Well of course he gave me his number, me being so interesting, amusing and of course gorgeous. Ok ok I'm kidding! But I did have my picture up on that dating website so he did know what I looked like, which was a good thing. I knew what he looked like too. Quite honestly not my usual 'type', but hey I wasn't looking for a relationship remember?! In his photos (he had a few) he looked a typical Aussie bloke, have to admit the Akubra was a definite attraction for me, my dad was known for his hat and anyone faintly resembling my dad was ok by me.
So I nominated a time and booked myself in for the phone call. Now I didn't want to appear overly keen, so I waited a full five minutes. I wasnt desperate. Really. But intrigued I was.
Now that's a nervewracking thing, that first phone call. What to say to someone you've never met? But I dialled the number, number by number, picking my way across the little buttons on my mobile. And quick as a flash he answered, must have been sitting on top of that phone. Nice. Now let me say here that all I ever desired in a man was that he be a fair dinkum Aussie bloke. I wasnt looking for a life partner, but then this guy answers the phone with the strongest Aussie bush accent I'd heard for a long time. I give him a mental bonus point. I have no idea what we talked about really, but talk we did, for around four hours - every day for about a week. I nodded off on the phone one night while we were talking, aargghh, not good. I was forgiven though.
Then the next step, would I like to go out for dinner? Well yeah I eat. Nice ta. When? Sunday. Ok. Where? But you live so far away (about an hour & a half drive from me in Sydney). No problem I'll drive down. Another bonus point. Right. This is going well, a bloke who'll go out of his way for me, quite a foreign experience for me. But I'm not putting myself at any risk, I really don't know this guy. I'll meet you there, at the restaurant. No way I'm going to give this guy my address, he could be an axe murderer for all I know. Ok, that's fine. Done.
Sunday arrives, I go through the usual dramas of a 'first date". What to wear, what shade of lippy? I look good in blue so I'm told, I think so myself too. So, blue. Done. Lippy, pink. Takes years off they say. Done. Perfume, well I'll wear what I always wear, I like it. It's Avon but I've been stopped many times and asked what I'm wearing, it's nice women say, lots. Far Away if you want to know, that's its name. So a pair of black striped pants and a blue puffy sleeved top. High heel sandals. Dangerous, my balance is crap, but hey I look so much better in heels, all of my 5'2" & eyes of blue.
Ok, I'm ready. I dont have a car so I'm planning to either jump on the bus (just across the road) or walk to the restaurant. It's only 15 mins walk from my house. I'd planned it well. Except. It's a heatwave, over 40 degrees. I really don't wanna be walking out there and arriving all sweaty and red in the face. Guess I could call a cab but that's ridiculous, its just up the road, less than 2 minutes drive. Embarrassing to call a cab. I'm starting to feel silly, and desperate, how on earth am I gonna get there?! Way too hot to be walking anywhere outside. So against all my careful planning and determination not to put myself at any risk with this possible axe-murderer, I phoned him and asked if he could pick me up. Of course he could, what's the address, I'm at X now so can you direct me? Sure. And he arrived, in a nice car too. I didnt expect that, expected some beat up jalopy to be honest, why do I do that? Expect less? Never mind.
I'm still determined not to be over keen, I wasn't anyway, it was just a new 'experience' and I'm female, I do like to be appreciated/admired. So I stand at the door, I wasn't going outside. Well, I wasn't going to look eager or anything. I couldnt quite see him as he got out of the car, there are a lot of trees and bushes in my front yard. So I didnt get a full look till he rounded the bush at the end of my verandah. And there he was. Noooo! my innards were screaming at me. Straight away I'm in trouble. He's not half bad dammit! Looks like Paul Hogan, your Crocodile Dundee type, tall, fair, trim. Bugger. Ok settle down, and I did, so what, he's a man, just like all the rest I quickly told myself. Only after what they can get, waste of time. But I'd had the biggest shock, I wasn't expecting to feel any attraction, I was pretty sure I wasn't ever going there again, past experiences hadn't been good and I just didnt want to go through all that relationship agony ever again. So I settled pretty quick.
And we went off to the restaurant. And we talked. And talked and talked. I was sitting there thinking oh my Lord, my whole family would love you. He was so easy to talk to. Interesting. Smart too. An ex cop. So he was trustworthy you'd have to think. But I wasn't believing that, he could be making all this stuff up to get my confidence. So I'm not really believing all this stuff. Nice to talk to though. The waitress kept coming over and asking, would you like your meal now? Not yet. I think it was close to an hour after she first asked that we capitulated, thought we'd stop talking and eat. We were there til closing. A good time.
And against all my better intentions I asked him in for coffee when he drove me home. Imagine. Was I some sort of idiot or what? But there you go. I was starting to feel a bit guilty though, he had a long drive home and had to work the next day. Which by the way was another bonus point, he had a job. But he accepted the offer of coffee, didnt make any inappropriate moves, and we talked and talked some more, til around midnight he thought he'd better make a move. Quite honestly I was missing him before he walked out the door. I was in trouble here. And I thought that maybe he liked me too. So.
I had to tell him. Had to give him the chance to run away. And fast, because I was really liking this guy, and I didnt want to get into something and then get hurt. I had to nip this in the bud before it got painful. So I said 'I have to tell you something. I have a medical condition. Multiple Sclerosis'. His answer - 'everybody's got something, what is it anyway'. Now that's not at all what I expected. I truly thought it'd be goodbye. I knew I'd probably never see him again, he was just being nice. But I gave him the talk, its an incurable disease of the central nervous system, and its progressive, I've had it about 10 years and I'm doing ok but I dont know if I'll get worse, or when. Its unpredictable. he stayed, told me he had diabetes, which to me was nothing. In my mind there were drugs for that and it could be controlled, so he was lucky I thought. There's nothing that can alter the path of MS, well the symptoms can be managed to an extent but it cant really be controlled. But it was nice that he thought we both had something in common, sort of. I thought he'd disappear though. We parted that evening with him saying he'd call the next day, yeah right I thought, but I was so happy to have met this guy, he was fun and he was interesting to have around. Not hard on the eye either. See what happens, all being well we could be great friends, I just had to turn off the attraction thing and it'd be fine, I didn't like men anyway, had enough of all that.
More coming soon ...
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