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When I mentioned that, Maureen leaned in like she had something to confess. “Mine’s a wig.” This was not news to me, or to anyone within a twenty-foot radius. It looked like she’d tried to smuggle in Chewbacca on the top of her head.
“For the record,” she continued, “I rocked this look hard in the 80s, but that took a perm, a can of Aqua Net, and a solid hour of ratting and fluffing. I sure as hell don’t have that kind of time and patience these days. My wife Lourdes does, though! She did the girls’ hair and her own, and she was gonna do mine, too. But I told her enough was enough. Her hand was cramping up from all that ratting, so I picked up this Party City number on the way here. I’m not gonna lie, I feel pretty foxy, just like back in the day.” I liked her immediately.
A few minutes later, Aleksei wrapped his arm around my shoulders and said, “Please excuse us for a moment, Maureen. I need Timothy to help me with my bow tie.”
She raised a brow and said, “It looks fine to me.”
He plucked off the clip-on and grinned. “No, it’s come off.” She rolled her eyes, and he said, “I’ll bring him back. I promise.”
With that, he quickly ushered me out a side door, and I told him, “I was right in the middle of falling madly in love with your assistant. Promise me we’ll hang out with her later.”
“I promise. It was just very loud and very busy in there, and I wanted the chance to do this.”
He pulled me close and planted a long, slow, deep kiss on me. When we came up for air, I smiled at him and said, “You could have done that inside, too.”
“I know, but then you would have missed this.”
He turned me to face the bay, and I murmured, “Oh wow.” It was twilight, and the sky was deep purple. In contrast, the water looked golden as it reflected the lights from the warehouse.
I leaned against the railing at the edge of the pier, and Aleksei wrapped his arms around me. “We’ve barely had a chance to talk,” he said. “How was your day?”
“Meh.”
“What did you do?”
“I loafed, drank potent blue cocktails with two of my housemates, got ready, and came here.”
“That sounds better than meh.”
“I know, and I don’t mean to complain. I’ve just felt pretty directionless since I quit my job. Plus, thirty is growing ever nearer, and I feel like I’m gearing up for a premature but full-blown midlife crisis. I just don’t know what’s next for me.”
“You had all those plans to travel,” he said, “so many places you wanted to see.”
“I know.”
“Are you changing your mind about traveling because of me? I’d hate to think I was standing in the way of your dreams.”
I turned to look at him and shook my head. “You’re not. I want to be with you.”
A crease appeared between his brows. “That’s a lot to give up, though.”
Impulsively, I touched his cheek and blurted, “You could come with me, Aleksei. We could travel the world, you and me. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”
“Yes, but there’s my company to consider. My clients and staff depend on me, and I can’t just—”
“No, you’re right. I’m just being silly.” It hurt a little that he dismissed the idea so quickly.
“I could plan a vacation, though. They could live without me for a week. We could go wherever you wanted.”
I could see the worry in his eyes as he said that, the wheels turning as he tried to figure out how exactly he could manage any time away from the office, let alone a week. I smiled at him and tried to let him off the hook. “Traveling isn’t the answer to my pseudo-midlife crisis anyway. You know the old adage, wherever you go, there you are? I can travel to the ends of the earth, but when I get there I still won’t know what I’m meant to be doing with my life.”
Before he could reply, my phone beeped. I pulled it from my pocket and read the text, and then I told him, “It’s from Daniel. He’s going to go and try to find out if his boyfriend’s cheating on him. He’d planned to do that after dinner, but I guess he decided he couldn’t wait.”
“I hope it works out.”
“Me, too.” His phone buzzed, and I attempted to lighten the mood by making a bad joke. “We’re both so popular.”
He read the message and said, “My son just arrived and is looking for me. Come and meet him. He’s up front by the photo booths.”
We went back inside hand-in-hand. There was still so much to say on the subject of work and travel and what we both needed and wanted, but this obviously wasn’t the time.
