The next morning was my birthday. I woke up to lots of cards, which was really nice, and also had a few text messages. One card was from H, so he did remember. Inside he'd written a message that almost exactly mirrored the message I'd written in his birthday card. I was a bit disappointed by it- some originality would have been nice rather than just copying my message exactly. He also texted me later saying Happy Birthday and we should meet up. I replied with a friendly text saying yes, definitely and then got....nothing! I must have scared him into his cave. Something's changed with H- I can't tell what it is, but he seems to be cycling at poking his head out of the cave briefly and then withdrawing again almost immediately. Maybe he's in the withdrawal stage of his MLC now. I wonder but don't think there's any way of finding out for sure.
I didn't hear from CEO until mid-morning. 2 missed calls and then I got a terse text message....
CEO: I tried to call but you seem to be ignoring me. Anyway, Happy Birthday. Have a lovely day. CEO Me: Thankyou! I'm sorry I missed your call...I was in the shower but that's really sweet of you to remember and it makes up for me not getting to see you today. L. CEO: In that case maybe I can invite you to lunch if you're free today.....
So we met at his house (it's almost finished now and it's absolutely stunning) and he showed me around. Gosh, I really love that house, it's like being in a historical drama. Then we went out to Old Spitalfields Market and looked around the antiques market for a bit. One stall had an array of pickled biological specimens which I thought were really interesting. What CEO thought was interesting was that in among the jars of specimens were 70s porn magazines. We looked at those a bit. How odd to be standing at a market stall looking at, and laughing about, porn with your boss.
At lunch we talked about why I'd been in a bad mood the night before. He said he'd really felt unwanted and unwelcome when I said he should go. I felt terrible because I didn't want him to go- I was just teasing him. I apologised but still felt bad about it afterwards. We also talked about how he thinks I'm sensitive, and about whether my family had remembered my birthday (they tend to forget). When I told him that he said 'well, I called you and texted you and now I'm taking you out. Isn't this a nice birthday present?'. At the end of lunch he was watching me eat and looking so intense. It was really difficult to actually eat properly in the face of it. I kept looking up and seeing him just watching me.
After lunch we went back to his house, made tea and sat in his garden for an hour or so talking to each other and the builders (who were installing his pond). It was nice- really comfortable to be there.
It was a bit awkward saying goodbye when I left. I thought maybe I should give him a kiss (on the cheek) to say thankyou for the lunch/shopping, but I didn't. He's a bit tall for me to reach without him bending down a little, and, I don't know, it just didn't seem like the time was right. Maybe I should have tried... In the end he just said that he wouldn't see me until next Thursday and would I be OK without him. I said no, and that I'd be pining the whole week and he laughed.
