In case you’ve gotten a little too holiday happy and missed Chapter 1 of this story

There I was, staring face to face,
with this familiar face,
feeling my heart sink into my feet.

So, of course, I did the obvious thing.
I sped away.

When I was safely out of sight, I pulled over and,
Of course, did the next obvious thing.
I texted him.
I think my text was something along the lines of,
“Um, was that just you in the black VW?”
And his response was something like
“Were you the Camry who cut me off? I was just cursing women drivers”
(disclaimer: my husband does not, actually, have anything against women drivers, he was just making a joke.)
I told him I would call him when I got home.

He was laughing when he picked up the phone.
“Do you want to hear something funny?” He started. “You know the driveway you were pulling out of when you cut me off? That was the house where the shrink lived who I used to see in High School when my parents were getting divorced.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks.
So, of course, at that point, I came clean, right?
Nope, not right.
I, instead, wove an elaborate lie.
I told him that I was just turning around in that driveway on my way home from stopping at my cousins’ house on my way home from the allergist.

I have later asked him about this lie,
If he thought it was at all suspicious or if any of his red flags were raised.
Nope, not at all. He didn’t think twice about this ridiculously implausible story.
What a sweet, trusting soul.
Don’t worry, I told him the truth,
In a very apologetic text message,
Yes, text message,
The very next day.

So, at that point,
After our paths had literally crossed, once again,
I decided I was ready for us to meet.

He came to pick me up at my apartment,
And when I met him outside my building and climbed into his car, I saw him reach into the backseat and heard the sound of plastic rustling.
I figured he was bringing me flowers.
Nice, I thought.
Unnecessary, and a little forced,
And not exactly what I’d expected from him after our conversations,
But nice, nonetheless.

But, to my surprise and delight, when he pulled his hand from the backseat and handed me the package, I saw that it was not, in fact, flowers hat he was handing to me,
But a large package of Rice Krispie Treats.
You see, I had mentioned, in passing, that I liked the Rice Krispie Treats from a certain store,
So he had decided to bring them to me.

See, what did I tell you…
Good food was the key to my heart.
And my husband got that about me, even before he had ever met me.

The next morning, I called my mom to tell her about my date.
I told her that he was really special. That it truly felt like I had known him forever.
What I didn’t know was that she hung up with me and told my dad and my grandmother that I was going to marry this guy.
A mother’s intuition, I guess.

From the moment we met in person, it was as if we had been together for years.
We were beyond comfortable with each other.
Within the first five minutes of meeting, we sat next to each other and were like two puzzle pieces hooking together,
In the most perfect fit.

I don’t remember every minute of our first date,
Or everything that we said to one another,
But I do remember that when he left that night, I couldn’t help but to send him a text that said,
“You’re amazing.”
And he told me that he couldn’t wait to see me again.
And, of course, we didn’t wait long.
From that point on, we were together constantly,
And were always talking when we were apart.

I remember the morning, almost exactly one month later, that I woke up and knew that I loved him.
I remember the night, almost exactly one month after that,
That he finally told me that he loved me,
As I had to be so careful, up until that point, not to blurt it out to him,
A million times before he gave me the “OK” to say it by saying it to me first.
What can I say, I’m a girl. I needed him to say it first.
Although, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t constantly squeezing his hand three times,
Tracing hearts on his back,
Willing him to say it so that I could finally tell him how I really felt.
I remember when I knew he was the one, and that we would always be together and that he was the man I wanted to start a family with in the very near future.

As time went on, we discovered the many connections we’ve had, long before the first “flirt”,
Or the day I cut him off.
And little did we know that there was even more to that story than we even realized….
Stay tuned for Chapter 3,
Because I bet you’ll never guess how this story goes…