There is not a whole lot that can be seen through the window of an airplane. A bit of the terminal, perhaps, and some of the activity on the tarmac:the airline' s ground staff running around looking extremely important and talking into their walkie-talkies, people loading the luggage into the aircraft, making last minute checks and signalling to the pilot.
Jamie was oblivious to everything around her, her mind was blank. She didn't really know what she was feeling. She knew she didn't want to leave California, and was trying hard not to think of her destination, Broken Bow, OK. Over the last couple months this year, her life had been one of a vagabond... going from one place to another aimlessly or rather in search for something. This search had brought her to California three months ago, to the bay area, to the Parsons.
Her dad and Mr Parson had randomly bumped into each other in a supermarket in Faraway Land, some 20 odd years ago. They befriended each other then, and had remained quiet close over the past 2 decades. Since Jamie had nothing to do, and nowhere to go, she decided to visit California. The Parsons invited her to say with them. She didn't know them at that time, and wondered how staying with them would be...
She was very pleasantly surprised to find that they were an amazing family whose lives and hearts were full of love, kindness, generosity and happiness! She had enjoyed every single day that she had spent with them, and had been immensely moved by their sweetness. She had grown super close to Lynne, Ames and their daughter Nilla. "They're family now", she thought to herself as the Capt. announced that they were ready for take-off.
The flight was quite empty, and no one was sitting in the seat next to Jamie. She felt a wave of sorrow envelope her as she saw California grow smaller and smaller in size, through the window. Her mind was full of memories, and she secretly wished she could stay with the Parsons forever! that wasn't ever going to be possible. Her dad hadn't been happy about her staying with them for so long to begin with. But she had nowhere to go, and Broken Bow held little appeal for Jamie. Also, she longed for the kind of love that she had experienced with the Parsons and didn't feel that there was any need to leave as long as she was welcome there. and welcome she definitely was! Lynne absolutely loved Jamie's company, and she became like a mom to Jamie, the mom that she never had. "You can't stay with them!" her dad had yelled on the phone, "they're not family. Go to your uncle and aunt in Oklahoma, stay there as long as you want, but leave California...do you get me?? You absolutely CANNOT stay there!". She had stayed anyway, despite what her dad had told her, and now her dad had gotten so mad that he had quit calling her for the last month or so. "It's been longer than a month, I'm pretty sure" she thought. the stewardess gave her a glass of diet coke on her request.
The parsons were not quite the reason she had stayed in California for all of the 3 months though. she would have left for OK sooner, had her boyfriend not gotten a work assignment in L.A. Ashton was 3 years older than Jamie. they had been dating for a year now. He had just graduated from the business school at the university of Chicago, and was doing very well for himself in the corporate world. He had been working for a major sports firm since he was 22. they had recruited him straight out of college, and he had done so well for them, that they had sent him to one of the top business schools int he country to do an MBA. Now, he spent all his time jet-setting across the nation on various assignments for them. Of course that meant that he had almost no time for Jamie, even less than what he had while he was studying in Chicago, which wasn't very much to begin with! even still, she was very happy that he was in California too, and for the last month, she had spent every weekend with him in L.A. Jamie sometimes felt that Ashton was born to work for this firm, 'cause like the company's logo (a tick mark) Ashton was always right.
Not to say that he was a pompous guy, who never listened to anyone else's opinions. The fact was that he was right bout pretty much everything, pretty much all the time! Jamie knew that, although she didn't like to admit it most of the time. "i wonder when I'll see him next", she thought, "probably not until next year now.."
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