Abby let out a happy little sigh as she walked into the room and kicked off her shoes. "That went well, Abby girl," she said to herself. She plopped down in the armchair across from her bed and closed her eyes, a satisfactory little smile spread across her face.

Earlier that day, she’d managed to land a job at the town’s newspaper as a cub reporter. Of course, she’d have to pay her dues, her new boss, Cal, had told her. Turned out, paying her dues meant answering the phones, fetching coffee, emptying the trash, and a number of other menial tasks around the office – all of which she did with a smile. That was Abby... always giving her all – no matter how small the job.

So far, she really liked the new job and her boss. He had quite the sense of humor and was pretty easy on the eyes, too. Abby had yet to meet Colleen, though from the way Cal talked about her it was quite obvious the two had something going on between them. "Like I said," Abby sighed to herself, "the good ones are always taken."

She had hoped to be able to put off working for a bit longer, until she got to know her way around town a bit more, but her bills were starting to pile up a bit quicker than she had anticipated, so off to work it was.

Back in Texas, Abby had earned her degree in journalism and had planned on becoming a top-notch reporter. Of course, that was before... before her life took quite a different, much darker turn. She shook her head, trying to block out the images of her past life. Things were different now, things were definitely better.

"New place, new me," she thought to herself, determined not to let the memories of her past get her down.