, solemn event. The town filled with the scents of roast turkey and ham being cooked by the Dinner Belles for the after-funeral lunch. Nothing but the best for Mark McDermott.
As the Belles worked their hardest for Mark and Ellie, Finn guided her through the short service at the funeral home and into the limo with B.B. and Ashley. At the church, Belles who weren’t needed in the kitchen while the turkeys and ham baked filed into the pew with Ellie.
Finn’s heart twisted. The girl who’d returned to town angry with the world had won everybody over. And then, after he’d broken her heart, she’d sold him her business. Just like that. As if they hadn’t been lovers and he hadn’t hurt her, she’d walked into his office, told him this was strictly business, and saved him—and his mom.
He couldn’t say he’d be as generous, if the tables had been turned. She was one of a kind. Someone so good she hadn’t thought about consequences or her own feelings, she’d simply helped him.
The priest started the funeral Mass, and Finn walked up the stairs to the choir loft to get out of the way. From his perc
h above the pews, he watched as Ellie wept openly for the hour-long service.
As it ended, Tom brought Ashley’s crying baby daughter up to Ashley, who quickly moved to the side of the pew. B.B. shifted away to whisper something to Dan and Jason in the seat behind her. The Belles silently began sliding out of the pew, heading down to the kitchen again. Sandy paused to give Ellie one last long, lingering hug, which ended with both of them sobbing. And Finn had to blink back tears.
He might have thought he hadn’t let himself fall in love with her, but something inside his heart twisted and burned. Ellie was good enough, kind enough, fair enough to save him after he’d hurt her. She was pretty and sassy and sexy and so perfect for him, he’d spent the best summer of his life with her.
And in a few days, she’d be gone.
With the service over, he walked up the center aisle where B.B., Jason, Dan, and three other of Mark’s friends waited by the casket, ready to be pallbearers.
The priest walked the casket out, pausing at the door to pray again.
Finn looked up, past the pallbearers, to Ellie who stood alone.
The urge to join her, to share her grief, to help her through her pain, roared through him. He didn’t simply want to comfort her, he longed to comfort her. The urge was so strong, so deep, it physically hurt to resist it.
He told himself to stop thinking about that, as he helped her into the limo, and waited as Ashley scooted in behind her, without the baby, who’d gone back to Tom.
Watching Ellie say her final good-byes at the graveside, he swallowed. His chest tightened and his heart did the funny thing it had done when he’d seen her at Sissy Martin’s wedding in the sparkly little pink dress. No one had ever treated him so well. No one had ever loved him so unconditionally she could look past her hurts and save him. No one made him laugh the way she did.
He did not want her to go.
Oh, God. He really didn’t want her to go. He needed her. If this awful feeling in his chest was anything to go by, he would wither up and die without her. If watching her go didn’t kill him, living without her would.
His breath caught.
He could not live without her.
And he suddenly saw this was love. Real love. Not the odd relationship his parents had. Not a trap for fools. But two people who helped each other, looked out for each other, cared about each other so much they’d swallow their pride, do the right thing. Which was what she had done when she signed the agreement to sell McDermott’s to him.
