First Date Reprise

It was quite a few years ago now; Scott was so nervous for his first date with Chloe. He still says that was when he knew he was going to marry her. She agreed to watch the fourth of July fireworks with him, and Scott wanted nothing more than to impress her with the picnic he was planning. So, he went to their small town’s only grocery store and bought the fanciest meats and cheeses that he could find along with a freshly baked baguette and apricot jam. Scott walked down almost every isle of the store, but he felt like he was forgetting something. He continued to scan the rest of the grocery store trying to figure out what he was forgetting.

Finally, he found what he was forgetting. It was a bottle of merlot that would pair perfectly to the cheeses and meats Scott already picked out. Scott raced to the park with the merlot and all the accoutrements, in hopes to impress his date with the spread. Scott laid out the blanket and the spread, making sure that everything was perfectly placed. When Chloe arrived, neither of them seemed to pay much attention to the spread, the others that surrounded them, or even the fireworks. They drank the wine and talked as if they were the only two people in the world.

Chloe talked about how she was studying to become a nurse and was planning on leaving that small town for New York City. In that moment, Scott decided that he wanted to move to New York City as well. He decided that when he was done with school as well, he would move to New York City to teach science in middle school. That was a decision that he would never regret. A few years later, they went from acres of forests and farmland to a cramped apartment in the city as newlyweds. As a few more years passed, their family began to grow from two to four. Their lives became loud and busy, but they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

When the pandemic hit their lives got even more hectic. Scott tried to teach his classes from home on zoom while having his own small children ran around the apartment. Chloe started to work even longer hours. She would come home exhausted, to the point where she would almost always go straight to be without a word to her husband. Scott began to wonder if they would ever have their long talks again. Finally, he decided to do something about it. He decided to try to recreate the night of their first date.

During one of Scott’s few breaks of the day he went into the kitchen and tried to find anything he could to recreate the spread he bought for their first date. With young kids, they couldn’t really afford the fanciest meats and cheeses, but Scott still wanted to do his best to recreate the date as closely as possible. Scott found a packet of hotdogs that he sliced at an angle hoping to make them look fancier than it was. They didn’t have baguettes, but they did have sandwich bread for the kid’s lunches. Scott tried to cut those as well in the hopes of making them look a little bit fancier. He cut them diagonally and tried to toast them in a pan with butter so they would hold the make-do accoutrements better.

When it came to cheese, the only thing he could find was an old can of nacho cheese. Chloe made him buy many cans of this the last time she was pregnant because she craved everything dipped in nacho cheese. Scott smiled ad he poured the cheese into a bowl, thinking back to brie that he bought for their first date. On their first date, Chloe talked about how well it paired with the merlot, in a way that made her sound like a connoisseur. Scott would never have imagined that he would ever see that same women dip pickles in a can of nacho cheese, but that was her favorite snack when she was pregnant.

Finally, Scott searched for one more item to complete their spread. In the fridge there were plenty of apple juice boxes and a few bottles of water, but Scott was looking for something else. Above the fridge behind many boxes of cereal, he found an old bottle of Merlot. They were saving the bottle for a special occasion, but it had been forgotten and left to collect dust for years. He dusted the bottle and took two juice boxes out of the fridge. It was time to assemble the make-shift picnic.

When Chloe came home, she saw an empty quiet apartment which was something she thought she would never see again in her lifetime. A note was spelt out for her with the refrigerator magnets to meet them on the roof. She was so tired and all she wanted to do was go to bed but she begrudgingly made her way to the rooftop. When she made it to the roof, she found her two beautiful kids running around playing and her husband carefully placing the most interesting spread she had ever seen on an old blanket.

At that moment, it was seven o clock, and the cheers began from the apartments below. The clapping and cheers were so loud they sounded like fireworks and the four of them sat down for one of the strangest meals of their lives. The family conversations went on for a long time and Scott hoped that they would never end. It felt like the only thing that existed was the four of them as the kids drank their juices boxes and Chloe complemented the pairing of the merlot and the nacho cheese. Scott smiled thinking back to how he thought that their first date couldn’t have been any better. If only he knew back then how much better it really could get.