Norton’s was her favorite department store, but today she would forgo a visit. Pink was once a favorite color for her, but since Gleason decided to run away from home and go live with his girlfriend who almost always wore pink, she decided black was a better look for her. Besides it was slimming. Valentine’s Day was just around the corner, and every store had pink, red, and white displays demonstrating how a man could show his love. Candy and teddy bears wouldn’t cut it this year for Tammy. Thirty years! She thought ruefully for the thousandth time. She had never considered in the fifteen years that he had been a professor that he would run off with a student! The man was fifty for crying out loud! A boring Literature professor! What on earth would a graduate student, on the brink of starting real life, half his age, have in common with him? Sex. Her mind answered. Tammy sighed and continued down the sidewalk. He had been gone for five months, and it didn’t look like he was coming back. He and his concubine had set up house in a tiny apartment. Oh the tongues had been wagging! Mostly in sympathy for her, but juicy gossip is never far from the lips of small town residents. Gleason Smith had shacked up with a kid, leaving his wife and tidy 2,000 square foot home behind. Tammy had prided herself on how well kept the house was. She even took care of the massive front and back yard. It was the least she could do, or so she had always told herself, since he worked so hard, and she was afforded the luxury of not working. She hadn’t worked in five years. Now what was she supposed to do? Their mutual friends had been attentive for the first month, but once the second month of his absence began, their visits and phone calls waned. Tammy knew that the married woman looked at her situation like an enigma. Perhaps they thought it was contagious, forcing a quarantine on her. Tammy squared her shoulders and marched with purpose. Who needed them? Certainly not her! She was going to find a job first, and figure out the rest later!
