Nothing Lasts Forever. Sidney Sheldon

in the corridors. They communicated mainly by leaving notes in the apartment.

      “Dinner is in the fridge.”

      “The microwave is out.”

      “Sorry, I didn’t have time to clean up.”

      “What about the three of us having dinner out Saturday night?”

      The impossible hours continued to be a punishment, testing the limits of endurance for all the residents.

      Paige welcomed the pressure. It gave her no time to think about Alfred and the wonderful future they had planned together. And yet, she could not get him out of her mind. What he had done filled her with a deep pain that refused to go away. She tortured herself with the futile game of “what if?”

      What if I had stayed with Alfred in Africa?

      What if he had come to Chicago with me?

      What if he had not met Karen?

      What if …?

      On a Friday when Paige went into the change room to put on her scrubs, the word “bitch” had been written on them with a black marker pen.