K: M.I.A

I went to work today absolutely dreading it. But much to my surprise (and relief!) Kevin was not there, he called in a personal day. I sank into my office chair thankful for small miracles when George walked in.

“Hey George, I thought you were supposed to be in some romantic foreign country right now…” we laughed.

He sat in a chair across from me and said hello. Turns out that his wife’s health has taken a turn for the worse sooner than they expected so they cancelled the last few trips they’d planned. Much to him and his wife’s happiness, though, their daughter got married a couple of weeks ago and Paula (George’s wife) was strong enough to attend the ceremony and reception.

“I’m so sorry George. I can’t imagine how difficult things are for you.” I reached out and grabbed his hand.

“It’s really okay, Faith, Paula has opted to go for the hospice care and I support her decision. We’ve been able to come to terms with things gradually. I’m not quite prepared for Paula’s passing yet, but she’s been so great throughout the whole process and she’s providing me with so much love and support. She wants to make sure I’ll be alright once….” He trailed off, cleared his throat, and then segued into a related topic, “That’s why I’m here Faith.”

“Oh?”

“I need to fill out a form to end my sabbatical.”

I couldn’t believe what George said. He's going to come back, which means that I'm not going to have to see Kevin every day. I nodded and grabbed the form from my filing cabinet. I handed George a pen, when he stopped me.

“No, this isn’t right. I’m ending my sabbatical but I’m not coming back. I want to retire.”

I stopped cold.
“What?”

“Paula has been encouraging me to retire and we didn’t spend nearly as much as we thought travelling so I’ve got plenty of money saved up for it. I think it’s time.”

I grudgingly got George a different form and wished him good luck as he left, promising to throw him a retirement party next week with the whole staff.

“If Paula’s strong enough, I’ll try to bring her.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know the details soon.”

I closed my office door and then sank into my couch between a bookshelf and a filing cabinet wanting to cry. I almost had an out to the whole Kevin situation and it was taken away just as quickly as it came. I’m not really sure how to address the job thing with Kevin. I mean, obviously I have to have the break-up talk with him, but how exactly do you go about telling your ex-boyfriend he has to quit his no-longer-temporary job?