Harper’s Place
by Sheryl
Winters
GENRE: Romance
BLURB:
Harper Grey is fed up
with over-bearing men. Her father wants to sell the family hamburger joint to
her brother because a woman could never make it successful.
Harper knows she has
the same flair for business as her mother, and sexy Navy SEAL Patrick O’Brien
dares her to prove it to the world.
When duty calls and
Patrick must leave her side, will Harper be strong enough to make her dream a
reality?
Excerpt:
Aunt Adelina’s dining room hasn’t
changed in years. The same flower embroidered tablecloth adorns the long, low
kitchen table. The material is only slightly yellow with age and protected by a
heavy plastic covering. The hard, low-backed captain chairs have me squirming
in my seat. Across the table from me, Tony and Dad shovel Aunt Adelina’s
spinach lasagna into their mouths as if this were their last meal.
“So how’s the job hunt going?” Tony
smirks. “I sent you that link for the secretarial position at my company didn’t
I?”
I am here only for Aunt Adelina and
her free food, I remind myself even as I twist the bread on my plate into tiny
pieces onto my plate. “Was that the email I deleted?” I reply in a voice as
sweet as maple syrup. I also blocked your fool-ass account.
“Now Slugger,” Dad says with a heavy
frown. “I know Tony meant well. He tells me things have been rough since you
quit Just Burgers.”
That is so not how I remember it.
“My life isn’t rough. It’s gotten considerably better, and I didn’t quit, you
fired me so you could shut down Just Burgers instead of letting your daughter
run it remember?” I drawl out the ‘r.’
Uncomfortable silence reigns at the
table, only broken by the crunching of a dinner roll by Aunt Adelina. In
contrast, Uncle Ed’s hand is extended in the air with a roll clutched tight in
his fist.
Dad clears his throat but not before
shooting a dagger-filled look at me. “Harper, about that. I counted on you to
help me with the cleaning of the store. You know my arthritis acts up in the
winter and—”
I leap to my feet. “Yes, and I
expected to be treated as part of the family and not just a helper when it’s
convenient.”
“Who wants another garlic roll?
Here, pass this around.” Aunt Adelina thrusts the basket into my hands. The
basket has traveled the table so many times tonight I’m amazed it doesn’t have
its own airline miles.
“It’s a good thing you closed the
store, Dad.” Tony shoots a sly glance in my direction. “It was more than time
for you to get out of that money pit. Wintering in Florida will be the best
thing that ever happened to you.”
Tony shovels another piece of
lasagna onto his plate, and I fist my hands at my side.
“Tony, are you sure you want that
big of a piece?” The words erupt from my lips before I can stop them. “You’re
getting kinda chunky, especially around the middle.”
“What?” Tony’s head jerks up. He
straightens and sucks in his breath as if it will make his beer gut disappear.
“That’s one thing I admire about
Patrick. He works out every day. My boyfriend picked an active job.” I glance
at Tony’s midsection. “And you. You picked a job where you will get
progressively fatter. By the time you’re forty-five, we’ll be picking out your
coffin.”
Aunt Adelina coughs into her
napkin.
“Listen, Harper, just because I
finally got Dad to see reason, doesn’t mean that you need to take it out on us.
Dad closing down shop and not selling to you was for your own good, you know,”
Tony says. “We thought about it carefully, weighed the pros and cons.”
“My own good! You are a sneaky toad
of a brother. You have no clue what’s for my own good because you take the safe
road, always! I’ve got half a mind to—”
“Enough arguing.” Aunt Adelina’s
thundering voice has the entire table turning toward her. “It’s time for pie.”
She grabs my arm and tugs me toward the kitchen. “Young lady, you will help
me.”
“I’m not serving Tony. He’s fat
enough,” I say over my shoulder loud enough that the sneaky toad will hear me.
“Harper Elizabeth Gray! Enough
squabbling with your brother.” Auntie releases my arm and grabs up a pie knife,
pointing its blunt end at me. “You will pretend to be nice if it kills you. We
are a family and we will act like it.” She slices into the lemon meringue while
I continue to stew. “Now give this to Tony.” Aunt Adelina slaps a full plate of
pie into my hand and pushes me toward the dining room.
“Fine.” I hesitate, turn and grab
another plate she’s dished up, and slide that pie on top of Tony’s. Grinning, I
scoop up an extra spoon of whipped cream, smothering both pieces. Ooo… With my
free hand, I locate auntie’s secret stash of chocolate chips and sprinkle some
on top just for the hell of it. What is it about Tony that makes me feel like a
ten-year-old again?
