I woke up that morning feeling empty. The morning, that is, of my first day at my new job. The morning, that is, of my first full day out in the rinky-dink town of Autumn Hills.

A month ago, I began my move here. I’m still not sure as to why I woke up one day and decided to move from my hometown of New York City.

Seriously, I loved it—the honking cars, the yelling, the nasty looks, the rush of the train station maneuvering. All of it. At first, I was excited, but now…

I don’t know. Maybe its just me reminiscing, but this town is really slow. Theres one market, gas station, intersection. A couple fast food restaurants and more. Not to meantion the lack of car exhaust.

“Morning, hon,” my mom says, tapping on my door frame.

Through it all, she’s been with me. I couldn’t love her anymore.

“Morning, mom.” I try to put on a brave, happy face, but she notices something.

“My son is going to be the best school superintendent this town has seen. Granted, that’s probably not many.” She lets out a chuckle.

I grin and red speckles my face. “Thanks, mom. For everything.” Sounds cliché, but its true.

She kisses my cheek and cups her hand on my jaw. “I know you’ll miss the big city, sweetie, but you’re going to leave your mark here.” She adjusts and tightens my tie, pats my white button up, and dusts something from the shoulder of my navy suit coat. “Just know that your father and I will always be available.”

——

I open the passenger door to my Prius and my mother steps out.

She wraps her arms around my throat and whispers in my ear, “I’ve never been so proud of you, Grant. I love you to the stars.”

I never knew why she said that since you can’t see the stars in NYC due to the light pollution. But, that made it even more special somehow. She had a way of doing that.

“I love you too, mom. I’ll call. I promise. Maybe video call for that New York apartment view every once in awhile.”

I’m going to miss it, I tell myself. I’m going to miss it all.

I walk my mother into the airport and watch as she boards her plane.

——

I walk into the Autumn Hills Board of Education.

The whole drive, I thought about everything I would miss. The air, the sounds, the attitudes. But, I arrived to the conclusion that it was worth it, because this would be my turn to bee and live my own story.

I look out my window and next to my car is another. The thing I notice takes me by surprise: a New York license plate similar to mine.

Down the hall I can here a womans voice. The New York accent is there but it has since faded. It gets closer ans closer until it comes by my door.

She is on her phone but I wave her down. She hangs up and says, “Hi! It’s nice to see another New Yorker around here.” She pulls a strand of hair from her face, every millisecond ever so delicate. Just like her face. “Oh—I’m Hailey. Hailey Jackson. I’m the district coordinator.”

Her voice is soft like her eyes—full of care and warmth.

“Grant Baxter—superintendent. I suspect we will be in touch quite a bit, yes?”

“Um, yeah! Yea—sure. It, uh, was nice meeting you, Grant Baxter.”

“As to you, Hailey Jackson.”

She steps out and walks away. All of a sudden, her shoes stop hitting the tile floor. I here them again, not knowing why it matters so much. They get closer again.

She puts her head in the doorway. “Just a question. Would you, maybe, want to grab a bite to eat sometime? Theres a Wendy’s just down the road, or a diner that way. But, if you can’t—“

“Wendy’s is fine,” I say before her head explodes.

Hailey blushes. “Sounds like a… Sounds good, Grant Baxter.” She grins and walks away again.

I think she and I know that it doesn’t just “sound good.” It was a date. In my new home.