Channel 20 Something by Amy Patrick Read Free Book Online

totally insane and you have a big mouth, but I do love you for trying to encourage me to reach for my dreams and all that. It’s just—maybe those aren’t my dreams. Not everybody’s cut out for a life of adventure and risk-taking. There are some people who are perfectly happy to live in the same zip code their whole lives and marry their college sweethearts.”
    “I totally agree,” she said. “But you’re not one of them.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Let me ask you a question. Why did you decide to go to college in New England in the first place? I mean, I think my hometown is the bomb, but why would a born-and-raised Mississippi girl venture up there to ‘Yankee territory’? Why not go to Ole Miss or State?”
    “Because Brown gave me the best scholarship offer. And it’s a great school.”
    “Yes. A great school thirteen hundred miles away from home. And then you chose a career field that’s basically impossible to succeed in unless you’re willing to move anywhere in the country, over and over again. Knowing the way you research everything to death, you were aware of that going into it. Think about the girl who made those choices. Figure out what she really wants. Then you’ll know what to do about the headhunter. And Aric.”
    I drove home, walked across the lifeless parking lot, and let myself into my empty, silent studio apartment, feeling more alone than I had in a long time. With my crazy work hours, I was afraid to even have a goldfish depending on me.
    I couldn’t get Mara’s words out of my mind. I had actually chosen Brown because it was so far from home. I’d also applied to UCLA and Syracuse, against my parents’ objections and warnings. They wanted me close by. But as long as I could remember, I’d longed to get away, to travel and meet new people, see new things. It was probably why I’d decided in seventh grade I wanted to be a reporter. That, and I’d loved writing.
    But Brown had turned out to be a huge mistake. And Mara had nailed it—I felt like a failure returning to my hometown, attending college only thirty-eight miles away.
    Though I’d gotten an on-air job right out of school, that felt kind of like failing, too. I’d been offered two other jobs, for better starting salaries, at stations further away. One in Arizona and one in Florida. When it came time to decide, I had chosen the easiest path—nineteen miles down the road in Pineland.
    Hale had been thrilled, of course. His lifelong ambition was to run his family’s farm and cattle ranching operation. He’d be living in North Mississippi the rest of his life. And my parents—the only way they could be any happier was if I was still sleeping in my frilly pale pink bedroom in their house. It had been a major step for me just to move into this apartment alone.
    Could I take an even bigger step and accept a job in some far-off city? Was Mara right? Was I really ready to start saying yes ? And was that ambitious seventh grader, that adventurous college freshman still in me somewhere?

Chapter Five
Unwanted Invitation
    I arrived early before my shift on Sunday with a new eagerness to work on my reel. Maybe Mara had been right—maybe it wasn’t so bad, maybe it just needed some tweaking and then I could send it out to a headhunter or to a new station. And then I watched it. Ugh.
    Even with my fresh eyes, it sucked. It needed a more attention-grabbing beginning, some creative stand-ups for the montage. Unfortunately, I could wake up with a new attitude about applying for jobs, but I couldn’t magically produce better stand-ups as long as I was shooting stories alone.
    Just to torture myself, I watched my reel to the end. As I reached for the stop button, I heard rustling behind me. I spun my chair around to find Aric standing in the doorway of the tiny edit bay. He’d been watching, too. Mortification slid down my spine and pooled in my stomach.
    He gave me an encouraging smile. “Pretty good. You need to vary your