When Day Breaks Read Free Page A

never be fixed. She and Janie had a good life, a wonderful life, but there was a gaping hole in it. Eliza had lost the man she loved, and Janie had never had the benefit of knowing her father at all.
    Eliza was determined to raise Janie as normally as possible, and so far things seemed to be working out pretty well. Still, now that Janie was in school, there were going to be more and more recitals, plays, and ball games, where parents would be clapping in the audience and rooting from the sidelines. Inevitably Janie was going to become more acutely aware that her daddy wasn’t there.
    The sedan turned onto Fifty-seventh Street. Eliza’s attention was diverted by the camera crews and a crowd of reporters gathered on the sidewalk in front of KEY News headquarters.
    “What’s going on today?” asked the driver as the car pulled up to the curb. “The president coming or something?”
    “It’s something all right,” answered Eliza from the backseat. “It’s Constance Young’s last day.”
    “Oh, yeah. I heard them talking about it on the radio this morning. They said she’s going to make twenty million dollars a year in her new job. Is that right?”
    “That might be a little on the high side,” said Eliza. “But you can bet she sure is making a lot of money.”
    “I knew I picked the wrong line of work.” The driver shrugged, getting out and walking around to open the door.
    As Eliza extended her long legs from the car, the newspeople swarmed toward her.
    “Are you going to miss Constance Young?” asked one reporter, sticking his microphone in Eliza’s face.
    “Constance has been a major presence here at KEY News. We’re all going to feel her absence.”
    Eliza made her way to the Broadcast Center entrance.
    “Constance Young has jumped ship!” shouted another reporter. “Do you think her audience will jump with her?”
    “That’s the multimillion-dollar question, isn’t it?” Eliza answered before she pushed through the revolving door.
     
     
     
    Taking the elevator up to her office, Eliza glanced at her watch. She had fifteen minutes until the Evening Headlines editorial meeting. That would give her just enough time to check in with her assistant, pick out something to wear, and go over any last-minute details about today’s luncheon.
    Paige Tintle was on the phone when Eliza walked into the small office that adjoined the anchorwoman’s large one.
    “No. Yellow.” Paige frowned. “There are supposed to be yellow tulips on the tables. Yellow tulips are Ms. Young’s favorite.”
    Eliza watched as her assistant shook her head and rolled her eyes in consternation. Paige let out a deep sigh as she listened to an answer she did not want to hear.
    “I know that people will be arriving in just over an hour,” she said. “All right, we’ll have to go with the pink ones.” Paige hung up the phone.
    Eliza flipped through the tiny pile of messages that sat on the corner of the desk. “Don’t worry, Paige. I’m sure everything will be beautiful.”
    “It just frustrates me,” the other woman said. “I so want today to go well.”
    “It will, Paige. It will,” Eliza reassured her. “Barbetta has been around for more than a century. It’s the perfect spot for the farewell lunch. I’m hoping it will be hard for anybody to be nasty in such glorious surroundings.”
     
     
     
    In the dressing room next to her office, Eliza flipped through the racks of dresses, skirts, and slacks before selecting the pink Chanel suit. It was her favorite, but she rarely wore it on the air at night. She gravitated to navy blues and blacks, browns, grays, and beiges for the Evening Headlines set.
    Eliza slipped off the well-cut trousers and crisp blouse she had worn for the ride in to work and put on the designer suit. As she appraised herself in the mirror, she noted that the pink fabric made her skin glow. Her shoulder-length brown hair seemed richer and more lustrous, too. Even her eyes seemed bluer. The