Nice Girl Read Online Free

miss my mom. 
    “As soon as we have real sex.” I grinned.
    “Shhh, believe me, my mom can hear you all the way from that deli.”
    “Oh, Eve.  I’m going to miss you so much.  Janie left yesterday.  You today.  Dee is staying in the city.  I feel like I lost everything.”
    Eve knew what I meant when I talked about loss.  My mom died two years ago from breast cancer.  We were close.  Well, not close enough to discuss sex.  My mom was a different generation when it came to that.  I had my girlfriends for those discussions.   Still, I always felt loved, supported and taken care of.  When you lose that, then you actually realize what you had.  I was not close with my dad.  Growing up, he was never home.  He usually came home from work well after dinner had past.  He walked in the house starving, my mother fed him, and the last thing he wanted to deal with was two little girls. 
    I also wasn’t close to my sister.  We were four years apart but it might as well have been an entire generation.  We didn’t fight or clash.  We were just totally different people.  We supported each other when my mom died but quickly enough, we went our separate ways.  My sister works in human resources and still lives at home.  She is only 25 and rarely goes out anymore.  My biggest fear right there. That my life will become meaningless and boring.
    “Grace, I promise I will keep in touch with you.  Someone has to encourage you to get out of Lake Wacone.  I will call you every day and harass you if I have to!”
    “No, you won’t have to harass me.  After Janie left yesterday, I did some soul searching last night.  Even had a long talk with my dad.  Now, doesn’t that shock you?”
    “I could kill you!  You made a major decision and you’re just letting me know now?  When I’m 30 minutes from getting on a plane?”
    “Well, today is about you, not me.  However, I do have you to thank.  I had been thinking about your decision to go to graduate school.”
    “And?”
    “I applied last night online to the graduate program in criminology at John Adams College in New York City.  If I excel my first year, then I can do a combined masters and PhD program.”  I was beaming.  It was kind of embarrassing but I couldn’t help myself.
    Eve screamed which is probably not the smartest thing to do in an airport.  But then she started hugging me so people moved on.
    “Grace, that will be perfect for you!  You always said you loved your classes.  Even though you didn’t know what you were going to do with what you learned.”
    “I was kind of frustrated with my degree but then I thought hard about what I wanted to do.   I never liked some of the options that were encouraged with a criminal justice degree.  You know.  Law enforcement, probation, parole, social work.  But then I started thinking about the whole experience last night.  Well, you’re right, Eve.  I did love my classes.  The history of crime, the psychology, the family dynamics.  Even those horrid statistics I found interesting.  So, I thought.  Maybe I would love to teach.”
    “College Professor.  Damn girl. That has a nice ring to it.”
    “Okay, Eve.  I just paid $7.00 for this sandwich so you better eat it.” Eve’s mom cuts in.    How do moms always appear out of nowhere?
    “Mom, Grace is going to graduate school in New York City.”
    “Oh Grace, are you sure?  That is such a dangerous place.  What does your father think about it?”
    “Well, he offered to pay my tuition.  He says my mother would’ve wanted him to.”  I wanted to add that he could care less that I would be gone.  Whether it was New York City or Timbuktu.  He never noticed if I was coming or going before.  Yet I was cognizant that it was very generous of him to pay for graduate school.  I didn’t want to sound ungrateful because I felt emotionally abandoned growing up.  With my three best friends following their dreams, I was damn lucky I