I was bored one recent Saturday afternoon and decided to visit one of the area’s craft breweries. There are a handful within a short drive, and I decided to go to a six-month-old brewery taproom as they have a great patio and outdoor area.
The weather was a pleasant lower eighty degrees and I was dressed casually in khaki shorts, an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt, my signature summer straw fedora, and Ray-Ban Wayfarers sunglasses.
I grabbed a beer at the bar and headed outside. The crowd was decent, with about half of the tables and seats available. I eyed two women, about my age, sitting at one of the twelve-foot-long picnic tables and figured I’d sit at the other end.
“Hi ladies, do you mind if I take the other end of the table?” I asked.
They talked over each other telling me to go ahead. One woman I’d guess was fifty, with shoulder-length blond hair, blue eyes, and very cute. The second might have been a few years older, Hispanic, with long black hair and brown eyes.
“Thanks. I’m Tom by the way,” I offered, hoping to learn their names.
The blonde replied, “Hi Tom, I’m Susan and this is Marci.”
Marci quickly added, “We work together as nurses.”
As they talked, I glanced at both women’s left hands, no wedding rings. I wondered if they were single or possibly dating someone.
“Oh, nurses,” I said. “Thank you for your dedication during Covid. My cousin is a nurse, and I heard all sorts of stories from her.”
“So, what do you do?” asked Susan.
“I’m a schoolteacher. Sixth grade,” I told them. “I’m off for eight weeks starting today.”
They made a few comments about online distance learning and how thankful they were that their kids were now out of college.
“You two are too young to have kids out of college,” I said honestly.
Marci laughed, “I have twenty-three-year-old twins. They did their last few months online last spring.”
“And mine are twenty-three and twenty-four,” said Susan.
“Well, nice to meet you. I’ll let you two get back to your conversation,” I said as I pulled out my iPhone.
As the two talked I tried to mind my own business although I did listen in on their conversation now and then as I looked at the mindless drivel on Instagram and Facebook. After about a half-hour I had finished my beer and was going to get a second. I stood up and noticed that they were both empty.
“Can I buy you two a beer?” I asked. “I did crash your table.”
They blushed a bit and said they’d love another beer. I asked if one of them could join me, “I’ll drop all the beers if I try to carry three.”
Marci jumped as if she’d been hit by lightning. “I’ll go.” She looked at Susan and gave her a wink, which I’m sure I was not supposed to see.
As Marci and I waited in line we chatted a bit. I figured I’d be straightforward asking, “Are you single?”
She smiled, showing off her cute dimples. “Kinda. I’m a widow of four years.”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” I said empathetically.
“He died from cancer,” she said. After a long pause, “I haven’t dated at all. How about you? Are you single?”
Laughing, “Very single. I’m divorced four-plus years,” I told Marci.
We seemed to have parallel lives with college, marriage, kids, etc. I asked, “So I guess you haven’t tried online dating?”
“Oh my gosh, no. I’ve heard too many crazy stories from my friends,” she said. “You?”
I admitted I had been on and off Match a couple of times. “But I’m not having much luck. Either the ladies I meet are crazy, in massive debt, have five cats, or have adult kids living at home.”
Marci laughed, “Well, I’m not in debt, no cats, and my kids live in SoCal, but I might be crazy.”
We returned to the table, and I took the opportunity to sit next to Marci.
Susan with an all-knowing smirk, “I see you’re crashing our party now.”
“I can move back to my end of the table,” I said looking at both ladies.
“No. I think my shy friend is smitten with you,” Susan laughed.
As the saying goes, “If looks could kill,” Marci shot Susan the evil eye.
Over the next forty-five minutes, the three of us got to know each other. It was obvious that Marci and I had a connection. Susan mentioned that she needed to get going as she had plans to meet her sister and mother for dinner.
As the two stood up, I took a gamble and asked Marci, “Would you like to go to dinner? Something casual. Pizza or Mexican maybe?”
I could tell I caught her off guard. The girls looked at each other. There was a brief pause when Susan said, “She’d love to go to dinner.”
“Susan!” said Marci. She turned and looked at me, “My friend here has a big mouth. But, yes, dinner sounds great.”
As the three of us walked to the parking lot, Marci and I decided on Old Towne Pizza. While I offered to drive her, she said that OTP was on her way home, so she’d drive herself.
Over salad and pizza, I learned she was originally from Sunnyvale and went to UC Davis for college. She met her husband at UCD, and they moved to Sacramento after graduation as both landed jobs in town. Her full name is Maricela Anna Cervantes, but her family has always called her Marci.
As she told me more about her husband’s battle with cancer I reached across the table and held her hand. “Thank you. You’re such a gentleman.”
“I understand your path. My Ex had cancer twice. Chemo and radiation are brutal,” I told her.
Marci asked more about my Ex’s bouts with cancer, but I nicely declined, “A story for another time. Let’s talk about something positive!”
We got off on a tangent about traveling. Where we’ve been and where we’d like to go in the future. Like myself, Marci had been to Hawaii many times and we enjoy several of the same spots in Mexico. We both had the cities of Austin and Nashville on our “Bucket List,” and she wanted to go to New Orleans.
I excused myself to use the restroom and when I returned Marci was standing up near the table. My heart sank as I guessed this meant the end of our impromptu date. When I approached, she said, “You bought dinner so let me buy you an ice cream down the street at Foster’s Freeze.”
We sat on a bench and enjoyed our chocolate-dipped cones as we chatted more, including about our adult kids. As we were finishing up, I casually said, “I have really enjoyed meeting you today. I sure picked the right table at Dust Bowl. I hate for tonight to end.”
Much to my surprise, Marci asked, “Would you like to come to my house for a nightcap?”
“Sure, that sounds great,” I told her. “But first, I’d like to do something.”
I leaned in and softly kissed her on the lips. And again. On the third kiss, I opened my mouth a bit and slowly probed my tongue between her lips. Marci accepted my tongue, and we had a short tongue dance.
As we parted Marci looked at me. “That was nice. You’re the first man I’ve kissed in years.”
I simply smiled at her and whispered in her ear, “I’m honored.” I then kissed her neck a few times. I took her by the hand and walked her back to her car. “I don’t even have your phone number. Don’t lose me on the way to your house.”
Soon we were walking in the front door of her house. It was about ten years old and a Spanish style with pink-ish stucco and a terracotta-colored tile roof. Inside it was decorated fairly contemporary. Out back was a small pool, with a hot tub under a custom-built pergola. Marci confided that she owned the home outright, paying off the mortgage with her husband’s life insurance, along with her kid’s college loans. “I’m set financially between my job, the hospital pension, and my husband’s firefighter pension. I plan on retiring at sixty and then traveling a lot.”