- Fast forward seven years after Dexter's failed relationship with Judy. He is thirty-two years old, and he's living the good (i.e. rich) life in New York.
- A guy named Devlin comes to his office to talk business. This guy mentions that the wife of one of his best friends in Detroit is also from Dexter's home town: maybe Dexter knows her?
- Her name is Judy Simms; she was once Judy Jones. (!)
- Devlin says that he feels a bit sorry for her because her husband, Lud Simms, is a drinker who cheats on her. She doesn't cheat on him, though; she stays at home with the kids.
- Actually, Devlin thinks Judy is a bit old for Lud Simms, but Dexter protests that she is only twenty-seven.
- (Hmm, that's weird. We think Dexter's math is off. When he first sees Judy, he is fourteen and she is eleven. If he is now thirty-two, shouldn't she be twenty-nine?)
- Devlin realizes that Dexter must know her rather well.
- Even though Lud treats her badly, Judy is going to stay with him.
- Dexter cannot understand what Devlin is telling him: that Judy's beauty has faded and that she has settled down. It's all too much to process.
- Devlin leaves and Dexter lies down in his office lounge.
- He feels that he has lost his winter dream, and he weeps for what he can never have.
- But it's not just his dream he's lost: he has also lost that spark he once had. He doesn't even care too much about Judy anymore.
- That romantic boy he used to be is gone forever.