After fifteen minutes of story time, prayers, and tucking in, Laura floated down the stairs and sat next to me on the couch. She had lots of seating choices, but the one she selected sent clear signals.

“Ben, I’ve got to be honest,” she said. “Today has been a whole lot different than I imagined when I got up this morning!”

“I know what you mean. I was focused on killing weeds, and instead, it feels like we’ve been planting some seeds for something else to grow!”

I hoped that didn’t sound presumptuous.

“Can something like that happen so quickly?” she asked.

I’m more confident than ever that we are thinking of the same things. I put my hand on her chin to pull her gaze towards me.

“I never thought so, but I can’t explain today other than to say… I’ve never wanted to get to know anybody better, quicker, and deeper than I want to know you!”

I chose to pull her into another embrace. I’m sure she would have accepted a kiss, but I wanted to wait. The moment had to be perfect. I didn’t want to scare her. The speed of this was already potentially alarming.

“So after our heavy talk this afternoon, where do we start?” she asked.

“Why don’t we pick up where we left off,” I suggested, “and just tell each other about ourselves. Oddly enough, the tough stuff seems mostly out of the way. Why don’t you start and tell me about your family, what you do, what you like, what dreams do you have?”

I released her from our embrace and we held hands and talked for hours. I learned she taught third grade and loved it.

“Being around children all day feeds my soul. It gives me hope for our future!” She glowed when she talked about her career.

“What do you do, Ben?”

“Pretty boring, actually. I’m a software engineer. I spend my days treating electrons and clients like children!”

She laughed.

“Actually, I decided when Megan left that I was going to change a lot of things. I quit my job with a large firm downtown, left behind the politics and stifling management team, and started my own company working from home. I was fortunate that I had made a lot of great contacts in the industry and I have a good reputation. So I decided to work for myself as a paid consultant and it’s proven to be the best choice I could ever make.”

We switched to family life. Her parents lived about 50 miles South of Chicago. She has a brother and sister who lived in the area and were both married. Each had 3 kids.

“One of each?”

I can be a smart-ass. She rolled her eyes.

“Each has two girls and one boy, you idiot!” She playfully smacked me.

“Seriously, though, having them all nearby helped pull me together when all that stuff went down with my husband. Our family is really close. They kept Hanna feeling stable when I was hitting rough patches, and their help was a Godsend when Mattie came along!”

I told her of my family. Mom and Dad were about three hours away in Indiana. I had two brothers and three sisters. All were married and lived near Mom and Dad except my youngest sister who was in college and still lived at home. We were very tight-knit, but the distance made it hard.

Laura loved the outdoors. Hiking, camping, picnics, and the like. She preferred driving trips rather than flying everywhere.

“Driving trips?” I asked. “I like getting there fast and enjoying the destination.”

“Well, the road to Hawaii is a little hard to navigate, I’ll admit!” She snickered. “I don’t hate flying, but a three or four-hour car trip is really nice! For me, getting there is part of the destination.”

A lot of our thoughts, likes, and dislikes were similar but left room for healthy debates. She hated slap-stick comedy, but I loved it. She had no desire to skydive. I pretended to be upset until she realized I wanted nothing to do with it. I hated heights, and so did she. Therefore bungee jumping was out! I liked pretty much any kind of music except bagpipes. She loved them because it spoke to her ancestry. She loved gardening, and I really hated it!

These were all the little things. It gave us a frame of reference for each other. We found lots of compatibility without any roadblocks of consequence.

We talked freely. She has a great sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to use it. It was easy to have playful give and take banter. We were ourselves, and it was so comfortable.

By 10:30, I decided to address two things important to me.

“Okay,” I said. “We covered a lot of things on the get-to-know-you list. If it’s good with you, can we talk about potential elephants in the room?”

“Are you calling me an elephant?” she quipped while playfully smacking me.

“No! Are you kidding?”

