Funeral home owner and undertaker Dual Hood knows a good thing when he sees it, so when Charlie Soder applies for the job of embalmer, he snatches up the young man in a heartbeat. Charlie, fresh-faced and just out of college, also knows a good thing when he sees it, and immediately sets his sights on his new sexy boss.<br><br>It doesn’t take long for sparks to fly and romance to blossom. But Dual worries what folks in his small Mississippi town will say, and whether his family-owned business will suffer if word goes round about his new love interest. He isn’t at all certain he has the courage to do the right thing and grab love before it slips through his fingers.

The Undertaker's Secret

“You’re worried about your mother,” he said. Among other things, he was perceptive.


“Let’s give it some time,” I said, trying to hedge.


“I’ll wait as long as you need. But like the song says, I don’t want to wait in vain. You got any plans for the rest of the day?”


“Paperwork,” I said. He was trying to change the subject. I was more than willing to let him. “And I gotta take Mama to her bridge club.”


“So we’ll have the house to ourselves?”


“That’s one way of looking at it. You got any plans?”


I parked the hearse in the garage next to the removal van and we got out. The air was nippy. It was early December and the temps had thus far remained this side of freezing, but my bones were saying things were about to change.


“Mama always cooks before she goes out,” I said. “You want to come eat at six?”


“Is it warm enough over there in the apartment?” I asked.


Chapter 8