Wedding Invitation
Henry was tall and handsome, probably still is, though Sue hadn't seen him for a couple of years now. Sue and Eddie met in college, got married after graduation, came to bay area together, both studied computers, found jobs afterwards, bought a house and had two kids. Henry went to the east coast with his then girlfriend Terry. Henry studied Electrical Engineering and Terry studied TESOL. After Henry got his Master's, he went to work for one of the baby Bells while Terry pursuing a Doctoral degree in teaching. Sue did not know Terry well. She had seen Terry once or twice in parties where Henry brought her. Slim, prominent features, pretty, Sue remembered. All through college, there were quite a few pretty girls that accompanied Henry to parties but none of them lasted. Apparently Terry did.
Four years ago, Eddie got an email from Henry saying he had accepted an offer from one of the red hot companies in this area and was ready to relocate over. Henry had also attached Terry's resume with the email asking Sue and Eddie to see if there were jobs suitable for her. Terry's resume revealed that she had side-tracked from her doctoral program for the past years. She'd been taking computer related technical courses. Sue got Terry a job as a technical writer in her group. Sue herself is a software engineer. Sue and Terry reported to different project leaders but everybody, about thirty or so members of this User Interface group reported to one manager. More than half of the group members were Asian, most of them engineers like sue. The other half, engineers, a few tech writers, a couple of the support staff and of course the group manager, were Caucasian. Sue did not mind at all that the group manager Phil was non-technical, MBA-trained white male. He seemed to be doing his job well, bringing in enough budget to give out generous bonuses and raises. Mostly, sue dealt with her project lead, who is Asian, anyway. Besides, Phil was quite approachable, when he's not in one of those management meetings, he was known to chat with the engineers and other group members quite a lot, a very personable person.
Because of the proximity at work, Terry and Sue had developed a friendship. They would have lunch together often and stopped by each other's cubes at coffee breaks. Inevitably, conversation would turn to Terry and Henry's relationship. Sue did not mean to pry but was still curious about their plan, especially about marriage. Terry's answer: the subject had never been brought up between them. Terry seemed quite independent at work, and popular too, being single, pretty and Asian. Whenever Sue stopped by Terry's cube, there was always someone there talking to her. Sue had even seen Phil a few times, talking enthusiastically in Terry's cube. There was traffic in Sue's cube too, being one of the very few women engineers, but definitely not as busy as Terry's. There was nothing beyond office conversations. Most of their male co-worker were married. Only one of the support staff, one of the engineer, who was said to be gay, and Phil were known to be single. Though Terry had confided with Sue that once the single male support staff had tried to ask her out.
Terry and Henry had remained a couple. They shared a two bedroom apartment. Henry had little to worry about if he ever worried at all. None of the co-workers of Terry's had his appearance, nor his stock options. Terry was not tempted either. There had been that male support staff and an engineer from another group approaching her but she showed no sign of wavering. That is until the Tahoe ski trip.
Phil loved to ski and had kept a cabin up on the west side of Tahoe. One weekend close to Christmas, he had unofficially invited several ski-junkies in the group to go with him and stay in his cabin. Sue was not at all interested in skiing and was not in the loop. It totally surprised her to learn that Terry was going too. Apparently Terry learned to ski when she was on the east coast and loved to try out the famous slopes of Tahoe but Henry, not a ski fan himself, was not interested enough, nor could he find time among hectic release schedules to accompany Terry. Terry went without Henry.
After the ski trip, Sue started to hear rumors. Once in the lady's room, Phil's admin. Carol asked Sue whether she knew anything was going on between Terry and Phil. Sue won't have known. Terry hadn't mentioned anything to her. Sue asked why Carol would think there was anything going on at all. Carol did not substantiate her suspicion but went on gossiping about Phil's failed romance with one of her acquaintances. It turned out that Phil was quite a womanizer. Phil did have a way with people. He could engage in conversation with almost anybody. He was quick to grasp what's important to the person he's dealing with and would use that to his advantage. Sue had noticed that about him but so far Phil had been anything but to Sue's advantage. In group town hall meeting, Phil had listened to complaints by group members and made improvement accordingly. As to bonus and raises, Sue had never been overlooked. Being a woman, Sue hadn't felt any advances from Phil at all, though she usually enjoyed her conversation with Phil. Perhaps, Sue thought, because she was married and perhaps because she was plain.
Sue could have been influenced by the rumors. She started to see things. Once, she saw Terry and Phil engaged in conversation, Terry seemed to be flushing a little. Once in a group town hall, Phil seemed to have gazed at Terry a little more intensely than usual. Terry still hadn't mentioned anything to Sue. Sue couldn't resist but ask.
