We walked to the diner in what they call a "companionable silence" in the books. I was trying to think of something to talk about, but without ideas managed to keep from babbling.
He held the door of the diner when we went in and I liked that little courtesy, so rare these days.
The waitress came by and he looked at me with raised eyebrows and then said "just coffee for now please." I nodded in agreement.
"Look," he said, leaning across the table to touch my fingertips with his, "let me get it said right up front. Don't be offended, but I am not going to try to get into your pants tonight."
I suppose the, what? Shock? Outrage? Surprise? Anyway, something showed on my face.
He chuckled, a soft low laugh deep in his throat.
"Don't get me wrong Paula, I think you're a knockout. But I want to get to know you before we decide where this is going."
"This?" I said, the question mark in my voice.
"Yes," he said, "whatever 'this' might turn out to be."
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" he asked.
I laughed. "I hadn't given it much thought, but if I had to say I'd say 'no'," I said.
"Neither do I," he said, with a broad grin, "but I do believe in 'smitten' at first sight, and that's how I'm feeling right now."
I felt the blush and grin spread across my face and was absolutely helpless to stop it.
"So," he said, "let's talk."
I found him easy to talk to. The difference in our ages didn't seem to get in the way. He was young, at 25, and a student still. His time in the Air Force had put him "behind" his peers, but to me, he seemed to be well ahead of most of the fresh college graduates we got in the office.
I, at, well, let's just say 40-something, felt my age with him. In some ways he was boyish, but in others, he was quite sophisticated. I guess living in a foreign country will do that to you.
We spoke, as the saying goes, of many things. And I found myself comfortable with him. For the first time since I could remember I wasn't aware of my shape when I was talking to a man. It was fun and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.
About an hour (and four cups of coffee) into the conversation he said he was hungry and asked if I wanted to eat.
So we ate off of the "Breakfast Served 24 Hours A Day" menu and continued our conversation.
I laughed and actually giggled when he speared one of my sausage patties off of my plate. He slapped my hand when I attempted to steal a bacon strip in return.
It was an altogether lovely evening. We talked about movies (yes, I can't help loving Vin Diesel and the whole Fast and Furious series and he liked them too), cars (the 50s were wonderful but by any reasonable evaluation right now is the "golden age of automobiles), guns (we agreed that "when seconds count the police are only minutes away"), music, and just about anything that came up.
At one point he made me blush by asking, out of the blue, "is it easy to bring you to orgasm Paula?"