are you hitting on me?

It has been two weeks since I put her in a taxi and sent her to the airport for a red-eye flight back home. But I am a bit ahead of myself. Let me back up and tell you a little story about how we met and the few hours that we spent together.

I was walking back from the conference and, with a nearly dead laptop battery, I needed to get to my room to setup the laptop to be able to join a short telecon. I saw her as I walked through the lounge between the bar and the lobby. Her smile, short blond braids, and beautiful eyes caught my attention.

I got to my room in time, completed the telecon, watched a little of the olympics and was struggling to decide on a place for dinner. After washing up, throwing on a clean shirt, I headed back downstairs.

As I was walking back through the lounge to the bar to get a before dinner drink, I noticed her still sitting in the same place. I decided to say hi. She responded in a simple, warm and friendly way. we exchanged pleasantries and names. there was something about her direct responses that simply drew me to her. I asked her if I could buy her a drink and as it was still very early we settled on diet cokes. We quickly found out that we were both there for the same conference; she was there as a trainer and I was there as an attendee.

As we talked, I was struck by her genuine and direct nature. She looked me straight in the eye and held that glance. she asked meaningful questions and waited patiently for answers. I think that I had already mentioned my kids once or twice, and yes I was wearing my ring, so I assume that she knew that I was probably married but to be honest, I am not sure. She didn't ask. She told me that was traveling home later that night and I explained that i was there for several more days.

I was also getting a bit hungry. While I would normally not ask, because of my comfort with her, I asked if she wanted to join me for dinner. I was headed to LuLu's. I knew the room and the bar and had been there on many previous visits to the city. I was looking forward to it and through that she might like it also. I think that it was around then that she asked me rather of matter-of-factly, "are you hitting on me?"

The conversation changed at that point. A bit flustered by her directness, I stumbled through my initial response. I tried to say "...no, of course not," but I am sure that my response was probably something else. Side bar: someday in the future I would like her to tell me what she heard. She told me that she was waiting on a call from a friend that she planned to meet for dinner. I told her where I would be and if her plans changed that she could/should call. While she offered me her number, I gave her my phone instead.

We talked for just a bit longer and it was then that I came to an interesting question; while I said "no," I wondered why an intelligent, beautiful, and very direct woman of 25 would ask me, "are you hitting on me?" So I tried to tell her in the manner of the coquette that I think that I am, "if I was, she would be the one..." With just a simple handshake I was off.

It was about an hour later, after two glasses of wine and a few appetizers that she called. My hands were shaking. Her friend never showed and she wanted to join me for dinner. I gave her directions and the anticipation of her walking into the restaurant was almost unbearable. I felt like a teenager on an 1st date. at 49, and 18 years with my wife, I have not felt that way in quite awhile. It felt very good. She walked in with a huge smile and we embraced with a brief but warm hug. As she left the bar to wash-up, I got a big smile from the bartender. The excitement of waiting for her to return to the bar was amazing.

We ate, drank and talked for another 2 hours. The conversation just flowed. While not aware of much else around me, I remined her that she needed to catch her red-eye flight. I walked her back to the hotel, she told me her email address, and I put her in the hotel limo for the quick ride to the airport. I have not stopped thinking about her since...

Check back in a few weeks for the next installment...