Chapter 2

It was a watershed moment for Nancy. The following week, when Dave Segrove acted as if nothing had occurred, she was fairly perky. After the meeting, she volunteered to help him clean up, and he took her to the diner for a cup of coffee. They began to settle into a routine of the meeting and coffee afterwards. After a couple of months, Nancy decided to take a chance.

“Um, Dave, uh, we’re friends, right?” she asked tentatively.

“Yeah,” he replied. It was a curious question, he thought.

“Well, um, I was wondering, if maybe, you know, some night, maybe we might do something, see a movie or something. Dutch, I mean.” Dave stared at her briefly, and Nancy knew she had screwed up. “Listen, it was just a thought, that’s all. Forget I ever mentioned it. Listen, I have to go...”

Dave grabbed her hand across the table and held on. “Wait a minute. You mean, like a date?”

“Yeah. Stupid idea, huh?” she said as she tried to leave.

Dave held her in place, firmly but gently. “What’s so stupid about it? I think it’s a very nice idea.”

“But you don’t want to go out with me, right? Because of...”, she trailed off.

Dave gave the girl a disgusted look. “I thought we settled that. I never said I didn’t like the idea. It’s just, well, it’s been so long, I mean, I don’t...” He looked away, embarrassed. “I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Nancy gave him a funny look. “Dave, I only suggested a movie. You buy a ticket, I buy a ticket, we sit down with popcorn and watch a motion picture.”

“I know that!” he said in exasperation. “It’s just that, well, I’ve never really...”

“What, dated?” asked Nancy. Dave shrugged and nodded, and she stared at him. “Are you trying to tell me that you managed to get married and have two kids and never once dated your wife? That’s nuts!”

“No, it’s just that, well ... Emily and I, we were, like, always meant to be. I mean, we always knew she was the one for me and I was the one for her. Even as kids. She grew up two houses down from me, and we played together even when we were in kindergarten. All through school, we were together. I first proposed to her on the swing set when we were six, and she accepted, even then.”

“That’s so sweet!”

“Yeah, but ‘going-out-with-somebody-new-and-getting-to-know-them’ dating? We never did that sort of thing. It was just that when we got old enough to go to school dances or the movies or whatever, we went together, you know? We never thought about it. It was like it was preordained or something. We were going to get married and have kids and grow old and fat together, and we never thought about it. We just knew!” Dave wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at his explanation. “Pathetic, right?”

Nancy held his hand. “I think it’s adorable. Think of all the time you saved getting to know each other! What about, well, you know ... when did you two first...?”

Dave rolled his eyes. “God, it was our wedding night, for both of us. Don’t get me wrong, we had done a lot of necking and what not before, but she wanted to wait. I mean, I wanted to, believe me, I wanted to, and Emily said she wanted to, but she said to wait, so we waited. It was like the blind leading the blind!”

Nancy snickered. “You must have figured things out eventually.”

“Oh yeah! About two minutes after we got into the motel room!” Both Dave and Nancy laughed loudly at this.

Their first date was a dinner and a movie, and Dave refused to consider going Dutch. Standing in line at the theater, Nancy took his hand and held it, and he was pathetically happy. Later that evening he shyly asked if they could go out again, then had shaken her hand good-bye. A second date went much the same way, only Nancy kissed him good night. She could not understand his actions, or inaction. She had been the one to start holding hands, and she had initiated the kiss. Then it hit her.

Dave Segrove really didn’t know anything about dating! He couldn’t read the signals she had been sending. She had been initiating everything and he was being the perfect gentleman and he simply didn’t have a clue! If she wanted to take things to the next level, and she had to admit that she did, she would have to move things along. Not only that, but more than likely she was far more experienced sexually than he was, as well!

For their next date, after dinner, Nancy told Dave that she really didn’t feel like a movie and asked if he could take her back to her apartment. Dave was disappointed, but agreed, only to be pleasantly surprised when she asked if he’d like to come up for coffee, and to see the place. She let him in, saying, “I know it’s not very big.”

“It looks very nice,” he lied. It did look nice if the definition was clean and well cared for. Otherwise, there was about enough room to swing a cat, especially if it was a small cat, held close to the chest. He offered to help with the coffee, but she declined the offer, and they kept talking as she worked in the kitchen. It was a small efficiency apartment, so it was a single room plus a bath. He could see the kitchenette from the couch where he was sitting, which he suspected folded out into the bed.