The Endless Road to Sunshine - Nicky James Page 0,8
it out and held it up. It was multicolored and elegantly knitted in a pattern that was common to a lot of the knitted wares I’d seen. Little alpacas framed the edges. Mom was perpetually cold, and when I’d seen it, I knew it would make the perfect gift.
“You’ve been home for six months.”
“And it was very hard not to give it to you the second my plane landed. Winter’s coming. It will keep you warm.”
My brother coughed, and it sounded a lot like kiss-ass.
“Enough, Jake,” Mom scolded. “This is marvelous, Sky. I don’t know how to thank you.”
I kissed her cheek. “You don’t have to. Happy birthday, Mom.”
She hugged me tight, the blanket clasped between us next to her heart. “I love you, sweetie.”
“I love you too.” I took a second to savor the warmth of her embrace and the soft scent of the body lotion she used each morning as it drifted to my nose.
“I have to run. Do not overwork yourself today. And you”—I pointed at my little brother, who mock-scowled—“have a good first day of high school. Maybe don’t mention we’re related. Not that I’m embarrassed by you, but I think Mrs. Mulligan is still the principal, and she probably isn’t over me yet.”
Jakobe rolled his eyes as only a teenager could. “I’m not over you yet. Just when I think I am, you show up blasting Selena Gomez at eight in the freaking morning.”
“Ah, you love me.”
“Jury’s still out on that one.
I waved him off but noted the hint of a smile on his face as he turned back to the waffle press.
“Okay, I’m out.”
I kissed Mom one last time, smacked Jakobe on the shoulder, and headed to my car while checking the time. I had twenty minutes to get to campus and find my first class.
I dropped into the seat next to Hunter, one of my best friends and roommates. He was chatting with Maverick—roommate number two—on his other side but spun, startled when I smacked his shoulder.
“Hey, hey. Why the hell are we front and center?” I asked.
They’d selected seats in the second row of the lecture hall, right in front of the podium where the professor would be teaching. It wouldn’t have been my first choice.
“There you are,” Hunter said. “Dude, it’s packed. If we wanted three seats together, this was it. Have you looked around?”
I glanced up the incline of rows at all the faces of half-awake students waiting for the early morning class to begin. He was right. It was packed tight, and there weren’t many options.
“Who knew this many people were interested in ancient civilizations?” Maverick said, leaning forward to join the conversation.
I’d known both these guys for a few years, and we’d recently acquired an apartment together off-campus to save money. We’d met working at a local club in town. None of us knew what we wanted to do with our lives, so we’d made a pact to register for a year of university, taking random classes of interest to see if we could find a direction.
Up until this point, I’d been traveling the world, volunteering, and working odd jobs to pay for my trips. Walter called me unsettled and irresponsible. Mom said I was a wild bird who needed to spread his wings and explore all the world had to offer before settling down. She’d encouraged it.
University was my attempt at settling.
I dropped my backpack on the ground between my feet and pulled out my tablet. With one earbud filtering quiet music into my brain and the other out, I pulled up the class syllabus.
“Who’s teaching?” I asked the guys. Not that it mattered since I wasn’t familiar with any of the professors. “Do we know anything about him or her?”
“It’s a him. I heard he’s new,” Hunter said, adjusting his dark-framed glasses on his nose. “My buddy Cole said the old history prof retired last year. This new guy is a transfer from somewhere else. Not sure where. We don’t know anything about him.”
“His name is Jaxon Palmer,” Maverick said, reading from his own tablet. His auburn hair fell over his face, and he shoved it back when he glanced up. “All it has here is his educational background and that he’s been teaching at the university level for thirteen years. Nothing else. There’s a staff picture though. He looks… tough.”
Maverick turned the tablet to show us, and my heart did a skippy-jumpy-flippy thing inside my chest like I’d never felt before. I snagged Maverick’s tablet