Waiting for Daybreak Read Online Free PDF Page A

her end of the bargain; it was time for them to live up to theirs.
    Without even putting her things away, she headed straight for the administrator’s office. The hall was coated with fine sawdust from the construction, and she left footprints in her wake. Rufus’s door was open when she reached it, and inside he was shaking hands with a beautiful woman in an expensive red pantsuit. She wore three-inch heels, and her blond hair was perfectly shaped to reveal the diamond earrings that sparkled at her ears.
    “Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you had company.”
    Rufus’s face was as grim as Paige had ever seen it. The woman barely looked at Paige. Just said her farewells and clicked her way down the hall through the mess.
    “The good news just keeps on coming,” Rufus said when the woman was out of sight.
    “What now?” They began making their way back through the dusty halls to the pharmacy.
    “They found mold in a back wall yesterday. We’re open the rest of the week, then they’re shutting us down for two weeks to deal with it.” The monotone in Rufus’s voice reminded Paige of a robot reciting words whose meaning it couldn’t understand or begin to feel.
    “Shutting us down?”
    “Without pay.”
    “Rufus, I need my raise and I need the money for those two weeks. As much as I hate to go over your head, I have to. I’m going to call the Weber Foundation and take this to the board of directors.”
    “Call all you’d like. That was Susan Weber who just left. She came to deliver the news personally.”
    Paige unlocked the pharmacy door and sank into the chair behind the desk. “Why would they do that?”
    “Because they choose to.” Rufus looked around as if to confirm that no one else was watching. “Word is, they want to sell this building and use the money to fund one of their new pet projects that the country music stars are all excited about. If I were you, I’d get my résumé together.”
    “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would they go to the expense to renovate it, then?”
    “The answer is obvious. A higher asking price.” Rufus reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a folded section of newspaper.“ I’ve already ripped out the part that applies to me, I thought I’d leave the rest with you.”
    Paige flipped open the fold to see Want Ads at the top. The same numbness that she’d heard in Rufus’s voice seeped into her limbs. “Thanks, Rufus.”
    “You’re welcome.” He walked away, his shoulders even more stooped than usual.
    Paige started her usual morning tasks, amazed that her body could still function when her mind could not. Closed for two weeks. Without pay. How was she supposed to help with her parents’ twenty-thousand-dollar debt without a paycheck coming in at all?
    As for the résumé, she knew exactly what would happen in a job hunt. She’d experienced it through dozens of job interviews before coming to the clinic. As soon as potential employers punched her name into Google, any chance of a job disintegrated. The story never vanished. There was no easy alternative for her.
    “Can I come back there? I need to do some work up in the ceiling.” Lee, the old contractor she’d met last week, stood smiling at the counter.
    Paige opened the door for him. “You’re starting to make a habit of this.”
    “Yeah. This is the nicest place to be in the whole building, far as I’m concerned.”
    Customers streamed through the newly opened doors, and the first three came straight to the pharmacy. Paige started to work at the typewriter, grateful to be too busy to think.
    “Hello there. You haven’t changed your mind about marrying me, have you?” Joe dropped his container on the counter and waited. No last name, no nothing. Just Joe. Every few weeks he came in to get his asthma inhaler, and to propose to Paige. In truth, he was the closest thing to a friend she had in Nashville.
    She smiled at him but kept typing. “Not this time, Joe, but you’re looking mighty