“Oh God, Tina,” Jessica stammered.

“You bitches were supposed to be my friends. But you’re no better than Aimee.”

“You know we’re on your side,” Joan said, trying to defend herself.

“Please Joan, you said yourself you’d fuck him if you could and Jessica would fuck Bette. What kind of friends are you? Not only to have those thoughts but to voice them. What I did was wrong, I know that but what I don’t need is people who I thought were friends being judgmental. You who has been married three times,” she said looking at Joan then to Jessica, “And you having a baby by someone other than your husband.”

“Tina,” Joan started.

“I don’t wanna hear it, I’m done with the both of you.”

As she walked back up the hallway, she caught judgmental eyes from everyone. She ignored it and went to see the nurse manager. She knocked on his door and waited for a response. He called out and she went in.

“Tina,” he said warmly, “what’s up?”

“I um, don’t know if you’ve heard the gossip.”

“I have heard, I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to get everyone to mind their own business. I’m sending emails to them right now.”

“It’s fine Oscar, it’s not gonna stop and I’m not gonna be here for them to treat me like shit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m quitting. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought and with Jackson and I starting a new life, I don’t need these people that I’ve worked with for almost three years looking at me like I’m an evil whore.”

“Well, I’m sorry and if there is anything you need, call me. I will of course give you an excellent reference.”

“Thanks Oscar, I really appreciate that. I will have my letter of resignation to you by the end of the day.”

As she drove home, she rented a trailer and bought some boxes and spent the whole day packing. In the afternoon she picked Jackson up and took him for an early dinner. She had many boxes with all her clothes, accessories, toiletries, books, movies and music stuffed in the trailer. By the late evening, she didn’t have much more to do other than pack Jackson’s things but that was it. She was leaving him all the furniture, appliances and the tv. She’d figure that she was starting over and didn’t want to fight over things like that. Plus he’d basically picked everything out; she didn’t really like their stuff.