Lieutenant Brown, Chapter 2...

(To read Chapter 1, click HERE.)

"Love is a butterfly, which when pursued is just beyond your grasp,

but if you will sit down quietly it may alight upon you."

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

He lives in Yakima, which, on a good day, is a 3-3 1/2 hour drive from Portland. So when he asked if he could drive down here just to take me out to lunch, I was really flattered, but also a little skeptical. I didn't want him to drive all the way to Portland if it was awkward or it sucked or if he was weird or creepy or whatever. But I will admit I liked that he wanted to do lunch. Not so noncommittal as a coffee date, but not nearly as much pressure as a dinner date. Plus, way more convenient for both of us. So, as politely as possible, I suggested maybe we could meet somewhere in the middle. He agreed to that, and told me he would do some research and send me an email with the name and address of a restaurant in a cute little town called Hood River.

The week of our date was cold and snowy, and all week I prayed he wouldn't cancel. He was the last guy I would agree to meet from this online experiment, and while I hoped it would be something, I went in with relatively low expectations. I begged over and over, "Please, dear God, just let him be normal." :)

I drove out to Hood River in the morning after saying goodbye to my friend Andrea and her kiddos. My folks were on their way up to Portland for Thanksgiving, and thankfully the rain was letting up and the roads were relatively dry. My cute hair wasn't quite as cute anymore after a few stints in the rain, but I felt okay about the whole situation. I just concentrated on not being nervous and continued to pray for him to be normal.

I got into Hood River a few minutes early, found the restaurant, and parked my car. I was feeding coins in the meter when I heard him call my name. I finished what I was doing and crossed the street to say hello. When I looked up at him, he had flowers for me! He gave me a hug and said, "These are for you," as he handed me a gorgeous bunch of orange tulips. :) Then we headed into the restaurant.

When we went inside, he found the hostess and said he had reservations for two. (At this point I was thinking, okay, he's cute, he brought me flowers, and he made reservations. So far, so good!) We went to our table, sat down, and started talking. The food was great and we had a really good time talking over lunch. The waitress commented a couple times on my flowers, which gave me a good opportunity to let him know how much I appreciated them. All through lunch, I was struck by his gorgeous light blue eyes, but mostly, I was interested in how polite and sweet he was. He was a total gentleman. He let me order first, he paid for our lunch, and he opened doors for me. When lunch was over, he asked if I wanted to walk around for a little while and explore the town. I was really glad, because truthfully, I wasn't ready for the date to end.

We spent the next couple hours walking around and talking, and it was really nice. I had a lot of fun and I was really impressed by how kind and smart he seemed. After we'd walked around awhile, we headed back up the hill. He walked me to my car and asked if I'd had fun. I told him yes, and he said he'd had fun, too. Then he told me he would like to keep talking and emailing...and he'd like to see me again. :) I agreed.

On the way home, I called April to give her the report: "April...he brought me flowers! And most importantly...I think he's totally NORMAL!"

To be continued...

(To continue to Chapter 3, click HERE.)