Read Online See How She Runs by Michelle Graves - Free Book Online Page A

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