“Sit down, Teri. It’s good to see you.”

I straightened my skirt, making sure I smoothed it before I sat. I wondered just how wrinkled it would be when I stood up.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine, sir. Just fine.”

“How’s Juliet?”

I frowned. “Juliet, sir? The last time I saw her was at the lawyer’s office. That was seven months ago. I see the kids once a week, but I have to pick them up at her mother’s house.”

My boss frowned. “I’m sorry. I just saw the ring and, well, thought the two of you were trying to work things out.”

I touched the ring. It was thinner now. I’d gone to a jeweler and had it reduced to fit my finger. The big, thick heavy one I used to wear wouldn’t fit anymore. Losing seventy-five pounds had changed my body enough that nothing fit anymore. Not that I’d be wearing anything from my old life anyway.

No. I wore it as a reminder of what was. And to keep strangers from approaching me. I’m not ready to make small talk and well. I sighed. I was just not ready.

My boss looked uncomfortable. “Uh, that’s why I called you in. Well, we haven’t talked in a long time, and I just wanted to catch up.”

There really wasn’t a reason to come into his office. My own job was working remotely, and that hadn’t changed. I still worked in a shared space down in the Village. It was nice. I liked my fellow peeps, who all rented space with me.

Working remotely turned out to be great but lonely. Working from a small, cramped space in my condo was not ideal. I hated getting up in the morning and looking at the desk and the work I abandoned yesterday when I got too tired to see.

So, six months ago, I started renting a Share Space with twenty different people who all paid rent and in turn had their own cubicle. We also had a couple of coffee machines, a few couches, and a social life.

I lied. “Well, it’s good to see you, George. You haven’t changed.” George was fifty pounds overweight and never exercised. He seemed content to be a sedentary slug. It was his way of handling the pressure. And, that was his job. He dealt with the pressure.

George frowned. “Yeah, I’m still fat and getting older. But you look remarkably well. I had heard about your transition and how beautiful you had become, but I resisted just calling you in just to stare at. Maggie said she still had lunches with you and well, she kinda filled me in. But, I didn’t want to be some sort of a pervert and drool all over you.”

I laughed. It came out a little too brittle and thin. All the voice training never prepares you for the unexpected. But, my voice had changed just like the rest of me had. Instead of sounding like a nervous guy, I sounded like a nervous thirty-something woman.

I stood up and impulsively spun on my heels. I figured I’d give George the whole show. I knew he’d been eyeing me up when I walked in, but a slow twirl gave him an opportunity to just look without being shy.

I was proud of my hard work. I liked myself a lot more now. I used to hide my real self inside, keeping the real me suppressed. Then, two years ago, I gave up trying to be someone I wasn’t.

I gave up a lot. I gave up the love of my life, my children, and everything I knew. But, strangely enough, I was a much happier person. I was working it out.

I still saw my children and had established a good relationship. But, my wife was gone forever. We had been moving apart when I came out, which made it easier to speak the truth.

And once I told her, well, it was easier to tell everyone. And strangely enough, HR had protected me. And when the option came for half of us to work remotely, I took it. The buyout from the company in California had cemented that decision.

George gazed at me with a strange look in his eyes. I got a cold feeling running through my spine as I sat back down. The look was lust.

I’d seen it a lot. That’s why I had my wedding band remade to fit my thinner fingers. A woman with a wedding band was given a bye most of the time. Well, I guess that’s why I took cabs and didn’t like riding the subway alone.

It was strange. My whole perspective had taken a shift. I noticed things from a completely different point of view. Besides being three inches taller in heels, I saw things from that other side. The other side that I should have been born to.