Red Zone
I’ve been very busy the past few weeks, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t done a few meet and greets. I’ll do a simple list here, and then I’ll elaborate on one.
Mark lives in Suffolk with one of his two grown sons. He met me two days before leaving for Idaho for 3 months for work. He didn’t tell me this until we met, in his words, “in case it scared you away.” He’s a nice guy, and we agreed to keep in touch while he is in Idaho.
Jason lives in Norfolk, and we met at MacArthur Mall. I wanted to visit Black House │White Market anyway. I don’t think Jason’s photos were old, but they were decidedly complimentary. I’m going to hell for such thoughts, but as soon as he walked up, I thought Mr. Potato Head. His hair is brown and there’s a lot of it emphasizing a receding hairline and the shape of his face… to explain my Potato Head thought. He definitely needs to hit a good hairdresser.
Alex lives in Williamsburg. He insisted on meeting me in Virginia Beach, even though I had no problem meeting him half way.
Because he didn’t have a profile photo, he sent me a few via email. His job, he explained, was such that he didn’t like to post photos. He was handsome; classically. His height was listed as 6’ 2”, so I wondered via email why he was on a dating website. He responded that the hours he worked made it difficult to meet dates. OK…He didn’t tell me the exact nature of his job, but said he was an investigator.
When we met at Burton’s Grill at hilltop, shallow, shallow me… I was pleased to see he looked like his photos: Tall and fit, with nicely cut dark brown hair shot through with just a little grey. He wore Levis, boots, and an open collared button down shirt. It was happy hour, so he had saved me a seat to his right. I sat, and we ordered drinks: wine for me; Jack and Coke for him.
He has one child who will graduate from high school in June. My only child just graduated from college, so we chatted easily about the “loss”. It was clear from the conversation that he’s a good dad, but he reinforced my thoughts by whipping out a wallet filled with photos of her. Our conversation moved to family, and then to things we like to do for fun.
I was enjoying myself, and it was obvious he was too. We ordered appetizers to share, and he ordered another drink. I refused the offer of a second glass of wine because without a heavy meal and a lot of time, I don’t like to drink more than one when driving. He liked that. It turns out he’s a State Trooper. Our conversation moved to drinking laws and other laws.
By that time, we had become quite comfortable with each other. He shifted his chair to face me a bit and leaned in just a tad with his body. I didn’t mind. The attraction was definitely mutual. I was even thinking I’d see my sister in Yorktown more frequently because dating this guy would mean taking turns travelling the bridge tunnel … ugh… and over the tourist season. Yep… I was doing some forward planning.
He shifted his chair again and moved closer and to fully face me. I did not move away. He reached across with his left hand to touch my sleeve. I looked to see a distinct tan line and indentation from a ring on his ring finger. I reached out with my right hand and held his hand.
A smile spread across his face showing a dimple on his left cheek.
“What’s this?” I asked.
The smile disappeared. “Oh I’m out in the sun a lot, and I used to wear a ring even after the separation.”
“You listed yourself as divorced, and there’s an indentation from recent wear.”
He looked at me. I looked at him waiting for further lies.
“Okay! Busted! Is that a deal breaker?” The tilt of his head accompanied with a charming grin showed he was used to a positive response to his question.
“Ya think?”
Siggggggggggggggggh!
52datesin52weeksblog 