Aunt Adelina groans. “Child, you’ll
be the death of me.”
Tony accepts his piece, but not
after giving me a pointed sneer. I pat my much slimmer stomach and smile as
wide as I can.
I no sooner reach the kitchen than
another slice of pie is shoved into my hand. Dutifully, I begin passing plates
around the table again. When everyone has been served, I clear the table of
dishes and escape to the quiet of the kitchen. The silence of the small room is
a pointed relief. Twenty more minutes to the gift opening. Five minutes of Dad
and Tony glaring at me over matching pink bow ties. Fifteen more minutes to
clean up the living room and say my goodbyes. One hour to the subway and I’ll
be home by midnight.
I can do this!
Filled with irrational anger, I
begin scrubbing away at the plates. Stupid men and their inability to do any
amount of dishes.
“Well, now, little girl. It’s not
like you to slam things and run away.” Aunt Adelina drops an empty pie plate on
the counter. “You want to tell me what’s going on? You didn’t break up with
that nice young soldier of yours did you?”
The bitterness I’ve been keeping
inside, the many days of stomping the pavement looking for a backer, the many
nights of trying to come up with just the right words to convince bankers to
loan me cash crashes down on me. “How come you’re not mad because they let Just
Burgers go instead of helping me buy it?”
“Oh, honey.” She picks up a dish
towel and dries off the plate I hand her. “Why should we be mad? It’s just the
way the world is.”
“Chauvinistic you mean?”
“This whole thing reminds me of when
your mom and dad started that damned money pit of a restaurant. Elizabeth had
her heart set on some name and your father just wouldn’t give in. He was like
that over the salad bar she wanted so bad. She would have been so ahead of her
time.” Aunt Adelina pats me on the shoulder. “Your father loves you, baby girl,
don’t ever forget that. It’s not his fault that he could never see the forest
for the trees. Some men are like that. So damn fool stubborn they just can’t
admit when they are wrong.” She dumps the empty ham platter into the soapy
water. “So are you still committed to this dream of yours?”
I lift my chin. “I need time to
regroup. I know what you’re thinking, that I’m wasting my time at the corner
station, but it’s money coming in. I’ve been turning in resumes on my days off.
I was told I needed experience, a backer, and capital.” Thank you, Mrs.
Anderson. “I plan on working on one thing at a time.”
Can she hear the desperation in my
voice?
Aunt Adelina sighs as she puts a
plate into the cupboard over her head. “Well, the gas station is good honest
work. That reminds me, I found something of your grandmother’s that I wanted
you to have.” She peers around the corner, lifting up piles of mail off the
counter. “Now where did I put my handbag?” She leaves the room and comes back a
few moments later, her large black purse swinging from her arm. “I have to
remember to clean this out. Do you remember that house Grandma Alicia lived in?
That big rambling structure?”
“Yes.” Mom hated having to sell the
house after Grandma died. She and Aunt Adelina split the profits in half. And
Dad and Mom used her share to start Just Burgers. Aunt Adelina used hers to buy
her home.
Aunt Adelina pulls out a photograph
and hands it to me. It’s the three of them standing in front of that old house.
Aunt Adelina, Mom, and Grandma, three of the toughest, hardest working women I
know.
“Put that on the mantle.” She pats
me on the shoulder. “Then you look at it every day. That’s a picture of women
who know what good, hard drudgery is. You work at your gas station if you have
to, to make ends meet, but don’t you dare ever give up.”
I finger the photograph. These women
would never give up, but this is so hard. “I’m scared I’ll never get a loan.”
“You’ll get it, Harper. You just
need faith. Mountains aren’t moved in a day. You just keep trying and I’ll just
keep being proud of you.”
The photo bends in my hand and I
carefully smooth it out. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll fail? What if no one ever
believes in me the way you do, what if—”
The palm of her hand shushes me with
one movement. She pulls me in by the shoulders with a gentle squeeze. “Enough.
You are Harper Gray. The strongest, smartest kid I’ve ever had the privilege of
knowing. You come from a long line of strong women. Now hand me that dish.
We’ve got to get these done or we’ll never get to opening those presents.”
Breathe Harper, remember you are a
professional. You meet hot guys every day.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I
never set out to be an author. Only a storyteller. Some days I succeed better
than others.
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2 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
thanks for the review and a chance to win
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