"Well, I'm no 13-year-old boy," he responded with a chuckle.
"No, you certainly don't sound like it," Olivia reassured him, "and can I assume your name is Luke?"
"Yes, it is Luke. Luke Bowden," he reassured her. "When we meet I can even show you my ID."
"Perfect!" she said, laughing, "One can never be too careful!"
"You have a nice laugh," he lowered his voice slightly.
"Thank you," responded Olivia.
"So how does this work? We have all the stats about each other already, so I can't ask you the usual questions," he teased. "I feel like all my openings are useless."
"Well, I could start by asking you how you landed on a dating site," she offered.
"That's easy. I was in a long-term relationship until about four months ago," he began, "I didn't know where to go to meet some nice, down to earth women who weren't just out there prowling and looking for a sugar daddy. Going online allows me to weed through some of those types right off the bat."
"My reasons are similar. As I said in my profile, I'm looking for a long-term, serious relationship, and that isn't something easy to find at our age," she explained. "Going to the bar isn't my thing, but online allows me to meet different people on my terms."
"How long have you been online?" he asked.
"A couple of years, give or take," she responded.
"Wow! Are you sure you don't have two heads or something? Your picture is gorgeous so it can't be that," he teased. "Or maybe men are just not all that smart?"
"I think it's specifying a serious, long-term relationship that does it," she smiled. "That tends to scare off all but the hardiest."
"Fools, all of them," he said with a deep-throated chuckle. "So, would you be interested in meeting in person?"
Olivia felt something like a teenager who had just been invited to prom as she answered, "Yes. Yes, I would."
"Great! I'm out of town right now, but I will be back in two days," he said. "Can I call you then and set something up?"
"I'll wait to hear from you then," she said.
Hanging up, she felt a surge of excitement and quickly phoned her friend April. Next to Terri, April was Olivia's closest friend, and she knew she could count on her to join in her excitement.
"Hi April," she said. "How are things?"
"They're good. You sound happy!" April responded with a chuckle. "How are things with you?"
"Pretty good! I just got off the phone with someone from the site, and he sounds mighty nice!" Olivia said. "And by nice, I mean normal. And manly. And did I mention normal?"
"Ha! Isn't it a sad state that we're at the point where normal is something to state twice?" April laughed.
"I know, and it's been so long since I've been excited about anyone. We've chatted a bit online and today was our first phone call. He's out of town, but he'll call when he gets back so we can meet in person!" the excitement in Olivia's voice was hard to ignore.
"I'm happy for you! It's so nice to be interested in someone, isn't it?" her friend asked. "Did I tell you what happened with John and me?"
After an hour or so of good conversation, punctuated with laughs and groans, the two women hung up, with a promise to get together in the next couple of days for a girl's night out, just April, Olivia, and Terri. Olivia spent the rest of the day with a slight smile on her face as she cleaned up the house in preparation for the upcoming week.
One visit to her son's school for parent-teacher interviews and a week of work later, Olivia found herself sitting at a table at a Starbucks coffee shop. Blowing on her hot chai tea latte, she looked nervously at the door again. Darn it, she thought, he's going to be a no-show. The past week they had chatted more online, and as the days went by, she became more and more interested in meeting him. She was afraid she had put too much of her hope into this guy; she certainly should know better. How many times had she gotten her hopes up only to have them dashed? She supposed it would be better to find out now after just a week or two, as opposed to the two or three months she had spent chatting with that guy who lived a few hours north. What a disaster it had been when they finally met. She learned the hard way that no matter how great things appear online, or even on the phone, it's only when people meet in person that they find out if there is a connection. Or, in the case of the two-monther, when there was no connection and, in fact, there was more than just a little bit of repulsion. After that experience, she swore that she would fast track the amount of time spent chatting with any one man online and get straight to meeting face to face.
The door opened, and she quickly looked up, dismayed to see that it was two young mothers, toddlers in tow. Watching them with their long hair pulled up in fashionable ponytails, wearing skintight yoga pants, Olivia felt insecurity wash over her. What on earth would a man who looked like him want with someone like her anyway? She was 37 years old, had two teenagers, and baggage from a broken, unhappy marriage. She had to work hard to keep the pounds off, and she had never been a real head-turner. She was so engrossed in her thoughts, she didn't hear the door open again or see the man approach her until he was standing right beside her table.
"Olivia?" he asked, nervously.
"Oh!" she started. "Yes. Yes, hi."
"Hi, I'm Luke," he introduced himself as he held out his hand. She took his hand and felt it engulf hers. She looked into his blue eyes and immediately felt her breath catch in her throat.
"Hi Luke," she managed to say, "So nice to meet you."
"You too," He responded with a smile, "You were easy to find; you look just like your pictures."
As he sat took off his coat and sat down, she had a moment to look at him before he turned his attention back to her. He was the perfect height- about six inches taller than her- and built solidly. His broad chest and thick arms were a perfect match for his deep husky voice. She was surprised to find her body reacting to him already, and they had barely exchanged a dozen words.
"I thought we were never going to get a chance to meet," he said. "my schedule has just been crazy lately."
"That's life these days isn't it?" she responded.
"It sure is," he said as he looked her straight in the eyes.
"So, what exactly do you do?" she asked, a bit thrown off balance by the obvious appreciation he showed on his face.
"I'm an electrician, and I work for a local plant," he answered. "It means I have to make some road trips once in a while, but not very often."
"An electrician with a business degree?" Olivia asked with a smile.
"I know, it isn't your usual combination, but the degree was for my mother," Luke said. "The second career was all for me."
"Well, they do say everyone will have several careers in their lifetime," Olivia noted.
"Yes, but I intend for this one to be my last. I enjoy my work and am quite content," he said.
Olivia went down the must-have list in her head and made a mental checkmark next to the one called 'stable and settled'. She also couldn't help but notice that good taste in clothes was another one of his attributes. He was wearing a simple t-shirt with a casual shirt over top, but the t-shirt was the perfect shade of blue for his eyes, and the shirt strained attractively across his shoulders.