I showed up at 7 that first day back and the first thing I found out was that Brian had quit and moved to Seattle. I guess it had happened back around last Christmas. There was some joking about how nice a Christmas present that was. Nobody had really liked him and his arrogant attitude. I helped get some trucks ready for their runs but shortly after 8 o’clock I headed to the office. I was happy and excited as I opened the door. Betty was there behind the counter and she beamed as she saw me.
She got up and gave me a motherly hug and told me how nice it was to see me again. We small talked for a few minutes and then I looked around the office. There was a new woman sitting in the back of the office.
“Where’s Jean?” I asked Betty.
Betty looked sad and said. “She quit about a month ago. She said she needed to find a job that paid better. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she had quit while Brian was still around but I sure didn’t expect her to leave when she did. She had been kind of melancholy as spring and summer were coming.”
I was shocked and I’m sure it was obvious to Betty. “I know she was fond of you Dan. If anything I would of thought she would have stayed until you came back. We were always wondering how you were doing in school.”
I composed myself enough to ask “Where is she working?”
“She didn’t have another job yet. It was really surprising. I tried to talk her out of it and Larry even offered her a raise. I think something was going on in her personal life but I’m not sure why quitting her job was going to help that.”
Suddenly the thought struck me that she quit because I was coming back. But that didn’t make any sense. Betty introduced me to the new lady and then I wandered back to the warehouse slowly overcoming my shock and disappointment.
Over the course of the summer I moved on with my life. A life that was a lot different from the nerd teenager’s life from a year ago. My disappointment about Jean faded slowly and I realized it was probably better that I wasn’t seeing her every day. I thought of her less and less as time went on and thought more and more of other pretty women I happened to run in to.
But I never forgot the education I received one night in August during the summer of 1972.