Several times she hinted at her insecurities. I couldn’t imagine someone as gorgeous thinking that way about herself. I’d have to deal with that later.

“So, go ahead and tell me about the elephants.” She said with a cute smile.

“It’s sort of an elephant, but it’s based on where my head is right now.”

“Go ahead.” She said.

“I’m making a huge assumption… that we’re on the same page. I want to get to know you because I feel somehow… pulled towards you. I’m feeling a really nice friendship starting, but I can’t help but think that potentially… we could be a lot more than friends.”

There. I put it out there. I tried to look at her with a calm assurance but I’m sure there was some begging in my eyes too.

“Please tell me if I’m on the right track.”

She looked at me with a sheepish smile and her cheeks bloomed into the cutest blush the world had ever seen.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“You’ve assumed correctly!”

“Oh, thank God,” I said with a gust of pent-up breath.

“So is that why I’m an elephant?” she joked.

“Stop that!” I exclaimed matching her humor. “Although I caught on that you never forget anything, so maybe...?”

I received another playful smack. “Come on.” She faked some minor exasperation.

“I don’t think we have a problem, but we don’t know much about each other yet. So I just want to check that something is a non-issue.”

“Is this another elephant?”

“I don’t know. It’s just… well… if things progress as I sincerely hope they will, is our age difference an issue for you? I mean, I don’t know how old you are, but with Hanna being nine, I can guess a range.”

“Oh really?” she smiled. “What range are you guessing?”

“Based on pure biological possibilities,” I speculated with a smile, “and taking nine years into account, you could be anywhere between, let’s see… twenty-two and about fifty!”

“Fifty!” A flurry of playful shoulder slaps battered my shoulder.

“Hey!” I said while protecting myself. “I also said twenty-two, so you could be younger than me!”

She was laughing but she started to bring the conversation around. “Is age an issue for you?”

“No. Not at all,” I replied, trying to impress on her I was telling the truth. “Frankly, and please don’t hit me, if you were fifty I wouldn’t care. Age means nothing to me when it comes to matters of the heart! I don’t think we’re that far apart, but I want to eliminate anything that could come up down the road.”

“How old are you?” she asked.

“I’m twenty-seven.” I paused, then added with a smile, “and seven-eighths.”

“So, almost twenty-eight you’re saying?” she said with a grin. “I don’t know. You may be too old for me.”

I pressed my luck and gave her a little tickle in the ribs for that. I was rewarded with a sequel, a big smile, and she leaned into my arm.

She took my hand with both of hers and pulled my attention to her. “I’m thirty-three…and a half,” she declared with a deep grin. “And I don’t think it matters at all if you don’t.”

“I don’t think it matters in the least!” I assured her. “That was a nice… non-issue!”

“Are you looking for issues?” She snuggled back into my shoulder.

“I don’t think so. It’s just… we seem to be so good for each other and… I’m… well, really… we’re both coming off some relationship disasters. I’m having trouble believing how quickly I’m feeling pulled toward you.”

She reflected a moment. “I get it. Is it too good to be true? I’d like to find out too!”

We had a comfortable silence for a few moments as she snuggled into my arm while still holding my hand.

She quietly shared her thoughts.

“Ben, over the course of one day you’ve shown me the kind of man you are. At twenty-seven, or almost twenty-eight,” she laughed, “a lot of guys are still in college mode or looking to hook up or play the field.”

She paused briefly before continuing. “Listen, I’ve seen the depth of who you are. I know how strongly you feel things. You’ve proven you have stability and a firm handle on life. It feels strange to be comfortable enough to say what I want to say after one day, and I don’t want to scare you away. But, Ben, what I’ve seen today makes me want to explore being a part of your life. You are intriguing. You’re freshly different! Am I totally nuts or misreading today?”

“Maybe we’re both nuts… I don’t know. But this I do know… I wish I knew how to do an Irish jig!”

“What?” She pulled back to look at me.

