Kay felt as if she was living with the doting grandmother she’d never had. And then she’d met Sheila, and this place had really begun to feel like home.She carefully skirted the vase and stepped gingerly across Mrs. Dalton’s Oriental rug, hoping there wasn’t something noxious still stuck to her shoes. As she climbed the wide oak staircase, she repeated the three-part directive she’d issued herself as she left the shelter. Go home. Take a shower. Burn your clothes.As Kay reached the top of the stairs, she saw a note taped to her door. She pulled it off as she went inside, then tossed it down on the dining-room table. She didn’t have to read it to know what it contained: a sweet but pointed suggestion from Mrs. Dalton that perhaps she should pay her rent.Even though her search for a permanent job had turned up nothing, she’d found a temporary service that had plenty of jobs available and didn’t seem inclined to check her references. They were sending her on her first assignment Monday, a six-week-long stint at Breckenridge, Davis, Hill, Scott & Wooster to fill in for a woman on maternity leave.