"Phil seems to like you", sue said jokingly over lunch. Terry flushed and Sue paused.
"Well, he is good with people." Terry responded. Sue could not but agree. "I won't take him too seriously" Terry offered. i
That response aroused curiosity in Sue. "Has he made a pass at you?"
"No." Terry thought about the attention Phil had given her, the inquiries he had made after her well-beings. Those were hardly passes. She liked the attention, though.
"He seemed to be talking to you a lot."
"Oh, really." Terry did not want to admit. "I guess we share the same interests."
"You mean like skiing. How was the ski trip." Now that Sue's been reminded.
"It was fun. Phil's cabin was really nice. You can see the lake from up there. And there was nothing like sipping a glass of wine by the fire after a full day's skiing."
"It must be very romantic."
Terry looked at Sue feeling challenged and answered "Yes, it was."
It was apparent what Sue's getting at. Terry paused then asked Sue what she had thought about her relationship with Eddie and whether she find the protocols between man and woman different in the western culture. Sue commented that a lot of the western courtship ritual appear to be superficial and that kids are the anchors in her relationship with Eddie.
"Henry and I, we are not married. He never asked me to. Sometimes I wonder whether he is waiting for someone better to show up."
"Have you asked him why he has not ask you to marry him?"
"No. In fact, I'd rather that he does not ask, cause I don't really know what the answer will be. Everyone, including myself, takes a look at Henry and sees his physique. Everybody thinks he is a good catch. I had felt there was something missing but the hunch wasn't strong enough and there wasn't really anything to challenge my feeling."
"And now there is?"
"I have been thinking a lot about what makes life worth while and wonder about what passionately in love feels like."
"Marriage is not entirely about love and the least about passion."
"I am not talking about marriage. I just want to experience it."
"What if the love you feel is not reciprocal?"
"I don't think it's fair to settle simply because I am afraid."
"Henry is hardly a settle."
"Maybe to you."
"You are right. I don't know him as well as you do. But I don't see the point of giving up your relationship with Henry for Phil."
"What makes you think Phil has anything to do with this?"
"Does he?"
"Maybe he does, but not in the sense that you think he does. Like I said he never made a pass at me, not on that ski trip nor at work."
"But you like him."
Terry nodded.
"What are you going to do then?"
"I don't know."
One day late at work, Sue was finishing up on her assignment and sent a few files over to the printer. She walked over to the printer room. Most people had gone home already. Only a few engineers were left. On her way, she passed Phil's office and saw Terry's in there talking to Phil. The door was closed so she couldn't hear anything. Terry's back was to the door so she couldn't see her face. Phil looked dead serious. Sue was too curious so she took her printout and went back to her cube to work some more waiting for Terry to come out. Terry finally did. When Terry walked by Sue's cube, Sue went after her and followed Terry to Terry's cube. Terry looked distressed.
"What happened?" Sue asked eagerly.
"I told him about my feeling." Terry's voice shook a little. "And he was surprised. He said he was sure he did not lead me on. I never said he did." Terry sighed.
Sue gave Terry a few pats on the back hoping to soothe her disappointment. At this time, Phil poked his head into Terry's cube, saw Sue, nodded, studied Terry, said good night and left.
Terry smiled back. After making sure Phil had left, Terry shook her head and proposed that Sue went home and left her alone.
"Don't do anything silly."
"I won't."
Early next day morning, Sue saw Phil in Terry's cube. Sue lingered on trying to overhear the conversation but Phil was simply asking after Terry's well being. At lunch time Sue asked Terry to join her. She did but all through lunch Terry kept silent about the night before. A few days passed. Nothing seemed to have been going on. Weeks passed. Terry came over to Sue's cube one day and announced she's leaving for another tech writer's job at a company across the bay.
"It's going to be a long commute for you" Sue commented.
"I have found an apartment nearby."
"You are moving out?"
Terry nodded.
"But why? I thought there was nothing going on between you and Phil."
"There wasn't. But I don't think I can pretend that everything is dandy between Henry and me."
"You need some time to cool off."
"Yes I do. But don't expect he will be waiting for me with open arms."
They never did go back together, Terry and Henry. Sue felt somewhat responsible. For sometime Sue looked at Phil critically and tended to read things into everything he did or said. Fortunately not for long, Phil got a promotion and moved on to greener pasture not long after. As to Terry, last time Sue heard, she had went back to school and moved back to the east coast. And Henry, who got his stock options vested for two year's worth, took the money and went down to LA to start a company with a few friends. Sue's glad to see Henry getting married. Mostly because she longer have to feel responsible for his breakup with Terry. She wondered though whether he had met his match and fell passionately in love this time.