Faithfully Lupe

The weather was predicted to be rainy that weekend. Even the coast was expected to see some rain. So a trip to the beach wasn’t ideal. But as stubborn as I am, I was determined to take a break and have some time away to relax. I needed to get out of town and head to the beach (my favorite getaway spot.)

Friday rolled around and I had a slight feeling my weekend getaway was going to be solo with the predicted rain. I had planned on taking a “field trip” with him, because calling it a date was far fetched. Oh goodness no we couldn’t call it a date- that would be moving a little quickly. Not my preference but I went along with it- this “field trip” as he called it. When I woke up Saturday morning I had already decided to head out anyway- date or no date (pardon me- field trip) with him or without him, I was going. That’s the stubbornness in me.

But as it turns out the rain didn’t bother him and he was going to join me on my weekend getaway.

It’s about a 3 and 1/2 hour drive to the beach from the city, where we are at, so I met him at his place & we took off from there. It was going to be not only our first date, sorry field trip, but the first time we actually got to hang out. I didn’t know what to expect and I felt like I was breaking out in hives from the anxiety I had building up. Luckily, my anxiety ceased when I met up with him and the only thing I felt were butterflies inside. So we took off- me & my butterflies & him.

The gray clouds had a hint of blue as they covered the sky that day. But it was a perfect touch to our trip. We had a great amount of time to talk and really get to know each other during those 3 and 1/2 hours to the beach. I was an open book, holding nothing back about my deepest fears, regrets, pain & even the beautiful moments that led my life up to that point. I didn’t feel judged, didn’t get reprimanded, no harsh criticism so opening up and letting him in was easy, like talking to a best friend. After an hour of being on the road that’s exactly what I was doing- talking to & hanging out with the guy I quickly felt become my best friend.

He opened up too, confiding in me about his life and what it had been up until that point. I hurt for the things that hurt him & I smiled at the things that made him smile. He spoke about his pride and joy with so much love, the one thing that made him very proud- his children. Fatherhood.

Finally as we arrived on the coast and pulled in closer to the pier I just had to get a closer look at the beach. There’s just something about staring out at the never ending ocean and feeling the mist touch my face that is liberating. By that time though the mist from the beach wasn’t the only thing touching my face, the rain was starting to sprinkle in.

We sat at the pier looking out at the ocean for a while and talked some more, I took in the exact color of his eyes and memorized the tone of his voice, I loved listening to him talk and could have sat there for days doing just that.

As we walked back to get some clam chowder for lunch he turned himself around and walked backwards, staring at me & smiling, looking at me as if I was the only person that existed in that moment. I was blushing so much I could feel my cheeks turning a deep shade of pink. I went unprepared for the cold weather and being the gentleman that he was, I ended up wearing his jacket (that by the way almost got pooped on by the friendly seagulls that flew around the area.)

We finally left the pier and headed to the popular cafe that wraps with lines of visitors for some of their delicious clam chowder. As we sat and ate, there he was again looking at me. This time he shook his head as he smiled and said to me “yea this is definitely a date.” What?! Did I just hear him correctly?

I asked him “Why?” and he just replied with a smile as he looked at me, he’d tell me later why it had turned into a date, but at that moment the soft, sweet & gentle look in his eyes answered my question.

After we got done with lunch we headed to the bar across the street, neither of us were much drinkers but wanted to sit & talk some more away from the rain and we did just that as we swapped stories about our kids. I loved sharing my favorite home videos from my cell phone with him from when my daughter was younger. He knew she meant the world to me by the appreciation he showed when I talked about her. He understood that she was my priority and didn’t oppose. I in return, gave him the same respect for his children.

Eventually the day caught up with me & I couldn’t help but feel tired, we decided to head up to our hotel and check in to relax before heading back to the beach that evening.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Hitch” with Will Smith, you’ll remember that hilarious scene when his character is helping Kevin James character on getting that goodnight kiss when he drops his date off at home. Poor guys always have that pressure of deciding whether to go in for the kiss or not. Us women are kind of lucky like that, we let the guys take the pressure.

That was not the case on this date.

In fact, I did not plan on being the one to go in for the kiss. But when we arrived at our hotel, he opened my door and as I got out of his truck, I slipped into his hug. Somehow my body was moving quicker than my brain and as I looked up at him and our eyes met I went in for an unplanned kiss. We stood there in the rain, exchanging the most perfect and unplanned kiss.

Minutes later as we walked into our room all I could think about was the kiss and silently asked myself “did I just do that? Did that just happen. Wow.”

That evening we sat and watched TV, getting into conversation about likes & dislikes realizing we both didn’t watch much TV, actually we realized our schedules didn’t allow much time for TV.

So the TV was off after the 1/2 hour episode of The Big Bang Theory.

We lay quietly embraced in the sweetest hug, listening to music. When one particular song came on he took my hand stood me up and we swayed to the music as he sang in my ear: “se detiene el tiempo” and for that moment time did stand still.

Later that night when we got back from dinner and settled back into our hotel room, we lay there again talking because neither of us could shut up, listened to romantic Spanish pop music and eventually fell asleep. At some point in the middle of the night, I woke up feeling like I was dreaming and he asked where we stood, and we both knew friends wasn’t all we wanted to be. As he caressed my face, he whispered to me “you deserve to be loved.”

The next morning waking up I said “so this is what I look like every morning. No makeup, no sweet scented perfume, messy hair- take it or leave it.” He took my face into his hands, giving me a kiss (luckily I had already brushed my teeth!) and said “I’ll take it!”

From that day forward to the weeks that followed I’d prance around like a love sick fool. Nobody questioned my joy, they knew by my smile that my heart had been stolen.

Faithfully,
Lupe