Sometimes they look familiar because they are regulars…

Today a guy came in, on what appeared to be a date, and he looked so familiar. Now I’ve gotten a little gunshy about saying anything to people I recognize in the store. I kept looking at him. That neatly trimmed goatee, the glasses, the voice. Hmmm.

Then I place him and ask. “Rob?” “yeah?” “It’s Leah,” I say, “we went out like, I dunno, two years (and 40 pounds) ago.” “Oh yeah,” Rob said, “how are you?”

Rob was a really great guy and we could have probably been friends, but there was no spark. Although at time I thought, we get along well enough, we could make this work. He sent me a “there is no spark” email the following week. Bummer.

Us going out was actually one of my most bold dating moves ever. He sat next to me at Leo’s lunchroom late on a Saturday. I’d just returned from the anti-war protest on Devon and he was out on a long bike ride. He used up all the cream we were sharing and I called him on it. We started talking and exchanged business cards. Later we went to my roommate’s show at the Cornservatory and to the Korean Restaurant for dinner. He was one of the first people with whom I got through a dinner with no tightness in my throat.

It was good to see him and felt so grown up to say, “Rob?”