I came to find out months later but May 16 was a red-letter day for me. For those who don’t know what a “red-letter day” is well perhaps google its meaning. It was on that day Emily felt I was a “pretty cool dude”. But I didn’t know it at the time. Still I felt good about being with her even if it was only on Sundays. Her work schedule was hard to manage but she was grateful to have a job, and in the interim she was looking for work with a different hourly schedule. Either way she enjoyed the company and her coworkers.

On consecutive Sundays in May I would drive out to the suburbs and take her to dinner. Most of the time I would come back home extremely late. I recall one particular Sunday night I stayed way late night with her family and watching the “blood moon eclipse”. I came home at 1:30 in the morning Monday. Even though I would wake up weary a few hours later for a Monday morning, I was still happy since I was spending time with her. Plus her teens had been accepting of me. Of course it helped that I bribed them along the way when I would order an extra plate or appetizer from the restaurant when I was having dinner with their mom. Hey I was just trying to score points. Can’t blame me for that. 

In late May, an acquaintance of mine would be tying the knot and had invited me to his wedding and a “plus 1”. I asked Emily to be my date. She accepted. It seemed she was a bit skeptical, but accepted nonetheless. It would mean a public outing for the first time since losing her husband. I could sense it. Many questions arose. As much as I could verbally inform her I would hold a high standard of being a gentleman, talk is cheap. But I had confidence I could easily prove myself worthy of holding a chivalrous position in her eyes. 

“Well uhm that’s a drive over to the west of Houston,” she said. “I won’t stay at your house. I’ll go with you but you’ll need to figure how we coordinate this.”

So I told her I would make hotel arrangements to accommodate her stay as comfortable as possible. And also, she wouldn’t need to come to my house for anything since I would find a hotel close to where I live. 

And I decided to sweeten my offer. “Not only that,” I explained, “If you need something to wear for the wedding I’ll take care of it. It’s the least I can do.”

She accepted my offer. Both of them.