He spotted Sheila when she stepped into the coffee shop. He waved at her, and she headed straight toward them and stepped into line next to Alejandro.

“You sure you want to teach them that cutting in line is fair?” he asked, gesturing at the line of students that had formed behind them like magic. This was campus coffee shop rush hour.

Sheila turned to him with a mischievous smile on her face. “We’re historians, not philosophers. All we do is teach them life isn’t fair.”

“That’s harsh, Dr. Meyer,” a student yelled from somewhere down the line.

Sheila turned and squinted at them. “Shannon, have you done the reading for today?” she called.

“I have,” Shannon yelled back, “and you’re being a Gilded Age baron right now, FYI.”

Mike stifled a puff of laughter, and Alejandro smiled.

Sheila broke into a wide smile at her student. “I like the analogy. Five extra credit points.”

“Nice,” Shannon yelled back.

She turned to Alejandro with a wink. “Every moment is a teachable moment,” she said before turning forward again.

The line moved faster than it normally did at this time. Alejandro, Mike, and Sheila ordered and then stepped aside to wait for their drinks.

Out of the blue, Sheila turned to him and peered at him with focused intent. “Are you seeing anyone?” She asked the question lightly, as if, during eight years in the department, they’d ever talked about his personal life, or as if this was a normal question to ask a colleague.

They’d talked about her personal life several times.

Alejandro had always found that it was very common for married faculty to share details of their personal lives without any prompting, and because he was collegial, he listened to them unload about the trials and tribulations of their relationships and children’s lives and inadvertently learned more about them than he ever wanted to know. But part of the reason Alejandro listened was because he didn’t want to share. He was shocked at how easy it was for his colleagues to tell him about their lives and never ask about his as if he was their therapist. It was rude, but it made it easier to keep his private life private. And the few times someone asked about his relationship status, he tended toward tightlipped, short responses and waited for the conversation to move along.

But Sheila’s question came as a surprise, and Alejandro was unprepared for the overwhelming urge he felt to tell her that he was seeing someone.

“Um,” Alejandro muttered, stalling for time. “Why do you ask?”

In the corner of his eye, he saw Mike turn away to hide his laughter.

Sheila shrugged. “No reason. I just realized that I’ve never asked you that before, and I feel like I know everyone’s situation but yours.”