A surprise first date

Have you ever seen the movie “the 40-year-old virgin?” Well, I must tell you that if you had and liked that movie, then odds are you may enjoy my story. It is not precisely a slapstick comedy, but I am a woman in her 40’s who has never been on a date. Many people wonder why this is the case, but the truth is I was sexually assaulted and raped at an early age. Since then, the idea of dating was not exactly the first thing that came to mind. However, if the right man came along, I would not shy away from an opportunity.

It was a late fall evening and I was on my way to work, I worked part-time as a waitress at a local pub during the evening so I could make some extra cash. As soon as I got into work that night, my boss called all servers aside to discuss things we needed to know for the night. The restaurant owner was there, and he announced that they recently got a new partnership with Merlot Wine. Since this was a new partnership, we would be selling just a few of their wine options. With more selection to come down the road.

The owner announced that this one specific wine was the main one we would need to sell for the evening. It was named “Meet Cute” our boss specifically liked this one since it outlined a lot of his favourite flavors. Including lime zest, lemon, grapefruit, and his favorite honey. He said that because these were such distinct flavors it would be a popular seller throughout the evening. As this sounded good to my coworkers and I, we were hoping to get better tips with the more we sold.

I was on the floor that night, when one of the hostess’ sat down a very distinct gentleman. He was tall and had short black hair trimmed very professionally. He was wearing a suit as if he was here to attend a late-night meeting. He was an older gentleman, however based on how he dressed you could tell he really cared about his appearance. I approached him as he was sitting at one of my assigned tables for the evening. “Hello, my name is Elorah, and I will be your server for the evening.” He turned very slowly, looked up at me with a smile and said “Hi I am here for a job interview I came early to impress my future boss, well hopefully fingers crossed. I was wondering which drink you can recommend for the evening.”

I responded “Well, we just partnered with Merlot wines and they have a great selection.” He gave me a big smile this time, he seemed incredibly pleased with what I had suggested. I brought him the menu and to my surprise he picked the “Meet Cute” wine. He said “Although the name doesn’t seem the most appropriate the flavours seem to be perfect for what I’m looking for.” He asked for the bottle and two glasses. He told me he would let me know when he was ready to order more. I gave him a nod and continued to wait on other tables.

It was one of the busiest evenings we ever had at work that night, I kept looking at the man to see if he was ready to order. As hours went by, I saw him wait and wait with no one come join him. I approached him after I had cleared off all my other tables with just a few minutes to close, I kindly told him that we were getting ready to lock up soon. The man said, “Thank you, I am sorry for staying here so long. I hope this tip makes up for the trouble I caused.” It was a generous tip of one hundred dollars however in that moment for some reason I was more concerned about him. A complete stranger, who I had just met was holding up.

I asked him why the person interviewing him didn’t show up. He replied that he didn’t know and that it was probably for the best. I sat next to him, looked him in the eye and said “Sometimes the things we want most in life come when we least expect it.“ He nodded and said “You’re probably right.” I told him I was closing up shop for the night and if he wanted, he could still have dinner. He looked at me, smiled and said, “Only if you keep me company.” We talked the entire night just getting to know each other, we drank the rest of the meet cute wine.

Funny how the day started and now here I am talking to an amazing man. He asked me “How can someone like you be single?” I slowly worked into telling him that I was sexually assaulted and raped at a young age. Since then, I had never met a man that seemed worth it to me. He seemed empathetic I had to go through something like that. He did everything he could do to comfort me at that moment. It was then I realized I was beginning to have feelings for this man. I began blushing and he said “Are you okay?” I followed up with “Yeah I’m fine this is just so unlike me to spend the night with some guy I just met.”

At that exact moment he repeated exactly what I told him earlier, “Sometimes the things we want most in life come when we least expect it.” I told him that maybe this was the night we were both waiting for. We walked out of the restaurant together, he got a message on his phone about the interview, and it turns out he had went to the wrong restaurant. He told me and we laughed about it, I asked him “How come you’re not upset or angry?” He replied “It must’ve been fate that I was supposed to be there tonight, because tonight I met a beautiful woman who is everything a man can ask for. Tonight I had a “Meet Cute” with the woman of my dreams!”

I honestly thought what he said was pretty cheesy, but it still brought a huge smile to my face. All I could think of was that things happen for a reason, and there is nothing like a good bottle of wine to bring people together.