LITMIR.BIZ

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shed her coat and purse, shoving her latest dating debacle to the back of her mind so she could tackle whatever awaited her. She found Carleen seated at the kitchen table, hunched over a carton of chocolate almond ice cream. Half of it was already gone.

      “What’s wrong?” Mia asked without preamble.

      Carleen looked up at her, black mascara smudges beneath her green eyes. “I’ve ruined everything.”

      Mia grabbed a spoon from the drawer, then sat down across from her. “It can’t be that bad.”

      “Oh, yes it can.” Carleen dipped her spoon into the ice cream. “It’s all over.”

      “What’s all over?”

      Carleen sucked in a shaky breath. “The wedding. Your business. My life.”

      Mia pulled the ice cream carton toward her, telling herself not to panic. “All right, let’s start from the beginning. What happened?”

      Carleen brushed back a wisp of blond hair stuck to her tear-stained cheek. “Toby left the country today. He’s on an airplane right now, headed for Germany.”

      “Why?”

      “Because his mother hates me.” Her lower lip quivered. “She’s only met me once, but she hates me all the same. Beatrice Hamilton thinks I’m not good enough to marry her only son.”

      “Hold on,” Mia said. “Are you telling me his mother sent him off to Germany?”

      Carleen shook her head. “No, but she’s behind it. Toby has always been fascinated by show business. Recently, his mother arranged for him to meet a screenwriter at one of her fancy parties and now Toby’s going to produce his movie. They’re filming on location in Frankfurt for the next three weeks and he says he has to be there.”

      “But he’ll be back in time for the wedding, won’t he?”

      “I hope so.” Carleen pulled the ice cream carton back to her side of the table. “I’m telling you, Mia, that woman is determined to drive us apart. I tried to talk to Toby about it today when I took him to the airport, but we just got into a huge fight. He wouldn’t even listen to me. He’s more upset about Harlan than his mother.”

      “Whoa, back up a step,” Mia said. “Who’s Harlan?”

      She heaved a long sigh. “I should have mentioned him first. Harlan Longo. You know, that millionaire who likes to play scientist?”

      “Yes,” Mia replied, more confused than ever, “what about him?”

      “Well, I signed up for his three-week sleep study to save Mia’s Makeovers. He’s offering a three-thousand-dollar stipend to his research subjects and you mentioned just the other day that we needed to find money to advertise or the business is doomed.”

      Mia blinked at her. “You signed up to help me?”

      Carleen’s face softened. “It was the least I could do. I’ll never be able to repay you for everything you’ve done for me. Giving me a job. Taking me in when I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Treating me like a member of your family.” A smile trembled on her lips. “You’re the sister I never had.”

      Mia swallowed the huge lump in her throat, then chased it down with a spoonful of ice cream. “We’re friends, Carleen. You don’t owe me anything.”

      “Then think of it as my going-away present,” Carleen replied. “Toby is talking about moving to California after we’re married. He wants to live in Hollywood. I couldn’t be happy knowing I left you behind with all those unpaid bills piling up. I had to do something.”

      At that moment, Mia realized just how much she was going to miss living with Carleen. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

      “Look, we’ve both been trying to ignore that business hasn’t been too good around here lately. I’ve been using more and more red ink when I do the books. So when I received one of Harlan Longo’s invitations to participate in his latest study, I thought it was the answer to all our problems.”

      “Harlan Longo’s not even a real scientist, is he?”

      “No, but he’s really rich.” Carleen licked the back of her spoon. “Rich enough that people call him eccentric instead of crazy. So if he wants to spend his money conducting sleep experiments, he can. I heard he even has some kind of fancy laboratory set up at his estate. That’s where I’m supposed to go tonight. But…”

      “But,” Mia prodded.

      Carleen sighed. “But Toby thinks Harlan Longo is unstable and doesn’t want me to do it. He was so upset about it. The problem is that I’ve already used the stipend Harlan’s paying to buy advertising time for Mia’s Makeovers on the radio.” She met Mia’s gaze. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

      “Oh, Carleen,” Mia replied, realizing no one had ever done anything so unselfish for her before.

      She’d grown up with parents who had taught her the value of hard work but who didn’t understand her desire to build her own business. Though they had never said it aloud, she knew her family back in Chicago expected her to fail. An expectation that now seemed alarmingly possible.

      Mia did believe advertising could save her business, but not at the expense of Carleen’s relationship with Toby. “If Toby is that upset about it, then maybe you shouldn’t do it.”

      “But the money…”

      “I’ll find a way to fix it,” Mia told her, though she knew she’d never qualify for another loan.

      “Ian Brock is the one who should fix it,” Carleen sputtered. “He stole all your clients when he went to work for that big design company.”

      Mia shook her head. “I should have known better than to date a man who works for me. Especially when he happens to be one of the best carpenters in Philadelphia.”

      “That man can do amazing things with his hands,” Carleen acknowledged.

      “Believe me, I know.” Memories flooded her and Mia’s throat contracted. “But I have to quit dwelling on him and concentrate on finding new clients. I literally can’t afford to let my personal life interfere with my business anymore. And you can’t afford to put my business ahead of Toby.”

      Tears gleamed in her eyes. “I just don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him.”

      “You’re not going to lose him,” Mia assured her. Then a solution hit her that was so obvious she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it sooner. “Why don’t I just take your place tonight?”

      Carleen blinked. “What?”

      “I’ll participate in the sleep study instead of you. It’s not like I have a life right now anyway. Besides, that only seems fair since you’re using the money to save my business.”

      “But Harlan Longo is expecting me to show up tonight,” Carleen said. “I’ve already filled out a personality profile and signed a contract and everything. Who knows what he’ll do if I bail out at the last minute?”

      “I doubt he’ll care,” Mia replied. “These research projects are just a form of entertainment for him. No one takes them seriously.”

      “I’m not so sure,” Carleen told her. “I think he takes them very seriously. At least, that’s the impression I got when I talked to him on the telephone last week.”

      “Then I’ll just pretend I’m you,” Mia improvised, determined to find a way to make it work. “He’ll never know the difference.”

      Hope mingled with uncertainty in Carleen’s eyes. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

      “You’re not asking me,” Mia replied, warming to the idea. “I’m volunteering. You didn’t send him a picture of yourself, did you? I mean, I’m an Italian brunette

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