Her Summer with the Marine: A Donovan Brothers Novel (Entangled Bliss) (19 page)

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 and 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 perch 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.

So what the hell was he doing? Why was he letting her go when he loved her?

…

Ellie decided to take a nap after the funeral. Her head hurt from crying. Her eyes felt as though they’d been scratched by two cats. She slept a few hours, woke, stretched, and considered going to the diner for supper, but she wasn’t really hungry.

And the sooner she got the apartment cleaned out, the sooner she could go home.

She decided to give her bedroom furniture to Ashley for one of her daughters, then realized she didn’t want anything in the house. Maybe a picture or two, but that was all.

In fact, the easiest thing to do would be to have a huge yard sale and direct people up the stairs to the apartment to consider buying the furniture. That way, all she had to do was clean everything out of the cabinets and cupboards and either mark it for the yard sale or toss it as trash.

And Ashley could help her. B.B. too. Maybe Jason and Dan. And some of the Dinner Belles. They could probably empty and tag everything in one day. She could have the yard sale on Saturday, donate the proceeds to the Dinner Belles, and then she could leave.

Ignoring the tug on her heart when she thought about leaving Harmony Hills, she remembered the two bottles of wine in her refrigerator. She found them, poured herself a glass, and headed downstairs to the front porch.

When she opened the door and saw Finn sitting on one of the two wicker chairs, she stopped, but remembering that he would be the owner of this building once the paperwork went through, and he might need to talk about McDermott’s, she stepped out onto the porch.

“Hey.”

He rose. “Hey.”

She motioned him back down. “Sit.” She displayed her wine. “I just came outside for a few minutes of peace and quiet. What can I do for you?”

He smiled. “I’m not here for business.”

“Really?” She dropped to one of the chairs. “I don’t know what else we’d have to discuss.”

“That’s just it. I made a mistake. A big mistake. I do love you.”

She blinked. Hot syrup flooded her body, warming places that had been cold and dark since he’d left her the day he’d heard Ashley’s answering machine message. Still, no matter how much her body wanted to believe he loved her, it wasn’t true. He’d just watched her go through the very traumatic loss of her only living relative, and he felt sorry for her. On top of that, she’d saved him. Of course he was feeling things. Just not the right things.

She shook her head sadly. “You don’t have to say you love me.”

“That’s my point. I never do anything I don’t want to do. So you can trust me when I say I love you.”

She laughed a little bit. “Finn, don’t you see what’s going on here?”

…

He frowned. Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying. She looked small and fragile in the oversize shirt she wore with jeans. But her face was a study in calm. And he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“First, I sold you the business and saved you. Then my dad’s funeral was hard. So part of you is grateful, the other part feels sorry for me, and your answer is to give me the one thing I wanted but you couldn’t give…your love.”

His breath hissed out. “What?”

She rose. “You feel sorry for me.” This time her voice was stronger, and angry. “Damn it, Finn. Thanks for making me feel like a charity case.”

With that she opened the door, and wine in hand, left him alone on the porch.

He sat there for a few seconds, then shook his head. She didn’t believe he loved her.

He’d come here with his heart in his hand, and she didn’t believe him?

Now what?