I didn’t have any plans with Ray or Tom for the weekend even though Tom was trying unsuccessfully to woo me via my space messages. Ray on the other hand had the advantage of working with me and used my new tattoo to get close to me each day to exam the progress of its healing.

My birthday is a week before the holidays and is prime time for everyone’s holiday parties so we all had several parties to attend that weekend anyway.

Ruca and Sara wanted me to talk to Ray about where our relationship was headed. I told them that we didn’t exactly have a relationship and I wasn’t concerned. Ray and I didn’t have any plans set and I knew that the holidays were concerning him. He’d already expressed that he intended to spend the holidays alone. After telling the girls that I wasn’t worried about Ray, I walked over to visit him in his office as I do on a daily basis now. Ray and I bantered about nothing much and then he realized that we hadn’t set up a “play date” as he put it. I mentioned that I knew that he’d be stressed on Monday night and it might be a great night to play and relieve some of his stress. He agreed and we had a date for the night after my birthday.

On Sunday Ray and Tom both called to wish me a happy birthday. Ray and I talked right before my spin class and he joked about how turning thirty-five made me a full fledged woman and gave me hope that our age differences weren’t bothering him as much now that I’d reached a milestone year.

My birthday was everything I’d hoped for from getting to pick the songs the instructor used in spin class, to having my girlfriends over for brunch at my place to having an evening all to myself. I couldn’t have planned a better day except to have Ray in my bed that night.