Love: Once Bitten Twice Shy Part III
By Rosemary Namoki, Randoplh, Ma

The next day Mary and Joel met at the train station as agreed and chatted leisurely as if they had known each other for ages. Joel suggested a dinner date that evening, but Mary turned him down.

The ghosts of Mary’s past were still haunting her, and she was determined not to go on a date with Joel even though it was obvious that she was falling in love with him.

Days turned into weeks and meetings at the train station became a natural thing for the duo. They also talked on phone several times every day. Joel loved Mary’s company and yearned to spend more time with her. He proposed several dates, but Mary turned them down.

Joel was troubled and several thoughts crossed his mind. He wondered whether Mary was in a committed relationship, but he wasn’t free enough to probe her.

Despite the disappointments, Joel was persistent and vowed not to give up.
As days passed by, Mary realized that she was running out of excuses. She was also growing fonder of Joel each day, and she couldn’t hide it anymore.

After several disappointments, Joel once again gathered the nerves to ask Mary for a dinner date. He was expecting the usual no, but surprisingly, Mary said yes. Joel was elated.
“This is too good to be true,” he said. Joel stood at the train station dumbfounded and simply stared at Mary. Mary didn’t say much either and stood there looking at him with a big smile on her face.

After a very long pause, Joel finally opened his mouth to speak. He politely asked Mary for her address and offered to pick her up at 7:45 p.m.  The duo exchanged a few words then went separate ways.
Mary arrived home and quickly dashed into the shower.

She took a notebook from her purse and quickly scribbled a note for her roommate. She sat in the living room to watch her favorite sitcom on TV, but she was too preoccupied with thoughts about Joel to concentrate.

Although it had been less than an hour since Mary and Joel had parted, Mary wondered why time was dragging. She looked at her wrist watch several times, hoping that Joel would arrive soon.
Mary also made several trips to the bathroom to perfect her make up. She wanted to look elegant on her first date in the United States.

The door bell finally rang, and Mary quickly jumped out of her seat to answer it. She ushered Joel into her apartment, but he politely declined to come in. He explained that he had made a reservation for 8 p.m., and that they needed 15 minutes to get to the venue, which was located on the Southside of town.
The duo walked slowly to Joel’s car and arrived at Outback Steak House, one of Boston’s finest restaurants at exactly 8 p.m.  

Finally the long awaited moment had come, and Joel was determined to maximize it.
 “Sorry to ask, but do you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
 “Yeah…,” Mary answered reluctantly, prompting Joel to probe more.
“Well, I mean, do you have a serious boyfriend?”

Again Mary replied no, adding that she had consciously chosen to remain a spinster.
Mary expected her answer to turn Joel off, but it didn’t.
 “You need one,” he said. “By the way, do you know that you can only survive three minutes without air, three hours without shelter in extreme conditions…. and three months without companionship?”
The duo traded anecdotes the rest of the evening and paid little attention to their sumptuous dinner.
As he dropped Mary off, Joel’s hopes were high, and he was confident that they would go on a second date soon.

 He bade Mary farewell and drove off.
Mary stood at the door and watched him disappear into the thin air.
Mary was at crossroads. Although she had a strong passion for Joel, she was scared of a second heartbreak. She sat on the couch replaying the events of the evening, and the more she thought about Joel, the more she wanted to see him again.

Joel’s cell phone rang as soon as he arrived home. It was Mary.
“I called to say that I really had a great time,” she said.

Joel proposed a second date, and Mary agreed to meet him the next day after work.
Mary had finally loosened up.
“I think I am in love,” she whispered to herself before drifting off to sleep.

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