You had me at Merlot

Sitting at the computer in my office near the front door, working through Lithium’s computer programming structure. A knock at the front door, pulls my attention away from the task at hand. I just smile before turning around and slowly walking over to open the door. Opening the door, I begin to speak, “Hello, come on…” Before I can even finish what I’m saying, I feel the weight of the person crushing me to the door and the sharp intake of air from the sudden movement of closeness feels like slow motion. After taking a second to figure out what is going on, the gap between our faces is closed. Soft lips press against my lips and my body is trembling from the electric energy between us. I feel a rush of electricity come over me and my hands begin to convulse around her hair and her waist to pull her closer.

She stops kissing me and leads me over to the couch for me to sit down. I take a seat and watch her walk to the kitchen with a bag I just realized she was holding. I hear glass on the counter and just sit there intrigued at what she could possibly be doing. She returns with 2 wine glasses filled with what looks like velvet. She hands me the glass and gets down on her knees in front of me to watch me take a sip of the wine. “I am introducing you to my favorite merlot and that this is a first date for us because I know that you have been hurt before. I know that you are scared, you don’t trust easily, I kind of came in strong and at a weird time in your life. You got divorced, scammed, lost your job because of a stalker. You have overcome all these challenges and manage to stay positive about the situations that have occurred. I want to be your grounding person and I want to be by your side through it all. You have had a huge impact on my life in the short amount of time you have been in it. I want to be your person. Because neither one of us want to feel trapped, I am 100% comfortable with dating you for the rest of eternity,” she says to me with tears in her eyes.

I inhale the scent of the merlot deeply and smell hints of cedar and vanilla. I wait one more second before taking a sip to help clear my mind. As the wine touches my tongue, I get a crisp taste of cherry and plums. The taste is exceptional and unlike anything I have ever tasted. In that moment of repeating her words in my head as I savor this first sip, I can feel her pressed against my legs holding her breath. I know in this moment that I could not have asked for anything more on a first date. She had nailed it with letting me be in my own environment, my comfort zone, and safe space. That this woman had/has taken the time to get to know how I truly am in a short amount of time. That for her to say those words, I have wanted to hear from someone for so long that sees me as someone to invest their time and heart on. “You are my person, you have been my person from the first time I saw you. I know that there are so many things wrong with me. But you have still invested your time and energy into me. That it didn’t matter how many times I told you, I wasn’t worth it. An yet, with everything you know about me and been through, you have made the perfect first date with just a glass of merlot.” I say before sliding off the couch onto her lap and placing my glass down beside us and kissing her deeply.