My coworker's gift - Part 3 (Patreon)

After Kathie quit her job, Megan couldn’t help but feel a sense of jealousy. Her coworker had mysteriously decided to move on in life despite always complaining about how she never had enough hours. Coincidentally, that left the store in a really difficult position, especially when Megan found out that Ada had been confined to either a prison or a retirement home.

She leaned back in her seat while she looked over at the nearby clock. Her break was almost done, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something. All she could tell was that Kathie had decided to travel the world. Megan went through all the pictures again, and she knew that there wasn’t some rich guy in her ex-coworker’s life. She didn’t seem like a sugar baby or a private escort.

Of course, it wasn’t like Megan was afraid to ask Kathie what she’d been up to. Apparently, Kathie had won the lottery or something, and so she decided to let loose and live off of her winnings. Megan had seen dozens of videos of her flirting with Russian and German men on her journeys as a tourist. To top it all off, as a back up, Kathie had apparently started her own drop shipping business with a relative, so she was funding everything to hopefully make a decent return. On top of that, Kathie had apparently started an animal sanctuary somewhere in Texas – she was doing a lot more than what she had been doing as a cashier making minimum wage.

Sipping from the last of her can of pop, Megan rinsed it before chucking it into the nearby recycling bin. The soda left a bitter taste in her mouth as she sighed. Ada had been the centerpiece to their daytime crew Too. The elderly woman had a lot of experience, and she was always the person everybody would go to if they had any issues. The fact that Ada had gone senile or lost her mind made Megan wonder if she should visit her. “I probably shouldn’t,” Megan whispered. It was probably for the best – she had nothing but bad experiences when it came to this type of thing. Thinking of Ada only made her think about her grandparents suffering from their dementias, so she decided to mind her own business. After all, she had her own life to worry about.

It wasn’t like she had to think about Ada or Kathie. A year had gone by since Kathie quit her job, yet working at the store wasn’t the same. The good times they shared were probably what kept forcing Megan to think back to the good old days. These days, the supermarket constantly looked for new workers, and she was a little sick of being the last of their hiring wave. Everybody who she had started with had quit by then. It was starting to feel like a dead end for Megan.

Sighing, she got up and returned to her shift. As Megan continued to ring through customers, her heart grew heavier with each transaction. The smiles felt more forced, and the greetings felt more hollow. The realization hit her like a tidal wave: she didn’t want this life anymore. She craved the freedom and adventure that Kathie had found, so she decided it would also be her time to leave the supermarket. After all, work was only temporary – life was more important than what she was doing now. Thinking of Kathie living her best life made Megan realize that there was so much more out there.