Because one day, my kids will want to know and I’ll be too senile to remember

The first time I saw him he was sitting across the table from me on an outdoor terrace. We were at a bar on Prince Arthur St. in Montreal. I was there with another guy, coincidentally they had the same name… and were about to become roommates.

I sat down across from him, took one look and thought, Damn, I’m here with the wrong guy.

Little did I know he was thinking, Damn, she’s here with the wrong guy.

Things didn’t work out with Guy #1. He was really just a delayed rebound – he was the first guy I’d dated after breaking off an engagement. He was a sweetheart, we just didn’t have much in common.

The second time I saw him was in a bar. I think we were celebrating someone’s birthday. Was it Jello Bar? I can’t remember. Anyway, he was wearing this brown wool vest, and he looked hot (think 90s, people).

I tried to flirt with him but he was convinced I was flirting with his friend and left early. I think I ended the night propositioning Guy #1, torturing myself AND making a fool of myself. As usual.

You know how they say third time’s a charm? Well.

The third time I saw him was when he tagged along with a mutual friend (also a future roommate) whom I’d invited to a party. A party taking  place in the house of Guy #2, a guy I was currently kind of dating. Who also had the same name.

True story.

We ditched the party, and Guy #2, and headed down to Else’s Bar on the Plateau. It was the 3 of us – me, him and mutual friend. (Who can I just interrupt myself to say is now a famous screenwriter, thank you very much!!)

Mutual friend and I entered the bar first, and we each took a different route towards the free table at the back. I thought to myself, If he takes my route, he’s mine.

And he did.

I thought it was nuts. I hemmed and I hawed, thinking it was just way too much fishing in the same pond. Especially since he, Guy #1 and mutual friend were about to move in together.

So what did I do? I helped them move.

And when all the furniture, all the boxes, and Kato, were settled safely into the new apartment, he walked me to my car.

It was only the fourth time I’d seen him. Maybe fifth. But our mutual friend had been talking about him forever. Not in a fixing-up kind of way, he just found his way into conversation at the oddest times.

I mean, one night, mutual friend and I were sitting in a restaurant in Jerusalem during a film shoot and he said, “Hey, my buddy’s family has a place right around here. Too bad he’s not around. You’d like him. He’s smart. Scary smart.”

I could tell from our few encounters that he was indeed very smart. He was also geeky (which wasn’t so cool back then, by the way, I was totally avant-garde), a little anti-social but funny, caring and sweet.

Actually – there were a couple of other encounters. We were at a Halloween party together, and he walked me to my car dressed like an ax murderer. Complete with the ax.

My friend had also invited him to a surprise birthday party for me, casually mentioning to mutual friend to bring him along. That was brief – he had other plans and was obviously uncomfortable with all my friends. But he came. And that spoke volumes.

That was it. Six times in total.

Now to put things into context, I’d just had (okay, a year prior) a horrible, horrible break-up after a very long term relationship that turned into an engagement that ended very, very horribly.

I swore to myself I wouldn’t get involved with anyone until I was sure I was ready to move on. I’d proven I wasn’t ready by the fiasco that was Guy #1. I knew I needed more time.

But there he was. Smart, funny and cute. He had incredible shoulders. And he was walking right beside me, escorting me to my car.

The chemistry was palpable. We were shooting off sparks. I’d just spent the past 12 hours helping them move and I felt like I was going to explode.

“Listen,” he said. “I just wanted to thank…”

I stopped, turned to him and shut him up with a kiss.

“Have a good night,” I said.

Beat.

“I will now,” he replied.

And that was it.

And here we are.

***

Thanks, Jonna, for inspiring this post.