See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)
MIchelle Graves
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the help of some very dear friends. Regina and Wendy, the two of you listened to me endlessly ramble about make believe people for months. You were there to help me when I got stuck and made me believe that I could finish this. The two of you were able to look past all of the typos and see the real story. I will never be able to thank you enough. Without the two of you, this never would have been completed. I love your faces.
I want to thank my parents who always encouraged me to be myself, even if that self was a completely weirdo. To my daughter, who always helps me see the bright side of things, I hope you never lose your optimism. To my husband, my life would not be the beautiful journey it is without you. You sir, are the very best thing that ever happened to me.
I want to thank two of the most amazing teachers a person could have ever have. Melanie Hazen and Maria Uffelman, the two of you taught me the love of literature. Because of that, I am forever indebted. Oh and to Ms. Uff, your don’t use ‘you’ speech has stuck with me all of these years.
To Belinda Boring and Lacey Weatherford, thank you for helping me when I felt like I was drowning. The endless messages will slow down eventually, I promise.
To Ali, my friend from down under, your enthusiasm and love of Kennan and Izzy drive me to be a better writer. To Charissa, Dianne, and Susan thank you for supporting me even in the early days. Without having read a sample of my writing the three of you believed in me. Your faith in me is humbling. To Betsy, you are the best kind of fairy godmother!
And thank you, readers, whoever you might be for taking a chance on me. I hope you enjoy the story and love these characters as much as I do. Their journey is just beginning and I can’t wait to see where it will take them.
**********
ONE
I dreaded this time of year. The onslaught of memories, painful enough to choke out any happiness, always seemed to pull me out of my typically cheerful normalcy. Seventeen years ago, before my life completely changed, I loved the season. Back then I was a kid living in LA. No, I don’t mean the one in California. I am talking Lower Alabama, where I lived in a no name town best known for its peanut and cotton crops. This was all before both of my parents died in a car crash. Back before I was shipped to what I considered Siberia. Back before my Grams died. Now this time of year just brought back all of those memories of the things I have lost.
“Izzy, get your head outta your ass and out the door!” yelled Mike, pulling me out of my reverie.
“Where am I going this time, Mike? Let me guess, the Loop, right?" I asked him barely waiting for the answer.
“Back to the Loop, Iz! Don’t complain about the meandering tourists either. You know damn well as I do that most of the big offices are down thattaway.”
Mike is a burly man in his late fifties. He was raised in Tennessee before he joined the Navy way back when. So, much like me, he had a lingering accent and a plethora of southern euphemisms. Mike might be brusque with the demeanor of a bulldog, but he was always fair. He was sort of my surrogate father.
Did I mention that I am a bike messenger? Or what I like to refer to as an information transference specialist. I spent entirely too much time alone. That combined with an overactive imagination and a general lack of quality sleep proved to be a bad combination.
I rushed out the door on my bike to make the pick-up and delivery. Our office was conveniently located just outside of the Loop. This time of year was the worst for trying to navigate the congested area. The Loop was where everything was as far as tourists seem to be concerned. The whole of Chicago was amazing to me, but most everyone that comes to visit stays in the Loop and on Lakeshore. Then there are the few boneheads that decided to spend their entire trip on the Magnificent Mile. Don’t get me wrong, at Christmas time, I loved the Magnificent Mile. But why come from hundreds if not thousands of miles away just to shop? I didn’t get it.
I got to my destination fairly quick like. It was one of our regular clients, a law office that needed signed papers hand delivered to another law office. “Sign this before my client demands more money and then decides to sue your pants off” kind of things. I tried to keep my nose out of it. I just plugged in my ear buds and listened to whatever music fit my mood at the moment. After the pick up from Sherrie, my all time fav secretary, I headed down another couple of blocks to the package’s destination. Two blocks! Seemed like they could walk the durn thing down themselves. I guess if they did that, I wouldn’t have a job though.
I locked my bike up to the nearest pole and headed into the behemoth of a building It had recently been bought by some foreign company and we had just started transferring information for them in the past couple of months. Typically, I did not care who I delivered to, but this company had some of my fellow couriers talking and that had piqued my curiosity. Apparently the guy at the top of the food chain was a real piece of work. Like my Grams would have said, “It is none of my never mind.” I got paid to pedal, and that was it.
I hit the button on the elevator and waited for it to make its long ascent. I was not such a fan of elevators, or closed spaces for that matter. I looked down at the package. Figured, my delivery was at the very top of the building. I sucked it up as the elevator "dinged" and the doors closed announcing my impending doom. After enough stops to almost throw me into a full on panic attack, the elevator finally made it to the top. I stepped out and took my first deep breath in what felt like an eternity. I quickly composed myself and made my way over to the reception desk.