I couldn’t believe what I’d heard, did she really just say that?
It had been a month since our third date, and here we were now on our fourth. Our first three dates were casual affairs. 30 minutes at a low key coffee shop. The second, a simple walk around Cal Anderson park. For the third we walked from Ballard locks to the shore in Discovery park and sat as the sun set behind the Olympic mountains. With each date we’d gotten closer.
On our second date, we held hands as we walked and parted with a kiss that held all the charge of anticipation. As we watched the sun setting on our third date, we were in full contact. I held her tightly around her firm waist, to feel every breath. Our bodies pressed side by side, from shoulders to calves, while we talked.
It was a rare connection. We are both busy executives, constantly traveling to visit customers and offices until the pandemic lockdown kept us working from home. We talked about our favorite coffee shops in San Francisco, New York, and London, as if the world were our neighborhood. We shared a small sigh at how many people never seem to get to the point quickly enough and just vent at life rather than steer towards a better outcome.