The past six months had been dizzying. Maggie knew something was wrong in their marriage; still she was taken aback when Tim asked for a divorce because he was "in love with another man."
"In love with another man?" Maggie had yelled at him in disbelief. But even before the words were completely out of her mouth she began to think, "This explains a lot, especially his lack of interest in the bedroom."
"I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, but for a long time I had these feelings that I liked men more than but women, but I tried to suppress them because I was worried about how my family would react. I just...I just couldn't suppress them anymore and then I met Paul...and...and...I don't know what else to say, but I'm so, so sorry."
"Wow! I don't know what to say either. I guess I should have seen this coming, but...wow...so you're in love with this Paul?"
"I am, he's just wonderful. I hope we can all be friends someday, I think you'd really like him, but I understand if you don't want to."
"I don't know, maybe sometime. But right now we need to go to a divorce attorney and get this all taken care of. Six years of marriage down the drain, just like that."
The divorce was quick and easy, they didn't have much and Tim was gracious in his proposal for diving up what they did have. While things were being processed Maggie made another decision. She and Tim moved from Maryland to Oklahoma for Tim's career. Maggie had found a job there as a receptionist at a medical clinic, hoping that they would consider her when clinical positions opened up and she could utilize her degree, Three times in the past eighteen months a position had been posted and Maggie applied, but each time she was passed over. Now it was time to move on and so she began searching the internet for positions her degree would qualify her for. Over a two month period of time she applied for exactly 138 jobs in 23 different states.
Maggie was just about ready to give up when a small clinic in Southern California called and asked if she would be willing to interview over the phone. The job would require her to help out in a variety of ways, including helping at the reception desk, but she would also get to work with patients and maybe even some lab work. She agreed and two phone interviews later they offered her a job. The salary wasn't great, but she figured she could get by and Tim and her mother were both willing and able to help financially if needed.
Maggie was going to be thirty on her next birthday and decided if she didn't take a bold step now she never would, so she accepted the offer. She spent three months preparing to move to a town she had never been to, rented an apartment over the phone and headed west.
She got to her apartment rather late in the day, so she went to a nearby motel for the night. The next day she awoke early went to a furniture rental place and made arrangement to rent the basics until she could buy her own, they were unable to deliver till the next day and so she was planning to spend another night at the motel, but went to the apartment just to look around and see if there was anything else she might want to get before moving in.
Maggie went inside, but left the door open as she was only planning on being there a few minutes. She was still having difficulty believing that she had done this, felling a strange mix of anxiety and excitement about her future. She was reflecting on this and everything that had happened when she was startled by a knock on her door. Maggie turned and saw an older man standing at the door.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"Oh, it's ok," Maggie replied, "I'm going to be moving in here and I was just looking around."
"Well, in that case welcome, my name is Michael and I live in the apartment above you. Where are you moving from, if I'm not being too nosey?"
"No, not at all, I'm moving in from Oklahoma. I start working at the clinic over on 3rd St next week."
"That's wonderful, are you planning on staying here for a while? I only ask because the last three tenants were only here on temporary assignments and never had any interest in getting to know their neighbors."
"No, I plan on staying for awhile." Maggie looked at Michael a little closer. He was a rather handsome man, Maggie guessed him to be in his late fifties or early sixties and she found her thoughts to be kind of odd, having never considered an older man to be attractive before,
"Well, if there's anything I can do for you, please let me know." Michael felt Maggie was looking at him strangely, but had no idea what to make of that and thought it might be good to back off.
"There's one thing, do you have internet?
"I do, you can probably get it here, and the password is Emily09
"Oh, who's Emily?" As soon as Maggie asked the question she both regretted it and wondered why she had asked it.
"Emily is my dear departed wife, she passed away in 2009
"Oh, I'm sorry and I'm sorry I just blurted out that question, I shouldn't have."
"It's okay, it's hard for people to understand, but I like talking about her, we were married for almost forty years and it was a special time. Then she got sick and it was rough seeing her suffer the way she did. When she passed there was some relief that it was over and while I miss her a lot, I can relive the good memories now and feel lucky to have had her as long as I did."