Read Online Pieces by Michelle D. Argyle - Free Book Online Page B

friends with a guy and not fall for him when he was as hot and nice as Finn. She had known from the very beginning what might happen if she allowed her relationship with him to go anywhere beyond friendly café chit-chat, but how could she possibly call it all off? She would have to be as open with him as she could about what she felt for Jesse.
    Now at the airport, her mother pulled up to the unloading bay and popped the trunk as Naomi unfastened her seatbelt.
    “Do you want me to help you get your bags checked in?”
    Naomi laughed. “No, Mom, I think I can manage. I’ve done it how many times now?”
    Her mother shrugged. “A few, I guess.” She leaned forward, as if to give Naomi a hug. “I’ll just—”
    “You can help me get them out of the trunk.” Naomi opened her door and walked around to the rear of the car.
    Her mother walked around a moment later, her face solemn. “I’m going to miss you, sweetheart.”
    Naomi paused, her hand wrapped around the handle of her largest bag. Evelyn had always called her sweetheart. She wasn’t sure if it was a comfort or a burden to have her mother use the same term now.
    Pulling on the bag, she thought about that day on the beach when she threw the shell into the waves, how smothered she had felt. Even now, she felt strangled as her mother helped her hoist the heavy bag out of the trunk. She wasn’t sure she should keep coming home for summer break, unless Jesse stayed in Berkeley, of course, and there was a possibility of seeing him. He hadn’t texted her since the two he had sent, and she hadn’t dared try to see him again. She was sure he would let her know when he was released.
    She looked down at her purse hanging on her shoulder and thought about the passport tucked in her wallet. This was the first time she would be traveling with it. She had found it buried in her desk at home, squished between some art projects. She knew it wouldn’t be an easy choice to use it, if that time ever came.
    “I’ll miss you too, Mom.” She set her bag down and hugged her mother, making sure to hold on a little longer than normal before letting go.
    “Promise me you’ll let me know if you need anything,” her mother said, cupping Naomi’s face in her hands as if she were ten years old and boarding her first flight. “I remember how intense everything is as you get into the higher classes, even at the undergraduate level.”
    “Yes, Mom, I will. I promise.”
    “I’ll make sure your account gets steady installments.” She raised an eyebrow. “Although you spent very little last semester. You know it’s there to use, right?”
    Naomi almost laughed. The money had added up over the past two years. She could buy a brand new car off the lot and shop every night for a year before it even started to dwindle. She shrugged and then realized the money meant everything to her parents. They worked hard to earn it, and to be able to give it to their daughter was obviously a big deal. “I appreciate it,” she said in earnest. “I’ll try to spend more. Or something.”
    Her mother laughed. “You don’t have to spend it right away. I’m making sure you want me to keep sending you more.”
    “I can always save it, yes.” For a moment, panic seized her as she thought about what might happen if she didn’t have that money, even though she didn’t spend much of it at the moment. Perhaps, subconsciously, that was why she didn’t spend it.
    “That’s good,” her mother answered. “I spoke with your father about setting up a portfolio for you. When you come home next summer, we’ll get you in some classes so you can start learning how to invest.”
    “Great, Mom.” They stared at each other in awkward silence until Naomi turned to grab her other bag and secured it to the top of the rolling luggage already out. “Bye. I love you. Tell Dad I love him too.”
    “I will. He’s sorry he couldn’t come see you off. Big meeting this morning.”
    “I