Author note: The idea for this story has been bouncing around in my head for a while now and I finally was in a situation where I felt compelled to actually write it. The basis for the story is the song by the same name “One Boy, One Girl”, by Colin Raye. So the idea and all lyrics quoted are credited to him and his songwriters. I’m not claiming any permission and would in fact apologize for my poor efforts based on his work. If you haven’t heard the song, I would definitely recommend listening to it prior to reading my story. Hopefully I do a decent job of turning his song into a short story.

It was time for a new start, a new chapter to my life. 20 years of Army life were over now and it was time to start ‘enjoying the retirement’. Unfortunately in this economy that retirement just meant I had a better starting point and was using it to start my own business now. While in the Army I had taken advantage of the time to take college classes over the years and now had a business management degree. I had also picked up martial arts and physical fitness as a passion during my time, learning a few and even competing in some of the Army combatives and martial arts contests they would have along my time. Logically, I figured combining the two would make sense. So it was that I started my own self-defense gym. The emphasis would be on learning to fight in order to be able to defense yourself, but also while getting a work out in along the way – a functional fitness.

I had retired out of the Ft. Hood, TX area, spending enough time here in the Army that it had felt like a new home. It also helped with a starting clientele, some soldiers and their family members became some of my first clients. Though to an extent some of that was also an inconvenience, like with one couple in particular, Drew and Julie.

“C’mon, Top. It’s been too long already, you need to get back in the game. She was a great woman, but even Reyna wanted you to grieve but move on. It’s been what, four years now?” It was a habitual and somewhat informal title some of the soldiers or former soldiers still used. I had retired as a 1SG, a rank that soldiers would sometimes refer to the person as “Top.” The workout had ended for the day for his girlfriend and him, and I was doing some clean up as the class either left or did some stretching. Or in Drew’s case, coming over to talk to me.

“It’s been five years now. Don’t blame me, though. I’ve been busy. School, work, a deployment, and going through all the stuff to actually get retired. Who would want to deal with a headache like that and try to generate a relationship at the same time?” I shrugged a little, wiping down some of the gloves that I allowed students who didn’t buy their own to use, setting them up on a rack to be stored as well. “And before you say it, yes I know it’s been long enough.” It had been, too. My wife had been dead five years now, from pancreatic cancer that had been aggressive in her case. She had gone six months from diagnosis to now being buried up in the local veteran’s cemetery.

“Well, give it some thought, Ry.” This time it was Julie chiming in. “There’s someone you should meet. I’ve got a friend who I think you would actually get along with. She’s fun, beautiful, and has enough energy she could probably even keep up with you. She’s only a year younger than you, too. You’d have that in common as well. She’s lived here in Texas for about five years now. So not like she’s a stranger to the area. She’s even from somewhere out west, too.”

The west part of that did get my attention a little, I had grown up in Utah. It was an area that would at least give a small thing in common with whoever this girl would be. I couldn’t help but let out a groan though. “Ugh, not both of you at once. Practically backing me into a corner here. Don’t make me start fighting to get out.” Inwardly though I did have to consider it. They were both good friends, Drew having been a platoon sergeant serving under me for about two years prior to my retirement and before that we had also served together in South Korea. They did mean well with the thought, even if they were being a bit nosey. “I’ve never been a fan of blind dates. Just give me some time to get things settled on my own. If I haven’t had a date in a month, I’ll let you set me up.”

Julie practically did a fist pump celebration like Tiger Woods on sinking a winning putt when she heard that. “I honestly think you’ll like her. She’s my boss, tough when she needs to be but friendly and caring when she can be.” She then gave me a warm hug before the two of them moved on, heading out of the gym while I finished the clean up and started shutting out the lights.

As I finished my work up I thought back. Things with my wife had been amazing. Supportive and loving over the years while I was in the Army. Finding nice and cute ways to keep things going even over long deployments. In truth she had been my second love, we had met during some college classes I was taking early on in my Army career. It hadn’t taken long before we were dating and things had just clicked. Her strengths helped my areas of weakness and vice-versa. She was also a strong and very independent woman, a fact that came in handy through the times where I had to be away for training or deployment for months if not a year at a time. It had been long enough now since her death that I didn’t feel the hollow hurt of missing her anymore, thankfully. I was able to focus on the good times we had.

