Can't Buy Me Love Read Online Free PDF

damn computer
screen. And she needed to get this report done .
    Looking
back up at Frank, Lena leaned back in her chair, pulled off her reading
glasses, and rubbed her temples. “Frank, you rock. You really do. But I can’t
meet him today, honest to God I can’t. I haven’t gotten any sleep in the past
three days, and even though you seem to love my crabbiness and the circles
under my eyes that may actually now be permanent, I’m sure I’ll scare the poor
man away if I meet with him today. So please tell him that we’re glad he’s
here, put him to work doing whatever you think he might like to do, and I promise you that not only will I meet with him next week, I’ll take him for coffee and
try to be nice.”
    “Try?”
Frank grinned.
    “OK.
I’ll be nice. Damnit. Now, go away .”
    “Don’t
forget my beer,” Frank said with a grin, ducking as Lena hurled a roll of paper
towels at him from behind her desk.
    Laughing
to herself, she turned her attention back to the report.
     
     
    Chase
saw the roll of paper towels as it flew at the head of the weekend manager that
he’d talked to on the phone last weekend. A huge grin broke across Frank’s face
as he caught the roll and set it down on a nearby table. The smile completely
changed him from looking tired and worn-down to energized. Frank just shook his
head as he strolled over to where he’d left Chase moments ago.
    “Lena’s
working on a quarterly report for a donor, and she’s a little stressed,” he
said loudly, making sure his voice carried back into her office. “But she said
to tell you that she’s really glad you’re here, and if you have time sometime next
week, she’ll actually put on a nice face and buy you a coffee. Maybe you can
talk her into a drink to mellow her out some,” he added with a grin.
    “ I
heard that ," came a loud yell from the office.
    Frank
grinned again, then called out, “Or coffee! Coffee is fine!”
    “ Frank ...”
    Chuckling,
Frank patted Chase on the back. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
     
     
    Chase
had introduced himself to Frank by his first name – Edward. Frank immediately
shortened it to Ed, and began showing him around the shelter. Within five
minutes, Chase had no idea who he had met, and no hope of remembering anyone’s
name.
    Following
Frank through the maze of hallways that seemed to just keep getting more
confusing, he looked around him in growing amazement.
    “Should
I be dropping breadcrumbs?” he asked dryly as they made yet another turn
through a doorway that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
    Frank
chuckled. “You’ll get used to it. This used to be an old hotel back in the 40’s,
and there are a lot of... shall we say... unusual halls and rooms. We
can’t figure it all out, unless it used to be a brothel and there were back
hallways upon back hallways so people could get in and out without being seen. Lena
tried looking into the history once, but didn’t get much further than the old
records in city hall, which didn't seem to be too accurate.”
    “Wow.
This is a hell of a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. So how does a
place like this run?”
    Frank
just shook his head. “We have no earthly idea, son. It just does. Lena keeps
the money flowing in, and she’s in charge of general operations. She’s got a
degree in social work, and another in public administration, so she’s the one
who is responsible for making sure the lights stay on. We have eleven other
full-time staff members, including my counterpart who works during the week, an
office secretary, and two additional licensed social workers. Apart from the
full-time staff, everyone else is either part-time or a volunteer. A lot of
churches in the area staff the kitchen on a rotating basis, and we get food
contributions from local grocery stores and bulk stores that give us day-old
bread, slightly rough vegetables, and soon-to-be-expired canned goods and dairy
products.
    “In
the winter, we have a harder