Getting to Know Him

Articles

Holly Winter
Living The Life Of Holly

Getting to Know Him
Apr. 18, 2003

Oh. Come on. It is fun getting to know someone. Admit it. Sure. Darlin-man has been spending tons of time trying to convince me that dust doesn’t fall on his counters. He spent three days cleaning before I visited his house for the first time. Oh. I know. Me too. I had a slew of fashion designers help me pick out the clothes for our first date. You know how it is. He wears button down shirts that have been ironed. I wear stockings that are brand new.

I thought that it was pretty cute when I got the first tour of his house. I could tell by the way the dog was following us around that I was getting to see rooms that he had never been in before. And. Who wouldn’t like a tour that was conducted by him holding me in a long hug from behind?

As we moved from room to room he told furniture stories.

“The dog sleeps on that couch. You might not want to sit there.”

“Thanks for the warning.” I said, patting the dog on the head.

And there were wonderful stories about the painting over the mantle.

“And this guy sold it to us on the street in Paris. He promised to mail it to us. We never thought that we would see it again…”

He did get a gold star for having such a clean house. But. I wanted to look in the freezer. You know. Bachelor. Freezer. I reached for it. He pulled me away.

“Why do you want to look in there?” He asked, suspiciously.

“Just wondering what you have in the freezer. I said, slowly.

“But. I didn’t organize the freezer.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“I didn’t think that you would be looking in there.” He said, dread creeping into his voice.

Oh. Now, you know how it is. Now it was the ONLY place I wanted to look. I lunged before he had the chance to stop me. He let out a little gasp, but it was too late. I saw it all.

The freezer in its entirety. It was filled with frozen everything. Spaghetti. Pastas. Everything Stouffers. It was a bachelors dream freezer. I laughed at him.

“Why is that funny?” He asked, embarrassed.

“Men. Men and their freezers.” I said, kissing him.

See. That is the best thing about dating. Finding out the important parts about people’s lives. Now. Whenever I have a cute little card for him, you know where I leave it. In the freezer. He finds it within hours.

Oh. Sure. I have to go out of my way to have my place clean before he comes over too. But. My biggest challenge is my clothing. The problem is that I scaled down my clothes last fall a little too rigidly. I figured that I would use my nest egg to buy some new clothes, never knowing that I would have a medical emergency that would have me living off my nest egg, rather than using it to buy a new wardrobe.

So. On our first warm weather date I fretted over what to wear. I only had a few choices. It was a weeknight date. We were just going to do a quick dinner. I didn’t want to be too dressed up, but I didn’t want to be too casual. But here it was seventy five degrees and I wanted to wear a summery dress.

I was surprised to find a short black summer dress hanging in my closet that I thought I had sent it on to Goodwill last fall, since it was already overrepresented in my photo album. It was sort of a good weeknight dress, which is why I had bought it to begin with.

Well. That is the joy of dating someone new. Right? He would never know that that dress was due for the slaughterhouse. So. I chose that dress and a very simple pair of open toed shoes. Cause. Comfort is always tops when it comes to me and dressing.

“Nice, nice pedicure.” He smiled as he helped me into the car.

Oh. Good. Guess I better get back to work so I can get those cheap New York City pedicures more often.

We got to the restaurant and sat at a cozy table.

“You feeling adventurous?” He asked.

“Yes.” I smiled.

“Cause this is a French restaurant. We don’t know our French wines yet.”

“We don’t know any wines yet.”

“I thought maybe I should get an Italian wine. That way the waiter would think we know our wines. We would fake him out, what do you think?” He asked.

“Oh. Very clever.”

“I thought so too.” He said, opening the wine menu.

He ordered the wine and leaned over to me.

“That is a hot dress you’re wearing.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. I know. It was as if I was expecting him to admonish me by saying ‘That dress is a bit five years old, no?’

He quickly corrected himself. “Hey. I mean. YOU look very hot in that dress.”

I laughed. “Thank you.”

He leaned forward. I could see that he was perspiring. His breathing was a bit labored. “Do you think that maybe you could wear that dress on every date?” He asked, staring into my eyes.

Ok. Remind me to hide the photo albums.

“Yes. I would be willing to do that. Cause. For a tall guy, you are a bit ok.” I said, leaning in a bit to intensify that fever.

About the author: Holly Winter is a teacher and a writer and a flight attendant living in Denver, Colorado, USA. She can be reached at her website or email: Holly@livingthelifeofholly.com

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