AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I swallow the lump in my throat because I missed her more than I care to admit.
“Hi. I’m sorry I haven’t stayed in touch. It’s been a crazy few months,” I ramble as she pulls me into her embrace. The familiar smell of her perfume makes my throat prickle with emotion.
She tucks a stray strand of grey hair behind her ear before repeating the gesture with me. “Nonsense. I understand.” As she always does. “Congratulations on graduating. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks.” I choke on the word and wipe my sweaty palm against my trousers. “I received your flowers. They’re beautiful.”
“You deserve more than flowers. Against all the odds, you did it.”
We both take a seat.
“I remember the day you told me you wanted to get your PhD,” she continues. “I think it was your first month of attending college. You only started as an undergrad and when I called you for a chat after your lecture to ask you to focus more on your class rather than boys, you told me, ‘Nora, I’m going to be a doctor one day. A girl can have fun and be smart, you know?’”
We both laugh.
I was right, but I was far too confident back then.
Sometimes, I miss that girl.
Besides, it was my first year of college, and college boys were a different breed to my eighteen-year-old mind.
“God, I was cocky, wasn’t I?” I cringe.
“You always had that edge, Claire.”
“I think my edge was sanded down and rounded out a little.”
“No, dear. It’s simply hiding. You only need to find it again.”
I hope she’s right.
There’s still a spark in my belly. I know it. It just needs a little air to bring on the flame.
“How are you? How’s everything going with the boy?” Nora’s voice is apprehensive, and I grimace. I’m honest enough with myself to admit that I hate when I’m wrong, but not with Nora. She has a way of making me feel like all my wrongs are right and mistakes are just stops in our journey.
“You’ll be surprised to hear that me and Caleb have broken up,” I say, the sarcasm dripping off my tongue with each word.
She doesn’t say anything for a moment. I feel her eyes on me as she sets her glasses further down the bridge of her nose and glares over them.
“I am surprised.”
“I know you didn’t like him.”
Her voice is even and calm. She crosses her legs at the ankle when she replies, “I never expressed an opinion on the boy either way.”
True, but I know her well enough.
“Well, it’s finished. He wasn’t worth the chance I took.”
When Nora stays silent, I see my opportunity. If I don’t ask, I’ll lose all courage and never do it.
Sensing my unease, she speaks before I can. “I hear you may be having second thoughts about the women’s shelter.”
How does she know everything?
I gape at her, my jaw going lax before snapping shut again.
“Who told you?”
