Done is Done

Two friends on the same day posed identical questions. Why didn't you go out for coffee with the guy you met in Kinko's (Date #12)?

I had work to do, I explained.

So, you could have gone for ten or fifteen minutes.

Yeah, but...would you have gone, spur of the moment like that?

Absolutely. And normally you would have too. Why didn't you this time?

What can I say? I don't know. Was I being responsible? Following my instinct? Or was I simply afraid?

And if I was afraid, then of what? That I'd get bored? Have nothing more to say? Or that maybe he had potential?

And if he had potential, then what about the fact that his nose was a tad big and his lips thin? Or that he was a doctor and not a politician or a poet, like the last two men I'd fallen for? Or that he actually listened when I spoke and even asked questions?

And if this guy could carry on a thoughtful, two-way conversation, then that might mean I'd enjoyed myself, and want to see him again, and maybe even, dare I say it, like him. Yes, like him.

Oh my.

What's done is done. Still, yesterday after thinking awhile, I shot off an email. "Since you didn't follow up on that cup of coffee, thought I would." That was all. Nice and simple.

Minutes later, he wrote back. "Thanks for writing. Out of town...Crazy busy...Glad to have your email...Talk soon."

Will we? Who knows. We may have missed the moment. But I did learn something, as seen by the fact that later in the day when Date #11 phoned, I said yes to getting together, even though I could have drummed up a million and one reasons why not to.