The Day We Met

Once upon a time, there was a young lady, we’ll call her Deb, who was bantering about with her friends, a married couple who, as young married couples often do, thought that their single friends ought to be just as happy in their wedded bliss as they were. This particular couple boasted of an amazing track record—every one of the friends they had set up on blind dates ended up getting married.

Of course, the young lady laughed and said that they could give it their best shot if they wanted, but it would never happen to her. Because she had much going on in her life, she promptly forgot all about the conversation.

Until one day she got a phone call from that very couple, inviting her to dinner. With <<ahem>> another guest. A man named Joe.

“Goodness, no,” Deb protested. “We were just joking, right?”

“Oh, he knows this isn’t a real blind date,” the couple assured her.

Even so, Deb was nervous when the day came. What if Joe had the wrong impression? How embarrassing would that be?

She arrived early with a dessert she’d made, a peach cobbler all ready to be warmed up and served. Her heart jumped into her throat when someone knocked on the door—only to have it plummet when she caught sight of the man on the other side. She hadn’t expected the blind date to be Prince Charming, but this guy? 

Not her type at all. Her friends were way, way off.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she discovered the man in the doorway wasn’t Joe, and she realized at that moment that, in her heart of hearts, she secretly hoped that maybe her friends had set her up with The One.

Another knock sounded a few minutes later, and this time, it was Joe in the doorway. Deb’s gaze met his big baby blues and she was a goner. Buh-bye, heart.

His sense of humor matched his good looks and they had much in common besides having mutual friends. Dinner went well—at least until dessert. Their friend presented Deb’s special cobbler with a flourish.

“I don’t really care for warm fruit,” Joe immediately remarked. A moment later, the whole table shook as his friend gave him a good, solid kick in the shin. Whoops!

Deb gave him a pass, and at the end of the evening, he walked her out to her car. Suddenly shaking with nerves, Deb made an inane remark about how pretty the stars were that night. 

Great. He probably thought she was an idiot.

“Can I call you?” he asked.

Maybe he was fond of idiots, or he was the one giving her a pass this time. She didn’t hesitate. 

“Of course. I might have a pen and paper in my car.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve already got your number.” (Yes, this was well before the advent of the cell phone, when people had to write down their phone numbers in order to exchange them.)

The little sneak had gotten Deb’s phone number from their friends before he and Deb left for the evening. Smooth move.

Elated and full of delight, Deb went home and called her best friend.

“How does the name Deb Kastner sound?” she asked, bubbling over with enthusiasm. (She’d had to ask Joe to spell his name several times during the course of the evening. K-A-What, again?)

"Nice," her best friend responded. "Why?"

“Because I’ve just met the man I’m going to marry.”

And indeed, she had. Six months to the day later, Deb became Joe’s wife. 

Now, thirty years, three daughters and two grandchildren later, they are still going strong.

Be sure to catch Deb Kastner's next novel, The Cowboy's Baby Blessing, available June 20th at a store near you.