"Hallie!" The balcony door flies open just enough so I can see the burning cake behind Prudence. "Get in here and celebrate your success."

Exchanging a quick glance with Bo, I go in and join the party. Bo's gentle hand slides down my arm to catch my finger tips and tug. Oh, how I've wanted to feel his hands on me.

"I need to tell you something before you go," His hazel eyes sparkle and his hand is warm.

"I have to go in."

I don't want to hear about how he and Piper are a big fat couple. To hear him rub it in my face while turning the knife in my back.

"I really do need to talk to you," he says before he let go of my hand.

A vision of him holding my hand and walking in together to blow out my candles makes my head spin.

I don't know if it's the booze or Bo, but the feeling I get from his touch is better than any high I've ever known.

Three months is going to feel like three years. I'm with these three ladies four nights out of the week. We talk on the phone at least once a day. The next three months are destined to be hell.

"We got you a little something." Georgia smiles and hands me a yellow box.

I laugh, untying the silk ribbon because I know what's inside. I pull out the rose quartz laughing Buddha.

"I don't know if you remember but if you put him in the east side of your new apartment he'll bring you luck, health and happiness." Lucy points to Beck. "See it helped me."

It was my idea to give each other a Buddha on special occasions. I love feng shui. I made our apartment as spiritually free-floating as I could.

I had a map of our bagua and placed all sorts of good-luck Chinese pieces around to create a flow to our chi. With the help of water features, bamboo, candles, coins, and red ribbons, I've created a harmony to our apartment. Now I'm going to have to do this all over again!

Only one problem, there isn't enough feng shui in the world to give me peace about revisiting my past.

"I want to thank each and every one of you for coming to see me off," I say. "I didn't realize it took me leaving for us all to get together."

Someone yells out how they came for the free drinks, making everyone laughs.

"Very funny. Seriously, I couldn't ask for better friends. I'm not going to bother you with opening all these wonderful going away gifts. Besides, Lucy told me that I can't move anything because once you move out of a place, you can't move back in for three years."

"Let me guess, Granny?" someone calls out.

"Yes. Granny." I smile at Lucy who acts shy and innocent. "And I'm only going to be gone a few months, not years."

Her Granny's superstition is trickling in all of us.

"Thank you." I whisper in Prudence's ear. "I can't believe you put this together." I step back and put my hands together and bow. "Namaste."

"You are welcome." She takes my hand. Her nose curls in disgusts. "What is that?"

I look down at my right knuckle. A big red bump the size of a dime. It sorta looks like a boil. I put my finger on it. It doesn't hurt. It quickly leaves my mind when I pick up the drink from the floating waitress who's obviously trying to dodge me.

"Are you okay?" Prudence can tell something isn't sitting well with me.

"I feel a little bit queasy." I put my hand on the person closest to me. Those beautiful hazel eyes stare back at me. I gush like a school-girl. "Bo."

"I'll take her home," Bo says.

He walks me to the door and I want to to protest, but nothing will come out. I can't leave my party this early. I want to stay and be with my girlfriends. The butterflies, in my stomach, float around when I imagine three months without them. They are my family. They're there when I need them. I know it sounds silly, but sometimes I just want nothing more than to be around them.

It's nice to be able to sit and not talk or even feel like we have to talk. There aren't too many friendships around like this.

"Come on, Hallie." Bo prompts me to keep walking.

"I can't leave." I babble like an idiot, "I want to stay here and look at them."

"You have a big day ahead of you." Bo is the voice of reason and the picture of perfection. "You need to sleep off the alcohol you've consumed."

"Hallie, you're only going to be gone for three months." Of course Georgia has to be the one to stand up to me. The "mom" of the group. "We're still going to have our girls' night in and we're going to visit." She cups her hands around my face and kisses the tip of my nose.

"We love you." Prudence stands behind her.

"Bo is right." Lucy looks at Bo and back to me. "You've had a little too much to drink and you need to go to bed so you can drive safely tomorrow."

With my head tucked like a good little girl, I let Bo lead the way.

Chapter Ten.

A piece of paper next to my pillow scratches me when I roll over to shield my eyes from the sun dotting through the blinds.

Ignoring the gigantic red bump staring at me from my knuckle, I read the note.

Hallie, Please call me as soon as you get settled in Cincinnati. It's really important that I talk to you.

Bo Embarrassment creeps across my cheeks as I slowly remember the turn of events from last night. The ever-so-well-mannered Bo tucked me into bed, fully clothed, and talked me into sleeping off my drunken stupor.

If Bo wants me to call him as soon as I get settled in Cincinnati, then I haven't totally scared him off.

It's something I'm going to have to think about. I'm not sure I'll be able to grant him his wish. Its bad enough I have to go back to face my past. I'm not about to let my past slide into my future. I'm going to get these three months over and come back to my life.

Hesitant, it takes every bone in my body to put the first pair of shoes in the waiting boxes.

Summer items, shoes and a few lay-around outfits are the only items I'm going to pack. I figure when I'm not at work, I'll be depressed in my bed, jogging, or on my five-hour journeys back to visit my peeps in Chicago.

"I don't think your Solara is going to hold much more." Lucy picks up my Prada sandals and dangles them in the air. "I don't think these are going to fit."

"If they don't, I can hold them." I snatch them and slip them back in the bag.

"Hello?" Georgia and Prudence announce their entrance.

"Isn't she gone yet?" Georgia pats her pregnant belly. "I'm ready to have fun without her," she sarcastically blurted.

"I guess Sam will let anyone up, huh?" I laugh walking down the hall.

"We came to see you off." Tears build up in Prudence's eyes. "I can't believe I have to boycott Gucci for three months."

"Are you tearing up because you won't be shopping?" I tease. "You can come to the Cincinnati store and pick out whatever you like."

I hug her tight and hope it will make the ache go away. But it doesn't. It only deepens.

"How soon can I come?" Lucy asks.

There's an unwritten bond between us. Lucy is my rock, Prudence is my fun and Georgia is my voice of reason.

Georgia hands me the most beautiful feng shui book tied with a pretty red polka dot ribbon. "You need all the good chi that you can get," she says.

Man, she's right. These days, I'd take all the luck I can 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 up and I gotta clean it up." He throws the brush in the stale bucket of water. "Step over me. Your Aunt Grace is upstairs."

It makes me laugh how he always calls her "my" Aunt Grace.

The stench of the building forces me to breathe in and out of my mouth. Maybe I should've gone to my new apartment before I came to visit. Maybe I shouldn't have come at all. Not only will I have to plug in my Clapper as soon as I get there, but I won't sleep for all the night terrors I'll have about Uncle Jimmy's nasty crack.

They sure could fix this place up, I stand in the tattered building where I grew up. The three-story building has total of twelve apartments that Aunt Grace is responsible for.