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get.
    “Oh, I almost forgot,” I say, totally lying
my ass off.
    I’ve been waiting for this moment. I pull the
envelopes out of my bag and hand them out.  
    “We wouldn’t miss it.” Georgia’s smile
lights up the room.
    “I wanted to make sure we continued our
monthly girls’ night in.” A warm glow ran through me.
    All three begin to squeal when they
realize the gift I’ve given them.
    “How did you afford this?” Lucy’s mouth
dropped.
    I’d already given her three months’ of
rent. She didn’t want to take it, but I made her.
    “My advance,” I stood there with pride
since I’m usually the one that can’t afford such things.
    “I’m totally in the wrong field.”
Prudence laughs. “Do they need a good lawyer?”
    “It’s time for me to get on the road.” I
avoid my friend’s faces, and pick up my last box.
    If I look at them, the water-works will
start and won’t quit until I get to Cincinnati.
    “We’re going to send you off without us
watching you leave.” Lucy squeezes me with a big hug. “Granny said never to
watch a friend leave or you’re watching them leave for good and I need you here
with me.”
    “There is no way I’m going to let you
watch, because I am coming back with or without Granny’s advice on my
side.” There have been a lot of Granny’s superstitions I’ve taken to heart. But
this one is one I’m not going to question.
    Reluctantly I bow my head and accept my
fate. I lug myself to the elevator and hesitate before I push the down arrow. I
turn to look back and all three girls quickly jump back in my apartment and
shut the door. Even though they say they won’t watch, I know their hearts can’t
hold them back.
    The ride down the elevator makes me sick
to my stomach. I feel like I left my heart on the fifty-first floor. My mind is
racing a million miles a minute. Three months away from my friends, and from Bo,
is going to seem like an eternity.
    I look at the image staring back at me
from the elevator mirror. There’s a sparkle in my eyes that I can’t explain.   
    I can’t help but have an eerie feeling.
I begin to wonder how three months away is going change my life. I get a sneaky
suspicion that the girl staring back at me may not be the same girl who will
return.
    “Thank you, Sam.” He is waiting by the
door for me.  
    “I got you a coffee from Addicted to the
Bean.” He hands me the cup. “We sure are going to miss your morning runs.”
    “I’ll be back in no time.”
    Cincinnati is my past. My home is in
Chicago. My life is here. With both my parents gone, Aunt Grace is all that’s
left there. I’m sure she will outlive me.
    As much as I want to, I refrain from
looking back when I pull out of the parking garage. I resist the urge to drive
down Michigan Avenue, the Magnificent Mile. The heartbeat of the city. I’m sure
it is already full of people. That isn’t going to happen in Cincinnati. It’s a
conservative city.
    I’m leaving an extremely hot city for
the wonderful allergies that come with Cincinnati. Maybe I’ll get such bad hay
fever that I’ll have to call in sick all the time and they’ll fire me.
    I hold Bo’s note tight. With the top
down and music going, I get comfortable for the five-hour drive.

 
     
     
    Week Two
    Beads…the
ultimate stress reliever.
    Author Unknown

 
    Chapter Eleven
     
     
    “Who’s there?” the voice snapped
sharply.
    You have got to be kidding me. My Uncle
Jimmy is bent over, his butt crack showing, using a scrub brush on the concrete
steps leading up to their shotgun apartment building. That’s the last sight I
need to see on my first night home.
    “It’s me, Hallie, Uncle Jimmy.” I yell
over the traffic behind me, trying not to look at his nasty crack.
    Uncle Jimmy is Aunt Grace’s lame old
fourth husband who really isn’t related to me at all. He came into the picture,
but was never around. He floats in and out of drunkenness.
    “This damn buggy place. Bugs all over.
Drunks throw