Her Summer with the Marine: A Donovan Brothers Novel (Entangled Bliss) by Susan Meier Read Free Book Online Page A

needs me here so we can have all the time possible together before he totally loses it.”
    Nicole’s next “Oh” was sympathetic. “So you’re bugging out on Tidy Whitiez?”
    “That’s just it. I need that money too. I’d like to be able to work on it from Harmony Hills.”
    “As project leader, that might be hard.”
    “I’ll figure something out.”
    Nicole sighed. “And I could help you, since I mentored you through the campaign’s development.”
    “I appreciate that, but…”
    “No. Stop. This isn’t you wanting to go to Harmony Hills for a party. Your dad is sick. And you’re my friend. When friends are in trouble they help each other out.”
    Warmth tightened her chest. Maybe there wasn’t as much professional distance between her and Nic as she always believed. “Thanks. But, seriously, I can do the bulk of the supervising. I can even be in the office a few days a week. I’ll make this work.”
    “I know you will.”
    She left for the hospital buoyed with enthusiasm. Not only had she turned down Finn’s offer to buy McDermott’s, but she’d turned down drinks. Hadn’t succumbed to that smile, or the tingle of something that breezed across her skin every time he was within ten feet. Or those pretty blue eyes. The strength she’d displayed saturated her with a pleasure so strong it should have been against the law. But it also filled her with confidence.
    When she got to her dad’s room, he was sitting up, holding the television remote, flipping through the morning news.
    “Ever since they fired that Ann girl from Today , I can’t stand to watch that show.”
    She kissed his cheek. “Me neither.”
    “So what’s up?”
    She took a seat on the chair by his bed. “I told Finn last night I wouldn’t sell McDermott’s to him.”
    His dark brown eyes filled with happiness. “Really? Finn wanted to buy it, but you’re going to run it instead?”
    She ignored the fact that he seemed to have forgotten she’d told him about Finn’s offer, and that he’d been the one who desperately wanted her to run McDermott’s. “Yes. But I have no illusions that it’s going to be easy. Finn says he’s been stealing your customers for six months. With you being sick, especially with you in a personal care facility, people are going to think we’re closed. We have to do something to let them know that’s not true, and we have to do it as soon as we can.”
    “Okay. So what you’re saying is we need to get the word out that you’re running the place?”
    “No.” She winced. “Dad, I’m in advertising. Trust me when I tell you that no one wants to hear about me. Everybody wants to hear about you . How you’re doing, that sort of thing. And once we tell them you’re not running the place, they may reject me.”
    He gaped at her. “Seriously? You think that?”
    She didn’t bother reminding him she’d left Harmony Hills because she’d been insulted and hurt by the way the church ladies gossiped about her mom, and that she’d made those feelings known—a few times. If Alzheimer’s made him forget things, those were two good things to forget.
    She rose and plumped his pillows. “We have to take the focus off me.”
    “You mean put it on the staff?”
    Oh, yeah. She could just see how promoting beautician Barbara Beth would draw in the customers.
    “No. We have to think of something else. Something that will draw customers to us. And a venue to get our message out—like a newspaper ad.”
    He winced. “I don’t like ads. I think they’re crass.”
    “We’ve got to do something.”
    “I have brochures.”
    “You do?”
    “Sure. But no one ever gets one until they come in with a loved one who needs our services.”
    She gave herself a second to interpret the Dad-speak. “Oh, you mean after the fact. After they’re already hiring you because a loved one has died.”
    “Yes.”
    “So we have to figure out a way to get the brochures into the hands of—”
    “Everybody. Where