I want you all to myself...

So my birthday has come and gone - it was Sunday and was mostly uneventful and just pretty much sad. Saturday, G and I decided to go to dinner, but Sunday morning, he came into the Inn because he had forgotten that it was Sunday and he had to go to Mass. He is a practicing Catholic, which I am not, but I understand the concept of being religious and faithful to that religion and I do not want to be "that girl". I will admit I was disappointed and very nearly cried, but I held it in check until I got into a row with one of the other waitresses and then I let the tears loose. I actually hid in a corner of the kitchen where no one could see me to cry because I didn't want anyone to think I was crying because of G or because of the other waitress. L summed it up the best when she said that "birthdays are a big letdown" - you build up excitement for them and when they arrive, you completely expect a big show of fireworks or something amazing and wonderful but they usually pass as good or average and then you are disappointed.

The girls in the kitchen made me a potato pancake and a homemade card with Sharpies and put a candle in the pancake and sang me happy birthday and it got slightly better. It got even better when G stopped by the Inn while we were all sitting on the back stoop and was feeling bad and Susan offered to work Monday night for me so he could take me out then instead (she already offered to work Sunday night for me and I would have gone back to working that night except with the crying and the being sad, I would not have been in good shape for it, especially since I was to work with the waitress I got in the row with). Then he walked me to my car and gave me a hug (probably because I was so bedraggled looking).

Monday, my boss showed up with two little personal sized gourmet cakes and told me that he and I had to eat them and "do something special". Everyone in the kitchen more or less decided that I needed to "find out what is going on" and find out where I stood with G because as of then, we were just friends having supper together - had hugged twice but there was some flirting going on and such. I really thought, after being blown off for church, that I was thinking more of the relationship than he was, but I tried not to be too pessimistic.

So I joined him to do chores after work, which is really fun and possibly one of my favourite parts about work - driving around the site after everyone has gone when the sun is starting to go down, and putting all the chickens away in their coops and feeding the horses and basically putting all the animals "to bed". He showed me a new bunch of piglets that no one was supposed to see because they don't want the mama to get upset, and then as we were getting ready to leave - we were discussing how beautiful the site is and how nice it is after all the guests have left... He said "Well, there is this one place that I think is the most beautiful spot..." And I started trying to guess - and he said "Well, maybe I will just take you there."

We pulled up to one of the houses and he got out, so I followed, and he showed me around to the back where you could see up the river and down the river for about a mile - across the river, there is roadway but there just happened to be no one on it... it was completely perfectly quiet except for some geese coming up the river, the water was still, the sun was low and the light was completely perfect. We sat down on the back stoop all cozy and wonderful and it was almost exactly like a movie.

Except I didn't get a kiss. I wasn't too upset since it was a complete perfect, private and wonderful moment even without the kiss, but I can completely see us going back to that spot again - I might even drag him there myself if I have to.

We went up to our regular spot for dinner and tucked into a corner booth where we usually just sit out at a table in the open. The conversation was great - I mean, it's always great, but it was flirty and friendly and really open and I felt like he was showing me a part of him that I hadn't gotten to see yet. There was some mild playful touching (not necessarily in a romantic way) - we are definitely becoming more and more comfortable with one another to say and do what comes into our heads at any given time. We stayed in the restaurant so long that they asked us to leave so they could close up... and then we just moved to sit in my van and talk for another hour and a half and eat the cakes that Susan had sent (the girls packed a candle and matches in there - he said it was a "romantic touch" - I blushed!).

After that, he helped me put transmission fluid in the van and when I accidentally locked us out, he climbed in the back hatch to unlock the doors without hesitation. Before I left, I was coming back out of the store and he was going to throw away a piece of paper towel, and he just reached out his arm while I was on the way by and scooped me into another hug. I am so in like, it's serious scary.

In all - he way more than made up for Sunday on Monday. I don't think he would have been very good company Sunday if I had insisted - particularly because some stuff has been going on at work for him and he really needed to go to church to sort his brain out.

And I never put my neck on the line to ask what was going on - but I get the impression from the conversation that he realizes this is headed in a romantic direction. He is older than I by quite a bit and he is to the point in his life where he is "playing for keeps" and I would like to be at that point either - obviously I don't know enough about him right now to say I'd want to marry him - but he is someone I would be interested in spending long term with - and he wants to build a good friendship base and see if that is what he is interested in, too. So far, our record for being able to talk to one another for hours on end is pretty darn good.