Her Summer with the Marine: A Donovan Brothers Novel (Entangled Bliss) Read Free Page B

and her dad’s dark bedroom, she noticed the multicolored sticky notes on the walls, the mirrors, and even the TV.
    Is the stove on?
    Have you eaten today?
    Check the garage to make sure you turned off the car’s ignition. Take this tag with you so you remember why you’re in the garage when you get there.
    Her vision swam in the tears that formed. Her poor dad.
    She heard the gurgle of the coffeemaker finishing, returned to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, and headed downstairs. Passing the cluster of empty viewing rooms with heavy Victorian furniture and rich red Oriental rugs, she stepped into the office.
    Temporarily ignoring the clutter on the desk and the stack of checks by the phone, she set her coffee down, flopped onto the office chair, hit the button on the computer, and booted it up.
    Instead of a screen saver, a big message appeared.
    CALL DAN.
    A phone number blinked below the message.
    She leaned her elbow on the desk and laid her chin on her closed fist, her eyes filling with tears once more. She couldn’t imagine how he’d felt, knowing he was losing his faculties. But he’d known.
    Why hadn’t he told her?
    Sadness gripped her, but she shook her head. Again, this was not the time to wuss out. She had to determine the best way to support her dad, and this funeral home was a big part of that. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Dan’s number.
    “Yes? Who is this? I don’t recognize your number! I don’t take calls from strangers and if you’re a telemarketer, I’m reporting you. I’m on all the Do Not Call lists!”
    She winced. “This is Ellie McDermott.”
    “Oh, Ellie, sweetie.” From impatient to relieved in a breath. “You’re home. I was just on my way over. I’m your dad’s livery. I drive the van that goes to the hospital or residence and picks up the deceased. I also drive the hearse to the graveyard.”
    “Oh. Dan .” Dan hadn’t worked for her dad when she lived here—he’d been hired about two years ago. At the time, she’d wondered why the mortuary needed a full-time driver. Now, she knew.
    “I always come by first thing in the morning. I figured with your dad in the hospital, you’d need me.”
    “I do.”
    “I’ll be right over.”
    Within ten minutes, Dan was at the door, holding a bag from the diner. “I got you a coffee. Your dad always liked an egg sandwich, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous.”
    Angry with herself again for leaving her dad so alone, she pressed her lips together. Her dad had begged off visits at Christmas and Easter, saying he had funerals to attend to, and she’d never thought to check up on him. He had always been her rock, especially after her mother’s death. But when he needed her, she hadn’t noticed.
    Guilt flooded her, but she ignored it. She was here now. She would make things right. “Thanks for doing that for him.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    She took the coffee as Dan, a man about her father’s age, with thick white hair and at least thirty pounds too many, sat across from her.
    Removing the lid from the coffee, she caught his gaze. “You knew what was going on, didn’t you?”
    He inclined his head. “He made me promise not to call you.”
    “You didn’t think to get him to a doctor?”
    “He did go to a doctor. I thought he was on meds.” Dan shook his head. “I could see he should have quit long ago. But it wasn’t my place to push. Anyway, for a man losing his”—he tapped his temple twice—“your dad was amazing. He had it all figured out.” He pointed at the computer screen. “Wrote notes to himself about everything, and even planned for this day. Hit ‘open file’ and type in Ellie.”
    She did as instructed and a list came up. “What’s this?”
    “Passwords you’ll need to get into the different software programs. Phone number for the embalmer he uses.”
    She glanced up sharply. “So he’d stopped embalming?”
    “A good two years ago.”
    Relief rippled through her. “And