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And although he’d been showing me how he felt for quite some time, it was still surprising to hear him say he wanted to be with me. I’d meant it when I said he was out of my league, but it seemed he saw things in me that I didn’t see in myself.
So, where did we go from here? I had no idea how to date or be in a relationship. Timothy meant the world to me, and I knew I needed him in my life. But this thing we were building was new and fragile, and I was scared of ruining it.
I was also well aware that I was overthinking everything, and I really needed to stop doing that. Fortunately, Maureen interrupted my spiraling thoughts by knocking on my open door and asking, “Do you have a minute?” When I nodded, she came in carrying a greeting card and said, “It’s Mary the clerical assistant’s birthday, so I need you to sign this.”
“I know who Mary is,” I said, as I picked up a pen. “She’s worked here for almost a year, so there was no need to tack on her job title.”
“Just making sure.”
“We should get her something.”
“We did. The office sent her flowers, and I brought cupcakes, just like we do any time there’s a birthday. We’re going to have a mini celebration at two in the break room, and you’re welcome to join in.”
“I will. Please remind me right before it begins.” The card’s interior was crowded with messages and signatures, and after I found a place to squeeze mine in, I handed it back to Maureen.
“Will do.” She glanced at what I’d written and asked, “Did you mean to sign it like that?”
“Like what?”
“You wrote, ‘best wishes, Aleksei.’ You never use your first name with your staff.”
“I didn’t even realize I did that. But I suppose it’s overly formal and old-fashioned to go by Mr. Volkov around here, so maybe it’s time for a change.” Maureen stared at me as she took a seat on the other side of my desk, and I muttered, “If you make a big deal of this, I’m going to instantly regret my decision.”
“No, don’t do that. It’s a good thing. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
I twirled the pen absently as I said, “I’m not sure when I started building walls between myself and everyone else. Discouraging my staff from using my first name was just one way I tried to distance myself from them. I’m sure that’s not news to you, but now that I’ve become aware of it, I want you to know I’ll try to change.”
Maureen moved her glasses to the top of her head and smiled at me. “It’s about time.”
“I know.”
“Does all of this have something to do with your PYT?”
“His name is Timothy, and yes, it does. I’ve realized I can’t be this totally closed off person anymore, not if I want to make our relationship work.”
“You’re absolutely right,” she said. “I’d love to meet him, so do you think you might invite him to the office at some point?”
“I can do better than that. Do you and your wife have plans for Friday night?”
“Nothing major. Why, what’s up?”
I put down the pen and pulled four tickets out of my desk drawer. As I handed them to her, I explained, “I signed on to help sponsor this event, and the organizer gave me some tickets as a thank you. Timothy and I will be there, so if you and Lourdes can make it, I’d love to introduce you. Since your daughters are teenagers, I’m not sure if they’d be interested in hanging out with their moms on a Friday night, but here are two extra tickets just in case. If they can’t make it, maybe give them to your friends.”
Maureen took the tickets and said, “Wow, thanks. This is all really surprising, but we’ll be there.”
“That’s great. Now I just need to track down a vintage tuxedo for the prom theme, and I’ll be all set.”
She leapt to her feet and said, “I’m on it.”
“You don’t have to—”
“No, I want to. I’m your assistant, so let me assist! I’m not stopping with the tux, either.”
“What does that mean?”
Maureen flashed me a smile. “You’ll see. Thanks for the tickets, Aleksei. I’m going to go call my wife and tell her about Friday.”
After she left, I checked the time and sent Timothy a message. It said: Thinking of you and checking to make sure you survived surfing.
He replied a few seconds later with: Yup, I failed to drown, and that was the last of my surfing lessons. Not sure what sport I’ll try next.
I asked: Do you have a few minutes to talk?
He called me right away and said, “Hi Alyosha. How’s your day going?”
The nickname made me smile. It was common in the Russian language to add -sha to the first part of a name to show affection, so Mikhail became Misha, and so on. When Timothy used that nickname, it was a way of saying he cared about me.
