Read Can't Buy Me Love for Free Online

spoon so you can help with the lunch rush. Sound OK? I’ll introduce
you around to the kitchen staff before I leave you.”
    Chase
nodded. This, he thought, was a good start. And he found himself wanting to
learn more about the shelter and how it ran. That was a first for him – he
normally didn’t care at all about how organizations worked, just that they did.
He donated a lot of money to charity, but his interest in their day-to-day
operations mostly consisted of looking at their books to ensure that a good
portion of his funding went to operational costs, and not into printing return
address labels and sending them to people who didn’t want them or use them. But
this was an intriguing place, mainly because it was so different from what he’d
expected it to be. So he followed Frank back to his office, and when he had a
new laminated ID card on a lanyard around his neck, he found himself anxious to
join the lunch crew.
    For
someone who was used to running a business, and telling others exactly what to
do and how to do it, he was surprised at how willing he was to just do as he
was told. Grinning to himself, he realized how shocked his employees would be. First
blue jeans, and now this. He’d been right – he needed this shake-up to his
life.
     
     
    Lena
was working in her office on Wednesday afternoon when she heard a knock on her
door. Looking up, she saw Frank standing in the doorway. Concerned, she
motioned him in. It was a Wednesday, and Frank didn’t normally come by the
shelter during the week unless she asked him to.
    “Everything
OK, Frank?” she asked, pulling her glasses off and looking up at her friend.
    “Oh
yeah,” he assured her. “I’m just here to pick up my toolkit. I left it here
this weekend when I was fixing the loose railing on the stairwell.”
    “We
had a loose railing on the stairwell?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Why
doesn’t anyone tell me this stuff?”
    Frank
shrugged. “What’s the point? You’re busy. I fixed it. We’re back in business.”
    Lena
blinked. “Well. Thank you.”
    “You’re
welcome. Did you get your reports done?”
    “Yeah.
I finished the last one mid-day on Sunday, so I had a few hours to myself that
afternoon. I took Winston for a long walk, then did some much needed de-furring
of my place. Some days I think I live in a barn.”
    “We
missed you on Saturday night.”
    “I
would have been there too, but I stayed here late. And I was just tired enough
that one beer would have had me snoring on your couch for the night. I’ll be
there this weekend, though, unless my father decrees attendance at some ridiculous
shindig or another.”
    “Seriously,
Lena. Can’t you just tell him to butt out? It’s your life.”
    Lena
shook her head. “I know it’s hard to understand, Frank. But he’s my father. And
I’ve disappointed him enough over the course of my life that attending these
events with him seems like a small thing to do when it pleases him so much.”
    “I
can’t believe any father could be disappointed in a daughter like you.”
    “And
I thank you for that,” Lena said with a heartfelt sigh.
    Frank
nodded. “So does Jeanette go to these things too?” he asked, referring to
Lena's stepmother.
    “She
does. It seems to be the one thing that she still cares about. But she’s been
drinking a lot more than she used to, and I think Dad likes having me there too
so we can keep an eye on her. He seems to think it’s just Jeanette being
Jeanette, but I’m getting kind of worried about her, to be honest.” She shook
her head and rolled her eyes up at her friend. “Life at home is so fun,” she
added dryly.
    Frank
looked appalled. “Wow. I hadn’t realized that your stepmother drank. Sorry,
Lena. Moving out of their house was probably the best thing you ever did.”
    “Tell
me about it. Of course, it caused Dad to write me out of his will. Again. But
wow it was worth it.” She grinned then. “At least I’ve got Pops to keep me sane,
though he had