CMSS: Meanwhile Back at Mama's [Book 2]

Chapter 3

Well I found a girl and we don't fit in here

Talk about how hard it is to breathe here

Even with the windows down, can't catch a southern breeze here

One of these days gonna pack it up and leave here

Days passed, and I found myself the most happy that I had ever been. I wasn't exactly popular, nor did I go out partying often, but I had friends and we went out to eat a lot. To my slight disappointment, I hadn't run into the beautiful woman with brown doe eyes.

The only downside was the city. I wasn't exactly a huge fan of it. I had grown somewhat used to it in my first four years of college, but I had hoped to move out at some point. That obviously hadn't happened, though. I knew I couldn't get my hopes down about it. I was sure God had some plan for me, but sometimes it was a bit difficult to see what it was.

"Hey Tom!" One of my friends, a football player, called out to me as I walked outside of a building and sat down at a picnic table under a tree to study. Caleb jogged over to me with his token football under his arm.

"How are you? I didn't expect to see you back here!"

"I'm doin' a business degree," I explained. Caleb was a year younger than me, and though we only saw one another in passing, he could be a pretty cool guy at times. He partied a little too much for me, which was why we didn't hang out more often.

"Wow, ever the scholar! What classes are you taking this semester?"

With that, we discussed some classes and talked about plans for the future. Caleb wanted to be a social worker, as crazy as a football player, fraternity brother, social worker sounded. It somehow seemed to fit for him. He was that laid-back kind of guy, and it was refreshing to be around him.

"Hey, listen, I gotta go to practice. I'll see you later?" Caleb asked as he tossed his football in the air, catching it smoothly.

"See ya," I responded with a small wave.

I turned back to my books, resigning myself to studying once more. As I flipped open to the textbook chapter we were working on, I felt someone's presence.

"Excuse me?" A melodious voice asked. I looked up to see the beautiful, doe-eyed woman in front of me.

"Yes?" I asked, smiling at her.

"Would you mind horribly if I sat here? All the other tables are taken," she said as she pointed to the other side of the bench.

"Yeah, I reckon you could. The name's Tom," I introduced myself, reaching out a hand to shake.

"Annabelle," she responded, shaking my hand and smiling softly.

She sat down and I found myself watching her out of the corner of my eye as she tucked a piece of her dark brown, curly hair behind her ear. She reached into a book bag and pulled out a worn textbook that looked even older than mine. She glanced back up at me, and I quickly turned back to my own work, internally scolding at myself for staring.

'God, if this is a sign, thank you for sending me this beautiful woman,' I thought to myself as I started the assignment.

About half an hour later, I was almost done with my financial accounting problem set.

"Sorry, Tom was it? Would you happen to be in the Business Law and Ethics course?" Annabelle asked, making me look up.

"Yeah, I am," I confirmed.

"Have you started the assignment for Thursday yet?"

"I haven't, but I can take a look at it. What do you have a question on?"

"There's this one problem, number three. I got parts a and b, but I can't seem to figure out how to solve part c," Annabelle explained.

"Well, let me see," I said. Annabelle slid her textbook over towards me.

"Here, just come around the table," I spoke, and she moved to sit next to me. She smelled of wildflowers, an amazing scent for a gorgeous woman, though I did not say that.

Instead, I grabbed her textbook, read the question, and helped her with it.

We continued in this pattern of working and occasionally asking one another questions. I learned that, like me, Annabelle was also earning her master's in business administration, though she was studying part time. She was a different rural part of Texas and missed the cornfields just as I did. We had a lot in common, and I found myself drawn in by her. Finally, the afternoon grew late, and it started to get dark.

"I should be getting back to my apartment," Annabelle apologized as she wrapped up her books. "I'll see you around sometime?"

"Of course. We should study again sometime," I suggested.

"That would be nice," she smiled, lighting up my whole world.

"Could I get your number?" I asked her, and I exchanged numbers with the woman who now lit up my world.