that direction. Elaborating on the standard rejection, “It’s not you, it’s me,” he typed, I’m not good enough for you. Just because you have low standards, obviously, since you like me, doesn’t mean I’m good for you.
A flurry of emails flew back and forth, and then Liz got right to the point. Answer the stupid question. Do you want to keep going with us or not? Not that hard, stay or go. There it was again. The ultimatum.
If she would just stop nagging him to commit and give him room to breathe, they could hang out, but if she vanished from his life forever, he would not shed any tears. “I didn’t care if she came or went,” he admits, but he was trying hard to be tactful. He typed, I said “stay” 27 emails ago. But maybe we should back off again. Emotions getting high and all
Oh my fucking God! Liz shot back. Whatever. As always, I bring something up, and Dave runs for the hills! You’re the only one that has a problem here. It’s always easier to run. She was needling him, calling him a coward for refusing to face a love she was certain he’d see if he weren’t so afraid. He did not take the bait.
The most irritating part of their exchanges was her persistence about the four-week commitment. He could hardly believe she’d suggest such a thing, and he was frustrated when he read, I guess at the end of four weeks this is what I’m hoping for. Maybe persuade you to move a little forward with us. LOL. Laughing out loud? She obviously wasn’t joking, and the use of the Internet abbreviation for laughter ironically came off like a nervous giggle. Dave wished she were joking, because the suggestion was truly laughable to him.
Liz stressed in that email, I’d like a guy who was kind of like mine, someone I could go out with, have fun with, or sit at home with and enjoy playing PS3, cards or whatever. She added that she was as afraid of a commitment as he was, but a few sentences later she wrote that she was “asking for constants.” She rattled on, basically repeating what she had already said, and then ended with, Does that make sense, or did I just make it worse?
What did Liz think a one-month commitment would accomplish? Did she believe he’d realize he was hopelessly in love with her after thirty days of an exclusive arrangement? “She was dumb to think that would be the case.” He shakes his head. The first time she’d suggested the four-week commitment, he ignored her, hoping she’d drop it, but she asked again. “I just shut her down. And then she asked again, and I shut her down. She just wouldn’t let it go. Finally, I’m like, ‘okay, whatever.’ By then I was already talking to Cari.”
Cari. Incredibly smart, funny, and sexy, she was the only woman he had met organically since his breakup with Amy. While all the others had stepped into his world through his computer screen, Cari was the only one he had met the old-fashioned way, face-to-face in a chance encounter. “She was a customer, and it was purely professional,” Dave stresses, recalling the day the vivacious Cari Farver brought her Ford Explorer into Hyatt Tire for a minor repair.
He was instantly attracted to the tall, slender lady with the smiling hazel eyes. A powerful energy crackled between them as they met each other’s gaze, and Dave sensed she felt it, too. Should he ask her out? No. He was at work, and she was a client. Asking her for a date would be inappropriate, he told himself. Besides, he couldn’t be certain she’d be receptive. Her eyes seemed to say she was interested, but maybe he had misread her. If she said no, it would be embarrassing and awkward.
About two weeks later while perusing the Plenty of Fish dating site, Dave was pleasantly surprised to see Cari’s profile pop up on the screen. He sent her a message: Hi! I know you! “It was a chance to say hello without being too creepy.”
Cari wrote back, and the exchange was friendly but brief. About two weeks later, she came back to the shop with her Explorer. Dave went with her to the parking lot to check out one of the vehicle’s windows that had been sticking. This time they were both acutely aware that the other was single and looking to date.