Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
“Oh, no,” I laugh-groan. “You aren’t going there.”
“Enquiring minds want to know how you came to be called Big Country here on campus.”
I release a breath and shake my head as laughter rises from the crowd. The students’ energy is electric, and it makes me want to do more events with the youth.
The youth? God, I’m old.
“We’re waiting,” Niomi sing songs, a wide, teasing smile on her face.
“Everyone didn’t call me that.” I scan the crowd until I find Janelle sitting near Celine on the front row. “Only your VP of Student Affairs Janelle Hopkins did.”
As if on cue, Janelle stands and turns, waving at the applauding crowd like she’s the homecoming queen. Niomi and I both laugh, our eyes catching and holding with mutual affection for Janelle, who was the glue for our friend group. In a glance, it feels like the last twenty years fall away, and Niomi and I are in stitches over something Janelle said or did. I don’t regret my career or even most of the things I had to sacrifice to achieve what I have, but I regret losing so much time with Celine. And in this moment, on the campus where I discovered so much about myself, where my roots deepened and where I made some of the best friends I ever had, I regret losing touch with them. I regret not ever having the remarkable woman seated across from me.
“I’m originally from Alabama,” I say once the crowd settles. “And Janelle, who’s pretty short standing beside me, since I’m kind of tall, started calling me Big Country. She was the only one. I don’t have much of an accent now because my professors here stripped the last vestiges of it. Professor Caruthers, may he rest in peace, used to say, ‘Boy, you won’t be on anybody’s TV sounding like you just fell off a watermelon truck.’”
“That was him,” Niomi agrees, her smile fond for our old professor. “He took the country out of a lot of us.”
“There wasn’t much left in me because my family had been living in Germany for my father’s job. My parents actually still live there. I came back to the States for college. I’m a legacy. My father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother all attended Finley.”
The students explode with cheers and applause and chants of “Fin-ley pride! Fin-ley pride!”
I shift, crossing an ankle over my knee and settling more deeply into the chair and into my story.
“It was kind of disorienting to be back in America at first. Disorienting and amazing. I hadn’t been surrounded by people who looked like me in a long time, so coming to Finley was like fresh air.”
“Did your time with your parents in Germany play a part in deciding to spend your senior year abroad?”
“Probably. I loved being back here, but I’ve always enjoyed varied cultural experiences and knew I wanted to report from around the world. When the offer came to work with a foreign press that last year, I jumped at it. I wouldn’t trade that time working as a reporter in Paris for anything. It revealed a lot about what I wanted for my career, for my life.”
“Well, speaking as one of your friends here for three years,” Niomi says, her smile a little wistful. “We missed having you around. When you couldn’t even make it back for graduation, we were all disappointed.”
“I wanted to, but by then I had a daughter on the way.” I point to Celiene. “Your homecoming queen.”
The camera grabs a shot of Celine, briefly flashing her on the large screen. The crowd erupts, some making the connection between us for the first time. Celine grins, pleasure and pride seeming to burst from every pore. I’m glad I came back for this, for her. That I get to see her this way. Happy, even if I do have some making up to do.
“I didn’t get to walk for graduation,” I continue. “My diploma arrived in Paris the day Celine was born. It was a good trade-off. I was in the right place, but there was a lot I missed spending senior year abroad. I didn’t get to enjoy that last homecoming with my friends.”
This is a weekend to recover and repair. I knew that was the assignment with Celine. Obviously I have ground to make up with her, but maybe I can start making up ground with Niomi, too.
“There was one thing I’ve always regretted not getting to do senior year,” I say.
“Yeah? Are you gonna share with the class?” Niomi gestures to the large crowd surrounding the stage.
“There was this girl.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, an oooooh rises from the crowd. I look out at them with raised brows and a wolfish grin. When I swing my look back around to Niomi, though, the smile has frozen on her face. She blinks about ten times in two seconds and licks her lips before she goes on.