AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I'm sorry he's gone," Chantal offers as her eyes glass over.
"It's OK." I shrug as I take another sip of coffee. "It was his choice. And, as my mom keeps saying, his loss."
"Definitely his loss," she smiles. "Listen, I hope you don't mind, but since you decided on Accounting, I put in a good word with my boss. Told him how smart and responsible and mature you are. He said once you have some accounting classes under your belt, he'd like to interview you. He's always looking for new people to hire. You can still go to school and work remotely for a year or two if you'd like to slowly enter the world of consulting."
"That'd be amazing," I gush.
"And when you graduate, maybe you'll end up in Denver," she offers with a slight raise of her shoulder.
Denver.
Denver sounds good.
Denver sounds like a fresh start.
"Maybe."
After coffee and copious amounts of girl talk, Chantal leaves and I grab my stuff. As I make my way to the truck parked around the corner, a blinding ray of sunlight slashes through the clouds, warms my face.
I stop walking long enough to look up, watch the grey sky disappear behind the sun's blazing light.
When I start walking again, that's when I see him leaning against his yellow Jeep, arms crossed over his chest.
Matt.
I slowly walk over to him as he pushes off the front of his car, meets me halfway. His golden-brown hair is short, no longer falling across his forehead when he moves.
"Jen."
"What are you doing here?" I ask as I readjust the strap of my backpack on my shoulder. It's not that I'm not happy to see him, but he reminds me of...
"I came to check on you."
"I'm fine," I force out a laugh. "You didn't have to drive all this way. You could have called. Besides, aren't you supposed to be leaving for California soon?"
He nods his head. "Yeah, we leave tomorrow."
"Then why are you here?" I raise my eyebrows at him.
"I couldn't leave without saying goodbye to you," he clears his throat. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, and it makes me think of his brother. "I needed to make sure you're going to be OK."
My throat tightens and my eyes heat. "I'm going to be fine."
"If you need anything," his voice cracks, "anything at all, you'll call me, right?"
I shake my head. "No. You need to focus on your family, and I have to learn how to stand on my own two feet."
He pulls his hands out of his pockets and wraps them around me. My hands slide around his midsection as I let out a tired sob. He holds me while the sun beats down on us, until the tears run dry, and my chest stops heaving in pain.
"I'm going to miss you," I choke out.
"I'm going to miss you, too," he says as he tucks a stray strand of blond behind my ear. "But whatever happens, wherever we end up, you're still my best friend Jenny Kearns. You always will be."
"Same," I smile as I wipe the tears off my cheeks.
"I am officially enrolled in community college, and I have a job interview when we get there." He takes a step back from me.
"You're not going to try and get into UCLA? Play basketball?" I ask.
