Merger (31 page)

I sat down in the chair next to Jake, instead of the chair opposite him, and smiled. There before me was Malibu Barbie and my fresh glass of Chardonnay. “You’re the best.”

“So you keep telling me,” he said, handing the waitress at hundred
-
dollar bill.

“Thank you,” she smiled, grabbed the tip and sashayed away.

“Nice!” I replied. “Big Tipper.”

Jake winked at me and turned to look at his buzzing phone. “My dad,” he said.

“Get it, Jake,” I said, “Don’t not get it because of me. You’re right I can’t hide forever.”

Jake hit answer and I could see in an instant it wasn’t the conversation I’d thought I’d hear. No, it was full of “yes, sirs”, “I understand” and “okays,” than suddenly he was spouting off our location and staring at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Um…,” he stuttered, and remained steadfast in his stare, but not speaking.

Everything at that point seemed so unclear and when I heard my own phone ring, I reached for my purse to see Benny’s face on the screen. I knew he wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important, so I put my bewildered state with Jake’s un-answering awkwardness aside and grabbed my phone.

“Hello,” I said. “What’s up Benny?”

“Honey, I took your Dad to the doctor’s today and I’m afraid I have bad news. He went in for a routine heart check-up and they found forty percent blockage in one valve and sixty percent in another.” He kept speaking, but I couldn’t quite put my head around his words.

“What?” I said, staring at Jake and then looking at the door as Josh made his way into the room. “What are you saying, Benny, I don’t understand?”

“K.K. your Dad’s in the hospital, they took him to the operating room to do a simple heart catheterization, but he had a stroke. He’s not well, Baby, you need to come home.”

“A what?” I heard something, but couldn’t put the words together. I was looking at Josh as he approached us, trying to decipher the words that Benny has just spoken and Jake was looking at me like he’d just
gotten sucker punched, but I was the one about to puke.

“
Stroke,” Benny repeated. “You need to come home.”

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, thank you for purchasing my novel, MERGER. No matter how you ended up with this book – friend, review, search, or just by chance, I’m grateful. This has been a true labor of love and a longtime dream in the making.

MERGER UNDONE, book 2 in the MERGER series will be out in the fall of 2014.

I want give a special “thank you” to my family. My husband and best friend, Derek, as well as my two children, Darby and Crawford, who patiently watched as I plugged away every night and most weekends to finish this project. I can’t thank them enough for their love and support. You guys rock!

I had an idea of how I wanted to make this all happen, but realized soon that “it takes a small village” to really grasp the magnitude of writing and publishing a book. Not to mention, promotion and creating a brand. So, it goes without saying that I have to give a shout out to my friends at Coopwood Communications – Scott Coopwood, Austin Christmas and the amazingly cool, Phil Schank. They listened intently, as I excitedly rolled out my plans for a website and my vision of who I was and where I wanted to be. The results are amazing (
www.heathermiles.net
). Not to mention, the incredible article that was written about me in my local newspaper. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Now, for the ever cool, super supportive, number one editor, Deb Hartwell (
www.hartwellediting.com
), who took on my project and turned it around in no time flat. Your finesse with handling me and my writing is second to none. I couldn’t have done it without you. And cheers to you for editing an unbelievable amount of smiles.

Finally, to my beloved mom who told me before she left this world that it was time to do something for me – thank you. I did it!

Heather M. Miles

About the Author

Heather Miles, originally from Kansas City, but a transplant to one of the most culturally diverse places the country, The Mississippi Delta, lives in Cleveland, Mississippi.

She writes Contemporary Romance by night, and is the Director of Revenue Cycle Management for a Federally Qualified Health Center, by day.

She received a dual degree in English and Psychology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

She lives in Cleveland with her husband, two children and two dogs.