Bo once told me how much he likes my hair down. I look in the mirror and make sure that every last hair is in place. I go over the plan with Wilson so he knows it, in and out. He assures me he does.

I dress in an extremely short, tight short-sleeved dress with high heels that accentuate my legs. My underarms are sweating so much I pull the old model trick of putting a mini pad in my armpit. If my plan works, I won't be in this dress for long.

After I hear a car door shut, I look out and Bo is walking up to the front porch with an armload of daisies. Orange ones that happen to be my favorite. He thinks he's going to work me. Well, I've got news for him.

Wilson opens the door as I'm walking down the stairs.

"This is where Hallie lives, right?" Bo is unsure he's at the right house. He sticks his head back out the door and looks up at the numbers on the overhang.

"Hi, Bo." I walk up, letting Wilson put his arms around me and lightly kiss me on the lips. "This is Wilson."

Wilson sticks his hand out to shake Bo's. But Bo's cold demeanor doesn't allow him to shake back.

"Hallie, can I see you outside?" His hand with the bouquet of daisies falls towards the ground.

"Sure." I agree, knowing I just hit him below the belt with my actions. "I'll be right back, babe." I look up at Wilson with an evil grin signaling his efforts have paid off, and give him a peck on the cheek.

Bo watches, and takes a step back out on the front porch, leaving little room between me and the door. His tender eyes turn into a raging bull, his eyebrows bent into a V leaving making him look like he smells something really foul. He does, another lie from me.

"Ready for dinner?" I question him while pulling down the hem of my dress.

"Is he why you have been distant the past couple week?" Bo drops his head, "Were you seeing him this whole time?"

If I didn't know better, I think there is a tear in his eye.

"Now, Bo," I say, and play the coy card on him. "No commitment, remember? Ready for dinner?"

"Are you serious?" Bo's disgust shows all over his face. He drops the daisies. "Maybe you aren't the girl that has been running with me for the past couple years. Maybe you aren't the girl who I'm really proud of. I know you're not the girl I've been falling in love with."

He walks to the car, and doesn't looks back.

I watch with a bitter look and taste in my mouth.

"Did it work?" Wilson opens the door behind me after Bo drives off. "Hallie? Did the plan work?"

"Yes," I say in a soft voice and let the tears flow down my face.

I pick up the flowers and take them upstairs. Smelling them, I lay them next to my bed. I put on his Sunday shirt and run my fingers along his note.

"Goodbye, Bo." I put my head down on the pillow. I've hurt him just like he hurt me. The only difference is I spare him. I didn't tell him I know about him and Piper. Piper transfers me to get me out of the way. He uses me when he is in town. He deserves to be hurt. Or is he relieved he doesn't have to pretend that we never slept together when I come home? Really, I save us both the trouble.

Week Ten.

Sit down, shut up and bead.

Found on the wall in a bead store.

Chapter Forty-Nine.

Not hearing from Saks, Nordstrom's or O magazine, combine with Bo, puts me in a really bad mood that even Beatrice can't get me out of. I should be happy with the hospital deal. And the four boutiques love their shipment and have sold more than anticipated.

Natalie's parents agree to let her work the Cincinnati market, and I offer her a good wage.

"I've missed you," Addy says as she cleans after dinner/dessert crowd, and makes a fresh pot of coffee. "You haven't been running?"

"I've been busy with the beads." The exhaustion of working two jobs-three, really-is beginning to take its toll on me. The past few mornings I've had to drag myself out of bed to get ready. "Plus, I've been training a girl from work because I'm moving back home next weekend."

I can't believe I only have one more week left. It's gone by so fast. Sadness blankets my heart to think I'm going to have to leave Addy, Dee, Wilson, Beatrice and Hyde Park Square.

"We sure are going to miss you around here." Addy throws Henry a treat.

"I'm sure someone new will come along shortly after to keep you company." I laugh, sipping my java and trying to sort my feelings out in my head.

"You're going to be famous and I can say I poured her coffee," Addy says.

"I'll send you an autograph." I laugh, secretly wishing her words will come true.

