It started simply—“Hi there.”

Kate had almost sworn off dating after spending only a few hours with Captain Ponytail. Nick was just starting to dip his toe back into the dating pool. With no obvious red flags on Nick’s hastily-prepared profile, Kate thought to herself, “what’s one more time?” Over several hours of chatting, they discussed weird Olympic sports, a shared love of Stevie Wonder, and nerded out over Nick’s best ever single Scrabble play (LEATHERY across two triple-word scores for 234 points).

Over a couple of days, they swapped stories from work about the insanity of the human race. They also discussed the insanity of the human race based on online dating—a world where the odds are pretty good; but the goods are pretty odd. Kate insisted that she was just saving her crazy for later and they exchanged phone numbers.

On July 18th, Kate and Nick met for brunch. After pancakes and chicken and waffles, they began planning a second outing. Kate however, sent Nick a message stating that all she could offer at this time was friendship because she wanted to focus on some personal goals and dating would complicate things. With this in mind, they still agreed to meet at UpDown. While they laughed and exchanged coy smiles, Nick demonstrated his lack of skill in Skee-Ball and Kate totally cheated at Connect Four.

Afterward, Nick was pretty sure he wanted to kiss Kate, but he settled for a hug goodbye and wondered if he’d ever see her again.

Over the next few days, Kate kept thinking about how much fun she had.

“Dinner?” she texted.

“Sure!”

They decided on a restaurant. Nick bought new shoes. And Kate rifled through her extensive wardrobe.

They met at Mesob in midtown Kansas City. It was 95 degrees outside. It was 95 degrees inside as well due to mechanical problems with the restaurant’s air conditioning. Kate wondered if Nick noticed the sweat pouring off her face onto her brightly-colored jumpsuit. Nick began to worry about the expanding sweat marks on his polo shirt. Despite this, they knew that this encounter was different. It was special.

After dinner, Kate thought to herself, “If we became a couple, why would I ever break up with this guy?” They departed Mesob hot, glistening, and smiling. And just outside at the corner of 36th and Broadway, they kissed.

Now, Kate and Nick look back at that moment—only 10 days after they first met—as the day they knew they were meant to be.

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