“You know, an Irish jig. Sorta like the happy dance Snoopy does!”

She gave me a strange smile. “And… why?”

“Because I can’t think of enough words to express my current state of happiness. I think an Irish jig could help!”

“So, you’re saying I’m not misreading the day?”

“Laura, you read perfectly! Scary, huh?”

“A little… but not as much as you’d think. I’m not scared!”

“Funny. Neither am I!” We snuggled.

“Are we still killing elephants?” she said with a wide smile.

“You’ve given me the perfect segue, but from all we just talked about, I really need to give you a hug and do an internal Irish jig for joy!” I pulled her into me and, if possible, I felt our closeness increase even more. Then simultaneously we started to move like we were pretending to jig and laughed at our mutual response.

Staying in the hug, she opened the floor for the next topic. “Now tell me what I inadvertently segued into talking about.”

“You mentioned a firm handle on life. My firm handle, or more my foundation, is my faith. So I’m not bringing up a problem. I’m letting you know that your faith shines through the way you are, who you are, and the things you do. When Hanna said the blessing tonight, the faith in this home and in your family blew me away. So I already know we are in sync with the most important issues we could face.”

Still hugging, but even tighter now, I felt her start to sob into my chest. She pulled back from the hug smiling but with tears freely falling. “You have no idea how happy I am you said that!” she said with absolute joy and emotion. “That’s right where I am!” She moved faster than I thought a human could move, and our lips met like two magnets finally yielding to the force they’ve been fighting for hours.

I felt a surge in me like I never had before. Not like a shock of electricity, but more like a current of pure energy. It wasn’t a long kiss, maybe five seconds. It wasn’t a lustful kiss of passion. Our tongues never met. It was a milestone kiss. It was full of emotion stronger than can be imagined. It was full of an unspoken promise to see where this road would take us. In less than a day, we were now on a path we both desperately wanted to walk together. This road promised to give us a chance for joy and happiness. We both thought those things were beyond our reach before that day. That one, incredible day.

“Wow!” I said with heavy breath.

“Did you feel it too?” she asked with a bright glow about her.

“Oh yeah!”

She snuggled back into an embrace.

After “The Kiss,” the conversation was very warm and more intimate. There were comfortable moments of silence as we contemplated the evening. We talked about glimpses we had of each other over the past year.

“I remember watching you shovel my driveway during that blizzard in February. Hanna and I watched you from the window and she was telling me she talked to you a couple of times and that you were nice. I wanted to come out and say something, but you were being so selfless. Something told me anything I’d do or say would embarrass you.”

“I didn’t think you’d notice and, you’re right, I wouldn’t have known how to act. I wasn’t sure if there was a man of the house, but I knew there wasn’t one home and you may need the help. That was two feet of heavy snow.”

“Did you like the cookies I sent over with Hanna to thank you?”

“Oh yeah! I’m a sucker for chocolate chip! And those powdered sugar-coated balls—what are they called?”

“My mom called them Russian Tea Balls!”

“Yeah… those. Absolutely awesome! Thanks for thinking of me and sending them over. I’m curious, though… why did you send Hanna instead of coming over?”

Laura looked a little embarrassed. “I was being shy, I guess. I thought you were really cute and figured I’d make a fool of myself!”

I had to moan and chuckle. “I wish I had known that and that you were… well… single! I would have come after you like a runaway train!”

She grinned an impish grin. “You mean like you did today?”

“Whattaya mean?” I laughed feigning innocence. “I thought I exhibited a lot of restraint today!”

“Oh really?” She joined my laughter with her own. “What are you like unrestrained?”

“I hope to show you someday!”

“Ohhh.” She cooed in the cutest way I’ve ever seen. There was a brief moment of silence.

“Hanna was mad I made her take the cookies over.”

“Really?”

“I told her I thought you were cute, and she was pushing me to come to talk to you. I think she was trying to set us up!”

