Prologue
It was a cold and snowy night, Julie Frances sat staring out the window and pondering her future or current lack of. She was stuck in a dead end job and her personal life was a mess. It was on that night, she made the decision that something had to change.
First off she had to start living her life for herself. She had to stop worrying about the way everyone else felt . Secondly she needed to start taking risks . If she wanted something she had to go for it.
She had always wanted to be a writer but never seemed to have the ambition to finish anything she had started . She had at least twenty beginnings but absolutely no endings. She opened up the drawer in which she kept all her unfinished stories and sighed. The pile seemed insurmountable but now Julie was determined to finish at least some of them. If she wanted to get published she would need a completed manuscript and she was determined to get published.
Julie picked up one of the stories and began to read. There was not much there. Only thing that she had was the description of a club that could have come straight out of a 1920's mob movie . The room was done all in black and white and you could hear the sound of swing music playing in the background. I guess this is as a good a story to start with as any other other in the pile she thought to herself . She started thinking about how she could expand on this simple description of a room into and entire story. Maybe she should tell a tale about the mafia and make this club their base of operation. What if the story was about an ex-mafia member turned police informant? That idea sounded even better than the first . Somewhere int the story the mobsters would confront him and they would bring him to this club to do so.
Suddenly Julie was excited, she grabbed a pencil and some paper and started to brainstorm. The mob had been a popular topic for books maybe this book would be her ticket into the world of publishing. That was if she could finish this one this time . It was going to be a lot of hard work but Julie was determined to.
Chapter 1
It was a few weeks after that faithful night, everything seemed to be looking up for Julie. The mob story she had started that night was almost completely finished and she had even met a man.
Julie and James met at the book store one evening. The store had been having a poetry reading and James had been one of the poets. His poem about the death of his father and how it had affected him had moved her almost to tears. At that moment, Julie did something she had never done in the entire twenty six years of her life. She approached James. Two weeks ago approaching him would not have even been an option but that was the old Julie. The new Julie took chances. She wanted something and she went out and got it. This is why at that very moment she was standing in front of a complete stranger about to tell him that she absolutely loved his poetry.
Before she had the chance to speak, he said, " Hi, do you come here often?"
All of a sudden Julie realized that he was talking to her. " No I saw a poster and thought it might make a pleasant evening."
"So was this as pleasant an experience as you thought it would be?" he asked with a huge grin on his face.
"The evening has just begun so it is still too early to tell but so far so good."
" I know that I am being extremely forward but I have to ask would you like to get a drink with me? I know this quaint little bar a few blocks from here that is perfect for talking and getting to know someone."
"That sounds like something I would enjoy."
They walked the few blocks to the bar . James was right. It was a quaint , little place. It was less a bar and more of a lounge. There were over- stuffed couches against the walls and a mahogany bar in the center of the room. After getting beers at the bar they flopped down on one of the couches. "Have you been writing long?"
"Only about a year. It's a kind of therapy for me since my dad passed away. Instead of sitting on a shrink's couch and paying them to listen to me spill my guts .I write my poems .It is a lot cheaper way of dealing with my emotions."
" Your poetry is so well written I thought you were going to say it was your profession and you had been doing it for years. " Julie was amazed how in just one year his poetry was not only extremely well written but also extremely insightful. James' ability to understand and also convey his feelings after hid father's death was extraordinary.
" No I am definitely not a professional writer. I am glad that you like my poetry. It is good to know that it touched someone." James smiled. "It is therapy for me but it is great to know that it might help someone else deal with whatever it is that they are dealing with in their own life."
" James, you are an extraordinary man. That you are able to deal with your father's death and everything that has happened to you in the past year in such a calm and rational matter is amazing to me . Me, I would have been a complete wreck."
" You learn how to cope pretty quickly when you are practically forced to. Someone in my family had to be the strong one. There were arrangements to be made but enough about me. Tell me about yourself."
"Well there is not much to tell. My name is Julie. I'm a twenty six year old aspiring writer. Currently I'm working in a retail store and feel like I'm just going through the motions. About two weeks ago, I decided I needed to make some changes in my life so I opened the drawer with all of my unfinished manuscripts and decided it was about time I finished a few of them."
"How is that plan of yours going?"
