Chapter 1
The sun was hot on Christie’s back, baking her sensitive skin. She sighed and adjusted her hair to cover her neck. She knew that she must be sunburned already, and she had only been out for only about ten minutes or so. The sun in Phoenix was brutal and it was something that Christie was finding to be quite the adjustment.
The weather was quite different here from where she grew up in Minnesota. Of course, Christie knew that it got hot in the summer, but she had no idea. The heat was searing. Sometimes she wished she had stayed home.
She had moved about three months ago, and Christie knew that living in Phoenix was going to be a huge change. But, jobs were hard to come by and when an opportunity came up for a new journalist in Phoenix, that's where Christie went. So, she packed up and moved into a small rented apartment in a house a couple miles from downtown.
It wasn't just the climate that was different, the size and pace of the city was also a huge change. She grew up in Anoka, a really small town where she pretty much knew everyone, and people were always so friendly. When she first arrived in Phoenix, Christie didn't know a soul.
the move was pretty much all or nothing, and it was a climate and pace that Christie had had to adjust to damn quickly to survive. Christie looked up as the Valley Metro bus rumbled past. She glanced at the time and dipped her head again, scrolling through the music in her playlist. Her bus wasn’t here yet, but that was okay. She was on time for work.
That first week had been the most difficult. Given where she came from, Christie had no clue about the distance and time she needed to get from place to place. As a result, she had first been way too late for work, and then the next day way too early after she panicked and took an earlier bus. It was a delicate balancing act and it took Christie a few days to really get the hang of it.
Christie shut her eyes waiting for the bus, and clicked on the song of her choice. It had been a busy few weeks, that much was for sure. She had moved cities, found an apartment, and threw herself into her new job. Her determination to succeed was only stronger now. She was more determined to make it than she ever had been before, now that she had gotten a taste of the life she wanted. She had left home feeling heartbroken, but determined. She had just gone through a bad breakup, and she promised herself that she would never let a man dictate her life again.
It was her life, and her choices and she wasn’t about to stay in a small town and a dead-end job because of a man who was threatened by her ambition. So she had applied for work and took the first contract that she could get. She had jumped on a train, bags in hand, ready to leave her old life behind.
That had been three months ago and so much had changed. Christie found herself loving the pace of the city more and more. It was fast and it was exciting. It was everything that she had ever hoped for. The pounding rhythm in her heart matched that of the street, and she threw herself into every challenge.
She hadn’t made many friends yet, but her colleagues were nice enough, and she didn’t mind. She had no sort of love interest and while she couldn’t ignore the sting of loneliness in the cooler evening air, she found it easy to push it aside in the crush of the day.
Besides, she didn’t miss her ex. She just missed the companionship. She missed having someone to talk to, although she knew it wasn’t worth compromising her future or her happiness. No man was worth that. If she found anyone again, she wasn’t going to just settle. He needed to be someone special and Christie was yet to go out enough to find anyone who fit the bill.
The bus pulled up and Christie stood, sliding through the doors and making her way to a seat after scanning her card. She sat down and stared out of the window, watching the world pass her by. The bus was slightly crowded, but not too bad. She felt a woman sit next to her and she turned, gave a polite smile, and turned back to the window.
Truth be told, work was consuming her life, and Christie didn’t mind. She wasn’t in a permanent position after all, and she needed to prove herself to her boss. It was a provisional hire to see how well she would do in the company and how well she would fit in with her colleagues.
She had just under four months to prove herself. After that, the decision would be made as to whether or not to keep her on permanent staff. Christie was keeping her fingers crossed for a full-time position, and was working as hard as she could to get there.
The bus turned a corner and she smiled as the building came into view. It was tall and imposing and yet it made Christie’s heart beat just a little faster. She loved her job. She didn’t know how many people could say that with any sort of honesty or conviction, but Christie could. She enjoyed her job and she wanted to do it.
Three years of journalism school and two more languishing in a dead-end office where the best story in the paper was the one about the church bake sale. She had longed for more, longed for a job that had the opportunity for real stories. She was a journalist at heart and she was determined to follow that dream, chase that passion and make it a reality.