“Oh my!”

We continued to talk comfortably over a wide range of subjects. We talked about having to get up for church in the morning which brought us to that topic. We discussed churches and basic doctrines and found we thought alike. The church she has been attending is a little far from home, so she agreed she and the girls would join me at my church in the morning. It would also give me a chance to introduce her to Sarah and Bobby. I desperately wanted them all to hit it off as friends too. I texted Bobby and Sarah to give them some advance notice and invited them to lunch after church with Laura and the girls—my treat. Laura and I nailed down the details of the morning’s schedule.

It was a little past midnight. We were clutching each other hoping the night would never end, yet we both knew better.

“I hate to say it,” I moaned. “But I should get home and get some sleep.”

“I hate your saying that too!” she moaned in return. “After lunch with your friends, can we come back here and spend day number two of getting to know each other?”

“Am I allowed to join for the movie binge-watch, or would you rather be alone with the girls?” I asked.

“What do you prefer? Just me, or me and the girls?”

“Laura, I would love to sit with you in a warm embrace and let the world go by. But, if you haven’t guessed, I adore your daughters. We haven’t talked about this, but I hope you know, they will never be an elephant in the room. You haven’t asked but I hope you already know that they are not a roadblock for me in the least. They’re exactly whatever the opposite of a roadblock is. If the road takes us where I think it will, I will cherish and treasure them. I already do!”

I said that in the spirit of openness, but my reward was another fantastic kiss.

“You just keep getting better and better!” she said with a glow. “Where have you been all my life?” She kissed me again. The electricity kept flowing.

I thought about her rhetorical question for a moment. And even though it wasn’t expected, I had to respond.

“I think before today, I didn’t fully exist. It’s hard for me to explain, but the power we both seem to feel when we kiss or hug has been happening to me all day. From the moment I saw you walking towards me today… well, now yesterday I guess, I’ve felt an energy from you and around you. I never saw or felt anything like it before. Until I felt that, it was as if I was going through the motions of life just, somehow, I think, waiting for you. Do you think that’s weird or strange? Or maybe corny?”

“How can I?” she asked. “I saw you sitting on your lawn talking to the girls with such a glow that I was irresistibly pulled to come to you. I know exactly what you mean. I’ve felt it all day!”

We held on even tighter. No words, just basking in shared warmth for another fifteen minutes or so. Finally, I groaned and told her I should get going if I’m going to get up for church.

Laura walked me to the back door and I turned to say goodnight. I had one more thing to add to what we shared.

“Laura, this was perhaps the best day of my life and I’m expecting even greater days ahead. I’m going to promise right now that I will be open and honest with you about everything and anything. If this wasn’t our first day together, I’d be telling you something a little different. But what I will say is… how can I put this… I EXTREMELY like you!”

She laughed again. How I loved that laugh.

“Believe it or not, I EXTREMELY like you too!”

This kiss was even more powerful. We both let our tongues slip out as if to ask permission to enter, and both granted entrance. Our tongues intertwined in a slow dance of passion, of promise, and of hope. I felt like we were past “extreme like,” but neither of us was comfortable putting the word out there. I felt love growing. I hope she felt it too. For several minutes we held our incredible embrace and the deep, gentle kiss. We slowly broke our lips apart and took deep breaths.

“I can’t improve on that with any words!” I moaned.

“Ah…ah…oh my!” she stuttered. “I think you just told me something more than good night!”

I kissed her on the forehead and whispered in her ear. “I’ll see you in a few hours, but I’m not sure I’ll be sleeping until then. Good night, Laura.” I turned to slowly go out the door, holding her hand until the distance grew too great.

I walked home with the image of her smiling, glowing, with joyful tears glistening and reluctantly waving. And, that kiss! Of all the great things I learned about Laura that day, my list had another important entry. She was passionate with a capital “P.”

I floated into my room and fell into a deep, contented sleep.

What a day!