Henry and I walk out Cafe Beginnings. I smile up at the green house that's embraced me over the past three months.

"Wilson?" I yell down the stairs after Henry goes traipsing to find him. "Coming down."

"Hey." He is putting some clothes in a duffle bag. Henry's nose is dug all the way down in it.

"Whatcha doing?" I ask in my best little kid voice.

"I haven't taken a vacation in over five years." He's shoving all kinds of things in. Just like a man, taking perfectly clean clothes and throwing them in without folding them.

"I'm going to take the next two weeks and visit Prudence. We are going to go sightseeing and hang around the city." He zips the bag and slings it over his shoulder.

"That's great. I'm surprised Prudence is going to take off work." I've never known her to take more than a couple of days off. "She better take you to eat at Superdawg." My mouth begins to water and I can almost taste the awesome hot dog, a Chicago staple.

"Will do." He walks up the stairs with me and Henry on his heels. "Bye, buddy. See in you Chicago."

He gives Henry a few pats on the head and me a quick hug. He's gone--just like that.

The house is too quiet. Everyone important to me seems to be going in a different direction and my stomach is turning. Is this what it feels like to grow up?

With a little background music and Henry by my side, I bead all the mommy bracelets orders from the hospital, plus a few extra. With nothing but time on my hands, I need to keep my mind busy.

It doesn't take long to make all the orders, since the design is pretty easy. I call Eloise to see if I can drop them off tonight.

Eloise is pleased with the brochures for the labor and delivery bags. The space she's cleared on the counter is prime real estate for Beadnicks. I use the acrylic bracelet stands Dee gave me to hang some of the mommy bracelets on. In a clear bowl filled with white rice, I lay a few Swarovski birthstone crystal bracelets. The white background enhances their sparkle.

Knowing I made these with my own hands makes my entire body smile. I can't recall a time I've been this happy. Maybe when my parents were alive, but over the past few months I've learned not to dwell on the past. In fact, I've learned that the past can cripple our future.

Even though my friends aren't here and they are going in different directions, I know in my heart we will always be together and they are truly happy for me. I look at each one of these bracelets and feel so much gratitude.

Just think if I hadn't taken the chance I did, I wouldn't be here now. Embrace life, my dad would say. I'm beginning to understand.

"Thank you." A faint whisper crosses my lips as my chest lifts in a light breath. I can feel it. I know my parents can hear me.

"Excuse me?" Eloise leans closer. "Did you say something, dear?"

My one-sided conversation with my parents was obviously louder than a whisper.

"Oh, I was just sending up a little gratitude." I smile, looking up, imagining my parents smiling down on me.

"You know, young people don't do that enough nowadays." She peers over her glasses and touches a few of my bracelets. "You must've had a good upbringing."

"My parents died when I was young." I tell her.

An image of Aunt Grace pops into my head on the day she picked me up from school in a full-length mink coat. Half the fur was gone and it was ninety degrees and humid. I became the butt of all the jokes. After that, I was so embarrassed that I never ever had a friend over, and I was only in eighth grade.

If Eloise had only known I grew up in the seediest part of the city with cockroaches sharing my bed, that I wore secondhand clothes and that I never knew where my next meal was coming from.

"I didn't say parents." Eloise takes my hand in her hands, "You had a good upbringing. You just don't know it yet."

Slipping my hand out of hers, a little anger boils in my soul. My Beadnicks contract doesn't involve therapy.

"Not to be disrespectful," I tell her, "but my crazy aunt and uncle raised me."

Eloise howls, and I look around to find some of the patrons staring.

"Honey, don't you know the old saying? *Families are like fudge, mostly sweet, with a few nuts.' That's what makes the world go round."

I nod at Eloise's comment. She looks like she's never had a problematic day in her life. Sure, her wrinkles and gray hair make her look like she has wisdom, but she doesn't know my life. She doesn't know the years of studying I did by a naked light just so I could get a state college scholarship in order to get the heck out of Cincinnati. With my good study habits and grades, I landed myself a full ride and far enough away from home where no one knows me.

