The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(6)
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Noelle hung her keys on the hook by the door and slipped off her shoes as she stepped inside the apartment that she shared with Tati in Brickton, a small town in North Jersey, about a fifteen-minute drive from Jersey City. She and Tati had lived in their apartment for almost three years. The building was only a few blocks away from the apartment building they’d grown up in.
Noelle and her mom had lived on the floor above Tati’s family. Now Noelle’s mom, Portia, lived in South Carolina with her husband, Bill. They were both middle school teachers who’d met on a dating site four years ago. They’d encouraged Noelle to move with them to South Carolina, but Noelle hadn’t wanted to intrude or feel like a burden on their happily ever after. And if anyone deserved a happily ever after, it was her mom. No matter how many years had passed, Noelle’s bones still rattled when she thought of the phone call she’d received from her mom’s old coworker, shakily telling Noelle that Portia had been in a car accident and Noelle had better get to the hospital. Noelle remembered the bright lights and shiny hospital floors. The chaos of the emergency waiting room, the twist and pull of her stomach muscles as she tried her best not to have a panic attack while her mom was in surgery.
She’d been twenty-one years old then. A frightened recent college dropout who was wholly unprepared for what might happen if things with her mom didn’t turn out okay. But thankfully, they had.
Noelle continued to her room and cut on her bedroom light. Her room, with its periwinkle-painted walls, was small. There was enough space to fit a full-size bed, dresser, and a little bookshelf. She hadn’t been a big reader most of her life. That hobby had started when she’d needed a distraction while waiting in her mom’s hospital room and later at her physical therapy appointments. Noelle read any-and everything. Right now she was in the middle of a suspense novel about an elementary school superintendent who’d been blamed for her husband’s gruesome murder.
She placed Tati’s silver flats on her floor in front of her closet. She snapped a picture of the shoes and sent it to Tati.
Back home. Not a scratch on the goods.
Tati replied within seconds, Thank you, ma’am. How’d it go? Any cute groomsmen?
Noelle snorted. Tati was always hoping that Noelle might meet a groomsman and fall in love. Preferably a sexy, gainfully employed groomsman. So far, no dice. And Noelle wasn’t looking for anyone anyway.
Nope, Noelle responded. But one of the bridesmaids is kinda crazy and obsessed with Rihanna.
Shine bright like a diamondddd, Tati texted. She sent a GIF of Rihanna tossing her ponytail.
Noelle laughed. Tati was staying over at André’s tonight. They’d met a year ago when he’d walked into the hair salon where Tati worked, and she’d given him a haircut before his big paralegal interview. He got the job and promptly took Tati out to dinner. They were full-on crazy for each other and walked around with perpetual hearts in their eyes. They were the kind of couple who gave Noelle the tiniest bit of hope that maybe one day, in the distant future once she achieved her goals and was financially stable with her librarian career, she might find her person too. Despite her current romantic cynicism, she’d grown up as an only child with a mom who loved her but worked all day teaching, followed by evening shifts at a local restaurant, and deep down Noelle had always craved to be part of a unit of some kind. At the various weddings she worked, her heart pricked with longing whenever she watched the happy couples surrounded by their big families.
Maybe one day she’d be part of something like that, but for now she was focused only on getting her degree.
She opened her banking app to check her savings account the way she always did before bed. She needed a little less than seven thousand dollars to go back to college this fall. She wanted to finish her final year at Riley University, the local state college about a forty-five-minute drive south of Brickton. She’d already met with the admissions and bursar offices. She’d switched her major multiple times while at UMD before finally settling on sociology. Luckily finishing an undergrad degree in sociology wouldn’t keep her from applying to grad school for her MLS. Between working at Bridal Bestie, Hidden Gems Books, doing food delivery and car share rides, she was saving every single penny. Her mom and Bill had offered to give her a couple thousand too, but they lived on teachers’ salaries, and Noelle hated taking money from them that they needed for themselves. Even with their money added, she would still be far from her goal. She was holding out hope that a couple last-minute wedding gigs might materialize. Otherwise, she’d have to put off completing her degree for another year. So much could change in a year, though. In the past, whenever she came close to having enough money to finish college, something else always happened. Her car engine blew. She fell ill with a bad bout of bronchitis and was left with a hefty hospital bill because she didn’t have health insurance. Her car needed a new catalytic converter. (She really needed a new car altogether.) Each incident took a chunk from her savings. She’d already waited long enough to go back to college. The time to get her degree was now before another thing went wrong. Someway, somehow, she needed to figure out how to get the rest of that money by September.
Her stomach grumbled, and she remembered the precious Smith’s Sweets cookies that had been patiently waiting for her all day in the cabinet. She’d continue contemplating her money situation in the morning. For now, she deserved some chocolatey goodness.