A couple of days later, Alexander informed me from Russia that the so-called business tour had been restructured due to unforeseen circumstances and would delay him a bit, and that he would not be able to return to Wyoming on the promised date. I made my best effort to hide how much it discouraged me to hear that (even if it wasn’t his fault, after all), but in the end I managed to wish him the best and ask him not to overwhelm himself so much with work. It was very noticeable in his voice that Alexander was more disappointed than I was about the setback, and he assured me that he would do everything possible to make it up to me.
As if I needed that. The only thing I asked of him (between laughs, since it amused me a little how exaggeratedly frustrated he sounded) was that he give me his
