It was Friday night and I was a little nervous, although not so much because Linda and Nick were there. Linda, a colleague of mine, had been haranguing me for months to let her fix me up with this guy, a friend of Nick’s, but I was tired of the dating scene and not at all interested in a blind date. Then, on a work trip won as a sales incentive by our entire department, I met her husband Nick, and he started in on me, too. “You’ve got to meet him! You’re perfect for each other…he’s European and you lived in Europe!” Finally, I consented, on the condition that it was a double date.
Linda had assured me that he was quiet, polite, funny and “a snappy dresser.” This, of course, made me notice that he was, in fact, well turned-out when he arrived just after I did at Nick and Linda’s condo out in the burbs. The four of us headed out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and afterwards we decided to rent a couple of movies and go back to the condo to watch them. It took us forever, amid much laughter, to pick out 2 movies that we could agree on, and we finally ended up with a Wesley Snipes action film and Neapolitan, an Italian movie which I had already seen and loved. Back at the condo, Nick and Linda made a blanket and pillow nest on the floor, while Anders and I sat together on the couch. We sort of half-watched the movie, much more interested in each other and our conversation than whether or not Wesley could save the day. Nick and Linda discreetly left us to talk without butting in much. By the end of the second movie, which neither one of us saw anything of, because our concentration was all for each other, it was into the wee hours, and Linda and Nick were asleep on the floor. I felt like we were the guests that wouldn’t leave, but I didn’t want the evening to end.
Finally, we headed out, and Linda told me later she was craning her neck out the upstairs window to see if he kissed me at the car and when he did, she was squealing “He kissed her! He kissed her!” while Nick shushed her in fear we had heard. I gave Anders my business card with my phone number on it and drove back to the city without seeing the road.
On Sunday we went to see Sirens. Anders picked me up in his Porsche (swwooon) and we probably had dinner too but damned if I can remember a thing about it. In the car, after the movie, he played Swedish reggae for me, my first introduction to Peps Persson. On Tuesday he came downtown to see me after work, and that was it. 3 dates in 5 days and we both knew the search was over.
10 years, a marriage, a move overseas, a house, and 2 children. Happy 10th Day-We-Met-Anniversary, honey. I love you.