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feel excited inside, something alive stirring inside of her. It was something that had been asleep for a long time, now alive deep in her belly. She had no idea who it was on the screen, but he was extremely attractive. Freakin’ hot.
    Guilt made her turn her face away from the TV. She had no right to have those feelings. They had died a year ago, buried forever in California.
    “Are you freaking kidding me?” Josie grabbed Leslie’s shoulders and shook her. “I’m neighbors with Evelyn Frock?”
    “Yeah.” Leslie shrugged. “It’s no biggie. I just write stories.”
    “So, you’re a billionaire,” Amber said after a moment, finally putting the pieces all together.
    Leslie laughed and shook her head. “Just a millionaire,” she laughed.
    “Damn! That’s a ton of money.” Amber blinked several times, trying to grasp the situation through the liquor-infused fog she was trying to navigate.
    “Who’s he?” Leslie asked, pointing to the guy on the screen who was now fist-fighting with a werewolf or something convoluted like that.
    “Conrad Danes?” Josie’s eyes darted to the TV. “Wait, I have like a million things I want to ask. No one knows?”
    “Come on,” Leslie groaned. “Be cool about it, Josie. Don’t freak out. It’s part of the reason I don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to be different than who I am.”
    “Okay,” Josie nodded. “Where you Evelyn before… before… you know?”
    “Yeah.” Leslie leaned back into the couch, sinking into it as she hugged a pillow, wondering if she’d made a mistake telling the two of them. She guarded her privacy with the kind of fiery dedication that most people guarded their darkest secrets with. She didn’t want to be the focus of the media. She knew if they did find out who she was, it would be impossible to find a quiet little corner of the world to hide in. She eyed her friend for a moment. “You can’t tell anyone.”
    “My lips are sealed,” Josie said, grinning like a child on Christmas morning.
    “I’m serious,” Leslie growled.
    “So am I,” Josie swore.
    “Me too,” Amber said. “Man, that guy is hot. Look! That wolf just ripped off Conrad’s shirt!”
    Josie snorted. “I’d drink a few from that six pack.
    Leslie burst out laughing. “Only you, Josie.”
    “Hey, what can I say? I appreciate fine art.”
    “One thing, about my job… don’t blackmail me. Ever.” Leslie warned them as her eyes swung back to the television. “Even my parents don’t know.”
    “We won’t say a thing,” Josie said vehemently. “I’m honored you even told us.”
    “I trust you guys.”
    “This is so cool,” Amber giggled, shaking her head as they watched Conrad Danes fight off another werewolf. “We got a secret, famous friend.”
    “Don’t forget rich,” Josie joked.
    “Don’t forget it’s a secret,” Leslie warned.
     

Chapter 5
     
    “I have something I want to ask you guys,” Leslie said the following morning. She’d woken early and laid in bed while her friends slept on the couch in the living room. For the first time in a very long time, the apartment felt like home to her, albeit small and not much of anything. She’d made friends and trusted them enough to share her secret. She hadn’t done it because she was drunk. She knew why she done it.
    She’d been mourning the loss of Michael and sort of forgot to keep living herself. The one thing he had wanted her to do – go out and live, take on the world. Instead, she’d hidden herself away. It was time to start living again, or maybe try.
    But how?
    Maybe she needed to go on an adventure. Do something new, something beyond the seven-block radius of her apartment. “You can say no,” she said nervously as she handed them each a plate of bacon and eggs. “I won’t mind…”
    Amber stuffed a piece of bacon in her mouth while Josie held a piece of toast midair, ready to dip it into her sunny-side-up egg.
    After a moment of internal debating, Leslie figured it