In truth, I did owe it to Reyna to move on. She had even made it a point to make me promise I wouldn’t just be the lonely widower once it was obvious there was only a matter of time left. “You’ve got a big heart and a lot of love to give, Ry. You’ve been the love of my life and I’ve been lucky to have you. But it will be another lucky girl who will get you for this next stage.” Her eyes had closed momentarily at a flash of pain she felt. “I can even picture her.” I could still see the soft smile she had on her face at the thought, it was so her, taking a bit of happiness from what someone else would have. “You’ll know, even sooner than you knew with me. She’ll be able to give you the family I couldn’t. I want you to have that, I always did. I only wish I had been able to have them for us.” We could have tried adopting, had even talked about it for a time. Things just had never seemed to line up though.

I had only been able to nod my head in acknowledgement. It wasn’t something I believed, even knowing that her intuition had led her to believe certain things that had sometimes come true. This was one where she hadn’t even met the woman, and chances are I hadn’t either. She just wanted me to move on, that had to be it.

I’d never been one to have been all that practiced in the dating world. Short term girlfriends through high school, not that I was trying for short term or not wanting a commitment; it was just how things worked out. Katie Jones had been the exception though. We had met in French class and had just clicked. We had ended up a couple and had lasted for almost a year, until her father had been stationed in Germany for two years. We had intended to stay in touch, but with the great distance and the technology limitations of the time it just hadn’t been workable. After that dating others was very hit and miss, a lot of first dates or short term things that just didn’t seem to make a connection with.

Once in the Army that seemed to be similar as well. It was hard trying to make a potential relationship work knowing you had the probability of going overseas or away for training for months at a time, if not a full year. Reyna had come along and changed all that. Something as simple as a seat in a classroom: who knew it could have such a big impact on my life? I had signed up for a few classes through Central Texas College the first time I was stationed at Ft. Hood. Reyna had ended up sitting next to me that first class. We had started with talks about the class and things had built from there. It was a connection we both felt as well as an attraction. In a few short weeks we were spending every available downtime together. It wasn’t more than 6 months before we were living together and just to keep things simple, a year after our first date we were married. 10 years of a wonderful marriage and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Sure, I felt heartbroken when she had passed away, but as they say time heals all wounds. Now I could look back and remember the good times we had together. I could also remember the good times she still wanted me to have and to move forward.

Over the next few weeks I had decided to humor Julie and try my hand at dating again. Times had definitely changed though, the dating world was completely different. The last time I’d been single cell phones were still new technology and used as just phones. Now you browsed the web and downloaded apps for them. It’s one way I was old school though, I couldn’t really even consider trying the new dating app type things. Instead I had ended up spending time at a bar or two meeting women that had generated a few dates. It wasn’t really a big surprise that they didn’t end up generating anything real, though – I wasn’t the bar type to begin with.

It had been a couple weeks that I’d been able to put off Drew and Julie with stories of how the dates I’d been going on were going. The unfortunate part was they were mostly just first dates, no more than a second date at most. Julie kept commenting about how she thought her friend was a good match. I wouldn’t let her tell me much about her, though. I had the thought that if it did come to a potential blind date I would let it be an actual blind date, one where the both of us would be finding out about each other face to face, not creating illusions of the person through what we had already heard.

Julie finally spoke up at the end of a Thursday class the two had. “Ok, Ryan ... so what’s it going to be? You ready to give up on all these first dates you’ve been having and let me set you up? I promise you she’s a good looking woman by anyone’s standards. I wouldn’t try to set you up with someone who I didn’t think you would actually be attracted to.”

Ugh, the woman was relentless! That was the first thought that went through my head. The second? That I should just go with it to at least shut her up. “Alright. You can set me up with this girl. Give her my phone number and let her know I’m thinking the Little Italy in town if that will work for her and if she’s interested. Dinner Saturday night.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as Julie actually did a celebration dance around the area we were in. “Yesssss! Finally get her out of her apartment on a Saturday. This way she can stop pining away over some guy from her past.”

There was a groan from the other side as Drew heard her reaction. “I’m glad you said Saturday, Top. At this point she might not shut up about it between now and then. If her phone wasn’t in the car she’d probably already have the lady on the phone.”

“I have one last condition though. This isn’t a double-date. This is just her and I. I don’t even want you two in the same restaurant. This could be awkward enough without having to worry about your pressure added in. Just let us see how things go her and I. I’ll tell Julie what I’m wearing so she can tell her friend what to look for when she gets there.” Sure enough, Julie told her and her friend agreed on the location with a meet up time of 6:30. I figured the time was good, if things worked out it would still leave the chance for a long dinner or maybe drinks or something afterwards. I did have to secretly admit I was glad that it was Julie who said the woman was attractive. Coming from an attractive woman herself made it more likely to be true.