Heaven SentRain

A Novel

G

Lauraine Snelling

New York Boston Nashville

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidentsare the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Anyresemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, iscoincidental.

Copyright 2014 by Lauraine SnellingAll rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this bookwithout the permission of the publisher constitutes unlawful piracy andtheft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to usematerial from the book (other than for review purposes), prior writtenpermission must be obtained by contacting the publisher atpermissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authorsrights.

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First edition: July 201410 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSnelling, Lauraine.Heaven sent rain : a novel / Lauraine Snelling. -- First edition.pages cmISBN 978-0-89296-913-5 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-0-89296-912-8 (ebook) 1.Businesswomen Fiction. 2. Man-woman relationships--Fiction. I. Title.PS3569.N39H46 2014813.54--dc232013047315

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Chapter OneG

Hes there again.Dinah Taylor wanted to ignore the small boy andhis dog huddling outside the Extraburger. Shed thoughthe was waiting for someone the other day, but what if hewas hungry? And today the mist was struggling to keepfrom turning into rain. If he was waiting for someone,couldnt he wait inside? No, not with a dog.

Surely he wasnt panhandling.She slowed, trying to decide what to do. I dont have

time for this today. Without bothering to check her watch,she knew she would be late. What a way to start a Monday.

But what if he is hungry? The thought refused to leave.Heaving a less than happy sigh, she stopped in front of

him. Have you had breakfast?He looked up at her, dark eyes huge in his face, and

shook his head, his Royals baseball hat cocked to the side.Is someone coming to meet you? She knew she

sounded abrupt. Right now abrupt was the only tone shecould muster.

He shook his head again and wrapped an arm aroundhis scruffy-looking dog. His clothes appeared to be clean;he clutched his backpack with the other arm.

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Shouldnt you be in school?Its not time yet.Dinah Marie Taylor, you cannot leave a small boy out

here alone. A small hungry boy.If I get you a breakfast sandwich, youll go on to

school? He nodded. What about your dog?She walks me to school.And then waits?No, she goes home.So he wasnt homeless at least. He must live near here.

Ill be right back.Thank you.His immediate response caught her by surprise. She

stepped up to the counter, ordered breakfast for him andher usual, tall coffee and breakfast sandwich. Two sepa-rate sacks to go, please.

Yes, maam. The tall skinny kid gave her the total andthen her change from a twenty.

You know anything about that boy outside?I know he cant bring his dog in here and wont leave

her out there alone.Thanks. She picked up the two bags and headed outside.

Usually she left by the inner door that led to the atrium. Usu-ally. If this was any indication, today was not going to go asusual. A knot in her stomach tightened. Handing the sack tohim, she added, I bought you cocoa in case you were cold.

Thank you. He opened the bag and looked in, thenup at her. I like potatoes like this, too.

The winter wind caught the front flap of her white woolcoat and tried to jerk it off. Look, why dont you comeinside the building to eat that.

No thanks. Well eat on the way to school. He rose tohis feet. Come on, Downmutt.

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Had she heard him right? Was that the dogs name?She pulled open the door, then looked over her shoulder.The two were already moving down the sidewalk. Youcant worry about him; you have enough on your platefor today. Her staccato heels tapped across the marblefloor and, thankfully, carried her into an elevator immedi-ately. Youd think that after ten years as president of herown company, Food for Life, she would be used to bud-get time. After all, it came twice a year. But this one wasthe biggie, and in three days she had to present it to herboard, ready to defend it and herself. At least that was theway she felt. Her mind understood that, but her stomachdid its own thing.

After a pause to suck in a supposedly calming breath,she turned the knob on the door and, smile in place,strode into the reception area. Good morning.

April Benders, receptionist, assistant, secretary, andfriend after all these years, smiled up at her. Theyre allon your desk. She glanced at the clock. As of twentyminutes ago. I have a stack of orange slips for you andgood morning to you, too.

Dinah knew she was late, which was not like her at all.In fact, she could count on one hand the times shed beenlate in all these years.

But thenthat boy. What was the story behind him?I know, sorry. Did you look the departmental budgets

over?April shook her head. Nope, I gave you mine and you

know I hate budgets worse than you do.Thanks. Dinah strode two doors down to her office

on the left. After setting her briefcase and white leatherhobo bag on her desk, she hung her coat in the closetand crossed the room to sink into her white leather chair.

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Picking up coffee and sandwich, she spun her chair tolook out at the winter-bleak park over the roof of thebuilding across the street. Spring in Ohio never cameearly enough for her. The mist had gathered force andnow ran in lazy rivulets down the window. Half the sand-wich later, she rewrapped it and, holding her coffee inboth hands, studied the sky that might be showing a bit ofblueanytime now. All the while, she forcefully ignoredthe stack of reports on her desk and the message slips.

The picture of that little boy would not leave her mind,hanging about on the edges, as if waiting to pounce. Hadshe done the right thing? What else could she have done?Where did he live? Why would anyone name a dog some-thing like that? What was the boys name? What if he wasthere tomorrow? The buzz of the intercom spun her backaround.

Ive been holding your calls. You want me to con-tinue?

Yes. Forever.A snort answered her remark.Im attacking the return calls now. Give me the rest of

the slips later. Thanks.She spun her chair toward the desk and started

inreturning phone calls. An hour later, she sent thosethat April could respond to, made sure her notes werelegible for later, and picked up the top page, their com-pany purpose, a document she reread every Monday.Food for Life is here to develop and produce supple-ments that will promote healing and a richer, healthierlifestyle for those in need, particularly those with dia-betes. She read it aloud to assist her focus.

And so thats what they were doing. They had a greatproduct about to be released to the public, named Sco-

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paria, a dietary supplement that was providing help forpeople with debilitating conditions, although diabeteswasnt mentioned in the promotional material, of course.Actually, according to the test results, almost miraculoushelp, but in order to avoid costly review by the FDA, theywould call it a dietary supplement. Therefore it did notneed a prescription and was within the legal boundariesthat the government inflicted upon businesses. Let thosefolks who used it tell of the success. The double-blind re-sults were indeed astounding.

She stood and walked around the room, doing calfstretches against one wall. Her white-wool, below-the-calfdress did nothing to impede her movement, but it was adress. Like all the companies in the building, they hadaccess to the gym in the basement, but today she had tofocus on the budgets.

If he didnt have money for breakfast, did he havelunch in his backpack? Was there such a thing as cafete-rias in schools any longer? Would the teacher give himmoney? How did this work?

Why in the world am I stewing about this? I dont evenparticularly like small children.

She crossed to the kitchen a la break room, poured her-self another mug of coffee, and returned to her dungeon.Three days until the board meeting.

By noon she had made her way through a final reviewof the PR budget. Sticky notes showed where it neededmore work. She started on the office budget. That wasthe easiest. At 12:30 she called April and had her orderlunch in. Two out of four budget proposals now in theout basket.

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