Three

It happened on a Tuesday in the middle of December. Jane passed away in her sleep unexpectedly. Her husband was devastated. They had been together for 35 years, since they were 15. They had had a mostly happy marriage, like every couple they had their ups and downs. That was until 6 months ago,his life had changed irrevocably. Jane had sat him down one day had admitted she had been having an affair. She didn’t try to sugarcoat it, he remembered, she had just come out and said it. He knew that they would not recover from this, but he had always been reluctant to call it a day. Now she was gone, he didn’t know what to feel.

Jeff had met Jane 6 months ago at a party. He had not been looking for anyone. His last relationship had ended more than a year ago and he was in no hurry to involve himself with anyone new. But Jane had been different. He was hit so suddenly and unexpectedly by her, that he had questioned his sanity. He had known she was married, she had been honest about that from the start. He hadn’t ever asked about her husband, he hadn’t wanted to know what their situation was. A mutual friend has broken the news of her death to him. He had been numb, uncertain of what he felt. In some ways he felt that he didn’t know anything about her, hadn’t wanted to during their affair, but now suddenly he had nothing left of her. He couldn’t even be involved in saying goodbye, it was like it had never happened.

Tom was 25, young and enthusiastic about life. He had secretly admired Jane from afar for the last year or so. He worked at the cafe where she came everyday to collect her caramel latte.

He hadn’t expected his feelings to be so intense, after all, lots of young woman walked into the cafe every day and he either took notice of them or he didn’t. With Jane it was different. She was always polite and chatty, she seemed happy with her life and it was a pleasure to serve her. They had chatted sometimes. He had heard that she was married, and he didn’t really want to get into all of that. But somehow, she still appealed to him.

His manager had popped in to do the books that Friday and had just mentioned in passing , that Jane , one of their good customers, had died suddenly the day before. He had heard it from a supplier that also knew her.

He didn’t know quite how he felt. The thought of not seeing her again was hard. No matter his feelings, he liked it when she came in, he enjoyed their chats. More than that he felt it was so unfair. After all she wasn’t or didn’t seem that old. The cafe wouldn’t be the same again, there would be a vacuum. But life would go on.