The First First Date

Beth Mulligan took one last look around her classroom before turning off the lights. The walls had been stripped bare, her posters all removed, neatly rolled up, and tucked away in a cabinet for the fall. The desks and chairs were all pushed against one wall so that the custodians could more easily vacuum and shampoo the carpets. The bookshelves had been organized and covered over with large rolls of bulletin paper so they wouldn’t be disturbed over the summer. She had returned her school-issued laptop to the library, turned in her set of keys, and the principal had already signed off on her check-out checklist. It was officially summer vacation.

While she was digging in her backpack for her car keys, the door opened. “You ready to hit happy hour, Ms. Matthews?” Jen Woodson asked, poking her head into the room. Jen Woodson, the art teacher, jingled her car keys.

“That’s Miss Mulligan,” Beth corrected her. She found her car keys and shouldered her backpack.

“Yeah? Is the name change official?” Jen asked, holding the door open. She and Beth left the classroom and paused to look for their sunglasses.

It will be soon,” Beth said, wiping at a smudge on her sunglasses with the hem of her skirt. “The divorce decree came yesterday, so now I get to go change my name everywhere. On my license, my social security card, my passport…”

“Sounds like a super exciting way to start the summer,” Jen laughed.

“And to start the rest of my life,” Beth muttered as they walked to the parking lot.

“All the more reason to come to happy hour!” Jen twirled her key ring on her finger. “You are coming, right?”

Beth shook her head, knowing that Jen would be disappointed. “I’m meeting my dad for dinner.”

Jen groaned and leaned against her car. “Come on, Miss Mulligan!” she teased. “Don’t go home and mope! Let’s go out and celebrate! You’re a free woman!”

“I’m not moping. I just don’t feel like it,” Beth said. “It’s been a long week. It’s been a long year. I promise we can go out next week or something.”

“You promise?” Jen asked. “You promise you’re not going to go home and mope?”

Beth nodded, opening her passenger door and throwing her backpack inside. “I’m going to try to make it to the DMV before it closes,” she said. “I promise we’ll get together soon.” The two friends hugged goodbye. Jen gave her a longer-than-usual squeeze.

“You’re going to have a great summer,” Jen said. “I promise.” She opened her car door, tossed her purse onto the passenger seat, and climbed in, closing the door and giving Beth a big smile. She started the engine and rolled the windows down, pulling her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. “You need to get laid as soon as possible.”

Beth shook her head and laughed as Jen backed out of the parking space, music blasting from the stereo. “I don’t need to get laid!” she yelled. Jen stuck her hand out the window and waved as she pulled out of the parking lot. She tooted on the horn a few times for good measure.

Beth walked around to the driver’s side of her car and realized that Nate Murray, the eighth-grade history teacher, was getting into his car in the spot next to her. “Hey, Beth,” he said “You going to the happy hour?”

Beth shook her head. “I have other plans tonight.”

“Really?” he said. “That’s too bad. Any big summer plans?”

She shook her head again. “Not really. You?”

“Nope,” he said. “Just staying in town this summer. Maybe I’ll see you around!” They waved to each other and got into their cars. He turned left out of the parking lot to head to the teacher happy hour, and she turned right, to go to the DMV.

She was relieved that the line wasn’t too long and she made it through just before the DMV closed. One name change down, several more to go. She was going to have her students start calling her Ms. Mulligan when school started again in the fall, but she wanted to get all the paperwork taken care of as quickly as possible.

After the DMV, she went home to freshen up before meeting her father for dinner. Home was no longer the sprawling three-bedroom, three-bathroom colonial she had shared with Colin. Instead, it was a one-bedroom apartment in a new building in the middle of town. The apartments were situated above a grocery store, a coffee shop, and a yoga studio. There was a pool and a gym in the building. She was convinced she wouldn’t even have to leave the building this summer if she didn’t want to.

Jen and her father had tried to convince her to take Colin to the cleaners in an attempt to keep the house, but she refused to fight. If Colin was done with their relationship, she wanted to be completely done with him. She didn’t want to live in the house she had shared with him or sleep in their bed. He – and his new girlfriend – could have it. She hoped they were happy.

If she was being completely honest with herself, she was actually pretty happy, too. She wasn’t happy that Colin had cheated on her with one of his nurses, of course, but if he was going to cheat on her, then she was happy to be rid of him. She was happy to put the past behind her and start fresh.

When she got to her apartment, she stopped in the lobby to check her mail, tossing all of the junk into the recycling bin. She waved at Byron, the concierge, and smiled at a resident she hadn’t seen before. He was tall, lean, and bald, with smooth dark chocolate skin and giant dimples in both cheeks. He looked like he could be a model, and she hoped that he didn’t catch her staring. She’d have to ask Byron