My Sunshine Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Please, Laura, have a seat. Maybe you’re right, and you aren’t suited for the work. Neither of us will ever know if you won’t stay and discuss the particulars with me.”
    She glanced hesitantly at the chair. Isaiah saw that she was sorely tempted, which told him she wanted the job a lot more than she was letting on.
    â€œJust to talk,” he assured her, and then settled the matter by grasping her elbow to lead her toward the desk. After pressing her down onto the chair, he circled to sit across from her. She hugged the coat close as if she were chilled.
    Isaiah rocked back in his chair and rested a booted foot on his opposite knee. “Kennel work requires three things: a love of animals, a kind heart, and a strong stomach. On a glamour scale of one to ten, it’s about a negative one.” He saw a tiny frown pleat her brow and wondered if he might be talking too fast. Relaxing more deeply into the leather cushions, he made a conscious effort to slow down. “The worst part of the job is having to clean up a lot of smelly messes,” he went on. “We occasionally board healthy animals, but mostly they’re either sick or recovering from surgery.”
    She clasped her hands on her lap, the clench of her fingers so tight that her knuckles went pale. “Did your mom tell you I have brain damage, Dr. Coulter?”
    â€œIsaiah,” he corrected, “and, yes, she mentioned it. A swimming accident, I believe she said.”
    She nodded. “Five years ago. It left me with aphasia.” Her cheek dimpled in a fleeting smile. “I can finally say it. For a long time I couldn’t.”
    Isaiah subscribed to a few medical journals to keep abreast of the advances made in treatments for humans. Canines had many of the same ailments, and the same medications often helped them. As a result, he had recently read an article about aphasia, which affected approximately a million Americans to varying degrees, their numbers growing at an alarming rate of about eighty thousand annually. Some people became afflicted because of strokes, others due to head injuries that damaged the left lobe of the brain.
    â€œAh,” he said. “Aphasia affects language, doesn’t it?” Isaiah also knew what aphasia did not affect—a person’s intelligence. Victims were essentially trapped in their own bodies, the damage to the left lobe interfering with normal brain signals. Many people had weakness on the right side of the body. In severe cases, sufferers were unable to speak and understood very little or nothing of what was said to them. Laura Townsend was fortunate in that regard. “You seem to speak quite well.”
    â€œI couldn’t at first.” She looked him directly in the eye. “And I still have problems.”
    Now that he knew what kind of brain damage she had, Isaiah better understood why.
    â€œEven if I’m thinking the right word,” she went on, “I can say the wrong one—and sometimes when I get nervous, even words that should be easy, like my name, just won’t come to me.”
    Little wonder his mother’s heart went out to this young woman. She was beautiful and obviously very bright. One had only to look into her eyes to see that. Yet she’d been reduced to this—applyingfor a menial job that many people wouldn’t even want. Even sadder was the undeniable fact that neither he nor any other vet would normally consider hiring her.
    The realization made him feel small. How many people like Laura lived in or around Crystal Falls—people the world ignored and had left behind? Her brain injury clearly wasn’t so severe that she had nothing to contribute. All she needed was for someone to give her a break.
    He hated to embarrass her by asking personal questions. When he tried to imagine how he might feel if he were in her shoes, he almost cringed. But there were some things he had to know before he