Tessie D

I’m going to be leaving my job at the end of the month. Mr. Owens and Angel were talking about the spring, and it seems that the dairy is struggling. They can’t afford to keep everyone on, and Angel suggested that they didn’t need me anymore. 

When Angel told me, I asked him about my work. Surely, I wasn’t so disposable, but Angel said that Mrs. Owens used to do the bookkeeping before I came on. She could go back to doing it again. He was so casual about it. As if Angel and Mr. Owens deciding my fate were nothing at all. 

I tried to be calm, but I was furious. 

Angel squeezed my hand and told me not to take it personally. They were just talking, and it happened to come up. His logic was that since we’re getting married and eventually moving, they might as well let me go—or I could just quit—so that Mr. Owens didn’t have to let anyone else go. Since, as he puts it, “many of the men have families to support and you’ll have me.”

“This helps everyone out,” he told me. “Mr. Owens can save money, and you’d be married. You’d be quitting soon enough as it was. You know this couldn’t go on forever. We were planning to move anyway, so this was eventually going to happen. 

But I was still hurt and upset. We don’t even know when we’re moving yet, so I didn’t see why I had to stop working so soon after getting married. I loved my job and working at the dairy. More than that, I really didn’t like Angel talking to my boss on my behalf and making that decision for me.

He wasn’t entirely wrong, of course. I’d seen the books myself and knew exactly how the dairy’s finances looked. But I had been hoping to keep working until we knew precisely where we were going. That way, I could save a bit more money. My plan was for Angel to find a place first, and I could keep working a little longer while he got everything set up. I would join him after I’d saved up some extra cushion and he had a foundation ready for us.

“I don’t want to go anywhere else without you,” Angel insisted. “I want you with me every step of the way. Every day. Wherever you go, I go. Wherever I go, you go.”

We talked more about the move after that. Maybe we’d head further south, toward Austin and San Antonio, or even look out of Texas entirely. Finding some land in Oklahoma sounded nice, too. We could go somewhere—anywhere, really—get a small house, and save up until we can build our dream home.

Maybe it was for the best. We’d get settled somewhere sooner. I would be starting school and wouldn’t have time to work either. 

Later at home, I told my roommates that we were getting married.

“It’s so romantic.”

“Being so in love and just wanting to get on with your lives together. He’s so handsome and smart, and he comes from such a good family. He loves you so much, Tess. You’re going to be so happy.”