I believe in Second Chances

Dating Site Guy is back...But first, some back story. 

We spoke for nearly two months and it was great, and we were discussing meeting. But then he vanished. It hurt, but again, it was one of those situations where I'd been in that spot before, so that's what hurt. I wasn't angry at him, not for long anyway.

Back in September, when my BFF was here, we met up with one of her friends here. Something was odd about her, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But whatever, I only needed to put up with her for one evening. At dinner, we came to find out that she knew Dating Site Guy, and boy did she have some bombs to drop on that. She told me all kinds of things about him, things designed to scare me off and show me that I had really dodged a bullet. At the same time, she was telling me how amazing he is. It was odd, as I said.

 Fast forward to a few weeks ago. When he'd vanished, I'd tried a few last ditch things. I texted him a few times, and then I thought I'd found him on Facebook, so I sent him a message there. One night, out of nowhere, I got a message in reply. I ignored it and went to bed. In the morning, I decided to reply. I wasn't my usual jovial self; I was guarded and a little short with him. But we talked. All throughout the day, and then at the end, we said goodnight. I thought that was that.  And I was at peace.

Another week or so passed, and then he messaged me again. He said he wanted to talk to me, if that was okay. I agreed and we went from there. By the end of the conversation, he wanted to meet up in person, to apologize some more and grovel. I agreed, and we arranged to have dinner. The day of, I was out all afternoon, running errands. I hadn't heard from him. Suddenly, it's only a matter of a couple of hours until we're supposed to meet, but I hadn't heard still. I started arranging alternative plans in my head...and suddenly, he messaged. Work was crazy, he was going to have to delay dinner by an hour.

I walked into the restaurant and walked to the booth where he was. I had worn a dress, but only to be confident and comfortable, because this was certainly not supposed to be a date. We ended up talking for several hours and it certainly felt like a date. We had amazing chemistry and I was very attracted to him. There were several times I caught him staring at me. We didn't want the evening to end, so I told him he could come over, if he behaved. He agreed, and followed me home. Moonshine took an instant liking to him. I gave him a bit of a tour, but he wouldn't go further than the living room. He was behaving, and being a gentleman.

Once or twice during that week leading up to this, he'd joked about giving me a foot rub. Well, we sat on the couch for another few hours and he suddenly leaned down, grabbed my feet and removed my shoes. I tried to play it cool, but he was very charming. I was trying to maintain that not-date attitude, but the sparks were flying. We were doomed. At the end of the night, we hugged goodbye. For a split second, I wondered if he would kiss me, but nearly laughed at the thought. After all, this wasn't a date. Was it?

We were messaging all throughout our days by now. And he was definitely after me now. I guess meeting in person was what it took to get that attention from him! He declared that he couldn't wait until he was back in town (trip to see his son) to see me. We arranged for a late night dinner at my place for Friday. Then moved it to Thursday. A few hours before this, however, his father got hurt and he had to go spend the night with him. We were bummed, because that meant not seeing each other until he got back, which meant over 2 weeks. Suddenly, he suggested coming to my store on his way out of town. I didn't think he meant it, but I gave him the address. Before I knew it, he said he was 30 minutes away!

Sure enough, he showed up at my store. And, I was immediately struck at how attractive he was. I had known it before--trust me, I was eyeballing him a lot that first night--but knowing it was mutual had a profound effect on that. I took a break and we went to the backroom. I leaned on the break table and he stood nearby, half turned. He was looking around the backroom and I was staring at him. I suddenly found myself really wanting him to kiss me, wondering if he would, and would the red lipstick stop him? I decided to settle for a hug and I moved in. Within a minute, our lips were locked. It was everything you'd want in a first kiss. Tender, gentle, passionate, wanting, exploring, timid, bold and daring...

That night, we spoke on the phone for hours. We've been messaging so much ever since. These two weeks are going by quickly, and I hope they continue until SBI. He might be back in time to attend Sunday. And he said he wants to spoil me, and go shopping in the dealer room. I'm not used to that. 

I am, at once, exhilarated, and terrified. We're trying to keep things slow, but everything just clicks with us. We keep speaking in hypotheticals--what if we needed a new house (a 4 bedroom, it seems), what if he asked me to move to his town (an hour away), what if he sweeps me off my feet and takes me to Chicago for the day?

My heart is pounding. It often does lately.