See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)(17)

“I was just thinking, we are together until death do us part, for better or worse. Just the other night I was making fun of Marky, yet here we are. Just as committed. Oh how I wish I could eat my snarky comments now. Universe one, Izzy zero." I let out another snicker as I made my way to the bathroom before Kennan could say anything.

I freshened up quickly and moved myself toward the kitchen. There I found Kennan placing two plates on the table that were piled with eggs, bacon, and buttery toast. Sitting on the table was a present wrapped with a beautiful green bow. I wrapped my green sweater more tightly around me as I sat down. I still had not come to grips on how exactly to reconcile the two Kennans.

In fact, it was getting harder for me to stay mad at him. In all of the ways that mattered, he had always been there for me. He saved me from that hellish trunk all of those years ago. He saved me from my own stupidity back in Chicago even if his methods sucked. And sitting here, right in front of me, wrapped in a beautiful green bow, was proof that I was more than an assignment. Our friendship mattered.

I wiped at my eyes trying to hide the tears that threatened to fall. I knew myself well enough to know that I would not yet be able to fully trust him. But I decided to end the "Kennan-is-a-stupid-head-liar-face" pity party playing out in my head. No matter how amazing the decorations and cake were. That ridiculous green bow was proof that part of that friendship was as real to him as it still was to me.

I looked at Kennan as he sat across from me. He was dressed in a thermal layered under a buttoned up red flannel over worn jeans and hiking boots. He looked like a super sexy version of the Brawny Man. Once again I had to tamp down my hormones. Still not ready to look too closely at that.

I looked at him, then I glanced back at my present. I was anxious to open it, but in the light of everything it seemed like I should not be able to have this sort of easy happiness. I bit into my perfectly burnt bacon, and looked back up to Kennan who was looking as anxious as I was for me to open it.

“It isn’t a magical wombat or anything equally weird is it?"

I felt justified in asking. I mean, it could be. Kennan over here was like a zillion years old but still looked thirty. Magical wombats seemed a viable option.

“No it is not a magical wombat. They have not been around for at least three hundred years,” he said as he bit into one of his eight pieces of toast. I looked at him blankly as he started that deep rumbly laugh that I loved. The spark of amusement in his eyes after an emotionally charged few days was a welcome sight.

I shook my head as I reached for the box with trepidation. I opened the box to find a tablet with a note on top. It was in Kennan’s elegant scrawl:





Dearest Izzy,

Perhaps this may not be the best birthday you have ever had. I fear that I have taken you away from everything and left you with nothing in return. I attempted to bring the things that mattered most to you, but in the end I don’t really know what that is. In an effort to keep my distance and give you privacy, I fear that I only know the basics of what matters most to you. You have never been one to hold value in material things, but I know how much you love your Jane Austen and Bronte based movies. I loaded all of them that I could find onto this tablet. Every version I could uncover. I know it is not much in the grand scheme of all that is coming your way. I just want you to find some happiness. I am so very glad that you were born. You have brought sunshine into my otherwise monotonous world. I pray to the gods that the sun is not taken from you. So, happy birthday. Yeah.

Yours eternally,

Kennan





P.S. I will watch one of these horrible movies with you for your birthday. Your choice. But I reserve the right to make fun of them.





I glanced at Kennan and for the first time he looked sheepish. Honestly, it was the first time he had ever expressed any emotion other than happiness toward me. I giggled with delight as I powered up the tablet and noticed not only were all of my favorite movies loaded on to it, he had also added hundreds of books. Officially, the best present ever.

I squealed and jumped up from my seat, rushing to hug him. He almost fell backwards in his chair from the surprise and force of my hug. He was my Kennan, the same as he had always been. He looked down at me with a slow heat in his eyes that made me realize, perhaps things weren’t as they always had been. I quickly got myself back under a semblance of control and sat back down to finish my breakfast while doing a little happy dance.

Breakfast ended with Kennan gathering up the dishes and doing them while I sat drinking coffee and thinking of what to do next.

“Kennan?”

“Yeah, Iz?”

“I can’t leave her there, no matter what she said. You know that right?”

He sighed heavily as if I spoke the very words he had been dreading since the start of this whole thing.

“It won’t be easy, Lass, I mean kid." He looked at me with a sly grin as he continued. “You know she is locked up in a max security building run by the scum of the earth. You know we could very well die or you could get captured in the process, making all she did to protect you pointless, right?”

“I do, but I also know that I can’t live with myself if I sit here hiding while she suffers. I don’t think she is the only one there either Kennan. How can I live with myself if I just let it go on? That would make me just as bad as them. I am not saying we should go right now. I am saying that eventually it has to happen. I know that I am ill prepared. I am not suggesting a suicide mission or anything. I just need a plan of action, like always. I need something to work towards. Hell, I have not even had another vision yet, so I don’t even know what to expect there. Just promise me, promise me we will try.”