Her heart burnt, passionate and sure that she was on the right path. She loved every part of her job, even the terrible admin work that left everyone grumbling. She grumbled alongside them, not wanting to put anybody out, but in her heart of hearts, she knew this was just where she belonged.
The city and her job had staked a claim on her heart, and who was Christie to deny them?
The bus arrived at her stop and she squeezed past everyone, stepping lightly out and onto the street. A few more people spilled out after her, before the doors shut with a sickly sounding wheeze, and the bus took off down the street again.
Christie took a deep breath and realized that, on some level, she still felt as nervous as she had the first time she had gone to work. She supposed this had something to do with the fact that she still didn’t know if they were going to keep her on staff or not.
Fixing a smile on her face, Christie walked through the office. It was bustling and busy and just how she liked it. Christie felt her heart spike, pleasure rushing through her. It was like seeing an old friend, comforting and welcoming. It was like everything in the world was right again.
She greeted her colleagues with a polite smile and a wave, before making her way to her desk. She put down her things and looked around, thinking about how lucky she was to be working in a place as fantastic as this. She flicked on her laptop and waited for it to load up her documents.
As she did, she opened the folder on her desk and flicked through story ideas. She’d written a few for the paper in the last three months. None of them were particularly ground-breaking, but she thought that they were pretty decent, at the very least.
She hadn’t been given much opportunity to take on the big stories, but she assumed that would come with time and experience. Being impatient wasn’t going to help her at all. Taking a deep breath, Christie got straight into her work.
She didn’t look up until at least an hour later, when she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Christie turned around with a start to see Jane grinning at her. Jane was about Christie’s age; she had short blond hair that was spiked up, and she wore glasses in a delicate frame. Her eyes were always alive with mischief, and she was the closest thing to a friend that Christie had in this city. In fact, she appreciated Jane’s friendship more than Jane could have ever imagined.
Christie didn’t have much of a social life, and Jane would drag her to fairs and bars and insist that she get out more and explore the city. Christie was sure that at this point, she had seen more of the nightlife than most locals had, and it was all thanks to Jane’s good influence.
“Hi Jane. How are you?” Christie smiled.
“I’m doing great.” Jane was grinning, “I heard you have an appointment with the boss later. Nervous?”
Christie laughed, and she couldn’t help shake her head. Jane wasn’t supposed to know about that meeting. She wasn’t surprised that her friend had found out anyway. Jane always had her finger on the ball after all.
“I guess I am. You know you’re meant to be keeping that quiet.”
Jane shrugged, “You know what it’s about?”
Christie shook her head, “Not for sure, but I suppose it’s about my contract.” She shifted her weight, feeling nervousness grip her, twisting her stomach again. She swallowed and managed a smile.
“You’ll do great.” Jane smiled, supremely confident. Christie wished that she had that kind of confidence. Jane smiled again, “I better get going. Good luck. You’re telling me all about it after work.”
“I am?” Christie smiled, amused.
“You are. Meet me at the Orion, okay? Six sharp.”
And, not giving Christie any chance to protest, she wandered away back to her work station. Christie couldn’t help but smile. Without Jane, she’d probably never get the opportunity to go out and be social. She turned back to her work, trying not to focus on the meeting. She’d been working hard to put it out of her mind all day. It didn’t do any good to be nervous about it. Whatever was to happen would happen regardless of whether or not she had spent all day stressing about it.
For the rest of the day, she buried herself in her work, sorting through emails and filing that had gotten neglected throughout the week. However, despite her best efforts to prepare herself, four o’clock still came far too quickly for Christie’s taste and she could practically feel the worry in her stomach.
Swallowing down her nervousness, Christie took a deep breath, smiled and grabbed a book and pen in case she needed to take notes. She did her best to keep her expression steady as she walked to Mr. Casey’s office. He was a nice man, after all. She was sure whatever he wanted to talk about was perfectly reasonable. She was probably stressing far too much and over-reacting in general. She always had been a stress head.
It was with shaking fingers that she knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Mr. Casey’s voice boomed out through the door and Christie felt her legs turn to lead.
Still, she reminded herself to smile as she stepped into the office, “Mr. Casey, you wanted to see me?”
“Christie…yes, thank you for coming.” He turned to his notes, “Take a seat please…oh, and…shut the door behind you.”