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Betty stepped off the bus in Pittsburgh. She fought back an overwhelming weariness. The long bus trip after a sleepless night had taken it's toll. She wondered if she had been foolish and impulsive to cut her vacation short, but she hadn't been able to get rid of the nagging feeling that she was never going to see Scott again if she didn't come back as soon as possible. The look on his face when he said goodbye haunted her.
She had started calling Scott's apartment early Friday morning knowing he should have made it home. She hadn't cared that he might be asleep. She needed to hear his voice.
After the tenth try with still no answer, she had called Maple and asked her if she had heard from him. She said she hadn't. In fact, she told Betty that she had been trying to get a hold of him herself without any luck. She said it was like he disappeared off the face of the earth.
Betty apologized to her family and had caught the first available bus to Pittsburgh. She was thankful her mother had understood. The unbearably long trip had been a nightmare. It seemed, to Betty, that the bus stopped in every small town between Indiana and Pennsylvania and every time it did, she felt like screaming.
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Scott sat in his car, waiting. After about 10 minutes, he saw Lester come out of the station and walk down the street to the trolley. He could go in now. The station would be deserted. He grabbed the empty cardboard box in the seat next to him and headed in.
Ten minutes later, he stood in the reception area looking at the cardboard box that was now brimming full. He couldn't believe all the "stuff" he had collected in 3 years. Most of it was headed for the trash receptacle out back. Only a few items were too hard to part with just yet.
Scott took the airplane ticket out of his pocket and looked at it. He kept reminding himself that he had stayed in one place way too long. He kept reminding himself that he always wanted to go to Tahiti – the weather, the beaches, the half-naked women. What could be better than that, right? He kept reminding himself what a fool he was to love someone who was in love with someone else.
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Betty asked the cab driver to wait for her outside of Scott's apartment building. She ran up the 3 flights of stairs. The mailbox had said room 308. She quickly found it and knocked – no answer.
She threw all pretense of being ladylike out the window. She pounded on the door and yelled, "Scott, are you in there? It's Betty. Scott, please, I need to talk to you!"
"Hey, missy! What do you think you're doing?" Betty turned around to see an older, heavyset woman in her bathrobe and curlers wheezing down the hall toward her. "Didn't your mother teach you that young ladies don't visit men at their apartments – especially this time of night?" As she got closer, Betty could see she had several teeth missing.
"I know, ma'am. I'm sorry, but this is an emergency. You see...um…I work with Mr. Sherwood and I, uh...we have a problem down at the radio station that only he can fix and I couldn't get him on the phone, so I...um..." Betty hoped her face wasn't turning red. She knew she was a terrible liar.
"Well, I'm afraid you're too late."
Betty began to panic in earnest. "Too late? What do you mean?"
"Mr. Sherwood gave me a month's rent and cleared out this afternoon. Gave me all his nice suits to give to the Salvation Army. Shame too. He was a good tenant." She cackled. "Good lookin' too. Why, if I were five years younger..."
Betty's voice shook as she interrupted the old woman. "Did he leave a forwarding address?"
"Nope. Said he'd be unreachable. Said if he got any mail to just throw it away."
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Scott set his box of "stuff" by the front door and turned around for one last look at the place he had come to think of as home. He wondered if the memories would eventually fade and it would get easier in time. Somehow he doubted it.
His eyes rested on the smiling picture of Betty on the wall. It was taken after she received the Golden Lobe for excellence in writing. He walked over and gently touched her face with his fingers. She looked so happy. After a moment's hesitation, he took the frame off the wall, removed the picture and carefully put it in his box.
He wondered again if he should leave a note for Betty. His initial plan had been to make a clean break without any explanation. But, in the end, he couldn't bear the thought of Betty thinking the worst of him again. Maybe he could just leave a quick note explaining that an emergency had come up and that he wouldn't be returning. And he could thank her for...for what? Turning his life around? Giving it meaning? How did you thank someone for that?
He laid his overcoat on the cardboard box and headed down the hall to Betty's office.
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Betty laid her head back in the taxi – no longer able to hold back the tears. The cab driver looked in his rear view mirror at the sad young woman in his back seat. He wondered what kind of fool would break such a tender heart.
As he pulled up in front of the Barbican Hotel For Women, she suddenly sat up in her seat and put her hand on his shoulder. "Wait! Take me to Radio Station WENN first." Betty had one last glimmer of hope. Just maybe Scott had gone there to pick up his things. She knew it was improbable, but she had to try.
The cabby made a U-turn and headed back the other way mumbling to himself, "I hope this jerk, whoever he is, gets what's coming to him for walking out on this angel."
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Scott was in Betty's office pacing up and down. His first two attempts at a note to Betty were crumpled in the garbage can. His mind just didn't seem capable of composing the necessary words. He walked over to the desk, tore another piece of paper out of the notepad and with a determined jaw, tried again.
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As they pulled up at the radio station, Betty's heart began to thump. The familiar black car was parked in front. She realized she had been holding her breath. She let out a soft sigh. "He's here."
The cab driver sneered. "You want I should go beat him up for ya?"
She jumped out of the cab before it came to a complete stop. "Don't be silly." Impulsively, she leaned in the window and kissed the cabby on the cheek. Her shining eyes matched her smile. "Thank you for finding him for me."
The cab driver watched her run toward the building. His big burly heart melted. "Lucky guy."
As Betty rode the elevator up, she tried to prepare herself for the possibility that Scott may still reject her after she told him she loved him. It was a chance she was willing to take. The rest of her life would be filled with regret if she didn't at least try. She didn't remember the elevator ever going this slow before.
A terrifying thought occurred to her as the elevator door opened. What if Scott hadn't planned on taking his car with him and just left it here? What if he was already gone? She held her breath once again as she approached the dark door of WENN.
Betty's Journey of Discovery Series
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