"Well, Eloise, I'm heading back to Chicago in a couple weeks. I don't anticipate you'll need anything by then." I scribble Natalie's number on the back of a business card. "Natalie will be in every couple weeks to restock sold merchandise. Or, you can call her before, if you need to. Call me if you have any business questions like the invoices."

Eloise shakes my hand. "I believe your bracelets are going to be a big seller here. I'm looking forward to doing business with you, Hallie."

Chapter Fifty.

The house is silent, at least until Henry breaks the stillness with his yipping.

I check the window and spot the mailman walking away. Eager to see what's in store- maybe an offer from Saks or O magazine-I rush to see what he left behind.

The mailbox hanging on the front porch holds a piece of paper I have been fearing for thirty days. The Chase credit card return label speaks volumes without opening it.

"Oh, Henry." I hold the bill in a vise grip.

I promised myself I wouldn't let this bead thing get me in debt. The few bracelets sold here and there through Dee and a prime real estate on the counter in a local hospital gift shop isn't near enough to pay the three-thousand-dollar Chase bill.

I remember my dad preaching to my mom, "If we can't afford to pay cash, we can't afford it." That's exactly what happened to Aunt Grace. She put everything on credit cards and, with no money to back her up, she lost it all.

All the gurus always say, "You can break the cycle, starting with you." I'm going to break the debt cycle and make something of myself. Right now, I promise myself. I knew the day I signed the Chase agreement that I shouldn't have. Even if the zero percent did catch my attention, I knew it then and I know it now.

Even Henry's kisses don't make me feel any better. I have three weeks until my minimum payment is due. Sure I can pay the low minimum payment of twenty dollars, but it will take years for me to pay it off.

Off for the weekend and with all my beading caught up, I might as well put the bill aside and start packing. At least that's something to look forward to.

I pull the boxes out of the hall closet I had stuffed in there ten weeks ago-and there it stares at me. Each perfect piece begging me to pick it up and smash it up against the fireplace. Aunt Grace's china.

I sit on the floor, cross-legged, facing the stacked china, running my fingers along the rim of the petite coffee cup. It's tempting. I read about a place where angry people can go in a padded room and throw china at the walls to vent their anger.

Why not? I tell myself. It might feel good.

I pick up the cup thinking about all the anger that lies deep within my bones: my parent's death, living with Aunt Grace, not having friends in high school, studying my youth away in order to make a future for me.

Of course I can't smash it. I picture Bo's face and pick it up again. I remember the cockroaches, pink Henry, bricks, gambling money, that flag pole with the bald eagle on top, sawed-off doors, Saks, O Magazine, Chase!

I grip the cup over my head ready to fling it for a taste of feeling free. I clinch my jaws and tears trickle like a dripping faucet down my face.

"Why me God?" I grip the cup with both hands and scream up to the ceiling.

"Why?" I scream at the top of my lungs. "A person can only take so much. I am tired. Tired of saying it can be worse. Tired of looking for the bright side."

For me this is worse.

I can't. I can't throw it. With my shoulders slump and the tiny coffee cup in my hands, I start to laugh. Laugh harder than I have in weeks. It reminds me of a crazy person. I laugh more. I imagine myself as Aunt Grace's biological daughter. It makes sense in a way. I sure seem to have gotten the crazies from her.

I hold the coffee cup towards Henry, who is cowering under the table, scared from my rant. "Maybe two sips." I shove the cup closer to him. "Can't drink much coffee out of this."

I pretend to take a couple sips with my pinky sticking up in the air.

It's then that I notice the label on the bottom. Royal Doulton England. A crowned lion sits on top a crown with Royal Doulton England printed under it. I examine every piece. All twelve place settings, gravy bowls, platter, the whole nine yards. All in immaculate shape. There's no way Aunt Grace would've been able to afford real china.

I have to admit, it's cute china and with my curiosity up, I Google Royal Doulton.

Antique? Circa 1910? I comb through the Google entries on the screen. Could Aunt Grace's china possibly be worth something?

"Please, God, let there be three thousand dollars here," I whisper.

I jump up and pack the china in an empty boxes.