After our last date, Kevin and I kept in touch. We began
sending each other fun and outlandish ‘get to know you’ questions, movie quotes,
and silly stuff from the internet. We also started to talk on the phone, which
feels strangely nostalgic and quite nice. I was still feeling a little hesitant
because things with Kevin seemed to be moving faster than what I’m guessing is
normal from my oh-so-worldly experience of dating so far (33 dates and
counting, so not insignificant). But I was also starting to get a feel for his
personality and sense of humour, which helped.
The plan for Sunday was for me to meet him at his house
where we would go for an afternoon walk, then he would make me dinner before my
volleyball game. The timing wasn’t fully set, so I was pacing and folding socks
and watching Jeopardy when he texted me a Sherlock Holmes quotation: “Come at
once, if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.” Sounds demanding and
snotty, but I’m a fan of a good A.C. Doyle line.
I looked up my route to Kevin’s house, changed shirts,
tossed a pile of unfolded socks onto my bed, packed my volleyball gear, poured
my tea into a to-go mug and headed out. The weather outside had turned nasty,
with freezing rain leaking down from a concrete-coloured sky. I figured this
would change our plans to go for a walk, so I ran back into the house to grab a
movie, just in case. (In the course of our movie quote texting, I’d realized
that he has never seen The Princess Bride, and was determined to change that.) I
put on a fun playlist and sang my way south to Kevin’s, arriving in good time.
Kevin met me at the door. I went inside, met his roommate, who lives upstairs
and followed him downstairs to where he lives. He kissed me and said “Hello.” 
We decided to go for a walk, it wasn’t snow-raining as
badly in his neighbourhood, so I agreed, but grabbed my toque from my purse and
decided to roll with it. The sleet started up again as we walked along the
river valley. We were saved by the fact that it wasn’t very windy, but my
glasses were useless and taking them off somewhat negated the gorgeous view. He
lamented that I wasn’t really dressed properly, but I told him I was fine. I
actually was. It wasn't just pride or bravado or my pervasive fear of being girly. I was ok. After an hour, he was the reasonable one who turned back, because
I likely would have kept walking until I was soaked through and freezing and
then would have had to trudge home, barely surviving.
 |
| Now why didn't I think of playing strip cribbage? |
We returned to his house and went back down to the
basement. I snooped at everything that was sitting out on shelves or coffee
tables. I mostly noticed workout equipment, Kevin’s daughter’s drawings and
toys, cook books, Wilbur Smith novels, some framed photos, some German books
and board games. He unearthed a cribbage board and a deck of cards and we sat
down to play. He played confidently and counted quickly and we were pretty much
evenly matched. I won the third tiebreaker game by a single point.
It was chilly in the basement. We drank some scotch while
playing cards, but my hands were icy. On an impish impulse, I put a hand on the
back of Kevin’s neck. He got me a blanket.
We went upstairs and I boiled water for tea while he made
dinner. It was spaghetti bolognaise with roasted red peppers and plenty of
cheese on top. Deliciousness. We finished dinner and packed the Tupperware I’d
brought (on his excellent advice) with leftovers for lunch on Monday. Then it
was time to go to volleyball. I handed him my copy of The Princess Bride and
told him to watch it. He kissed me goodbye, and I rushed back off into the icy
rain.
It turns out that there was dessert as well, but we forgot about it. Maybe next time.
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