Let's do this again

I got that second opportunity a couple weeks later; I had to pick up my dogs from my sister, who graciously helped me by babysitting Miles and Louis, along with her own Wheaten Terrier, Milo. The three terrors were quite the handful, but my sister was more than happy to watch them. Jess and I agreed to a second date, this time to Sushi Den; a common passion of sushi drew us to this place and as this was Jess' favorite sushi restaurant. Much like the first date, things were moving along well, until the subject of meeting her dad came up.

"He wouldn't like you," she claimed.

"How do you know? He never met me," I promptly replied.

Instantly things went south and instead of a start to a great night, it turned sour and ended with both of us returning to our cars, unsure of our futures together. I drove home thinking, how could things have gone so poorly. I thought we clicked, I thought she was the one. Deep in my heart, I knew that to be true; I would not let a bad date ruin what we had started. So I called her back that night and set up one last date. If she didn't have fun or if we didn't click anymore, then that would be it. She agreed and we had one last date before I left Denver to get back to Green Bay. I told her I would set everything up and that she had to promise me to try to have fun.

I decided that this date needed to be fun and the best way to get the endorphins flowing is to get us moving, doing activities. First place would be bowling at Lucky Strike, I hadn't bowled since I was on the Carl Vinson a few years back, but I always had fun. Jess is very competitive, even to the point that she really gets in to something; bowling was no different and I had to pull out a few good frames in order to beat her. She started to have fun and open up again, that was my plan; so it was off to Dave & Buster's for some pool. Jess said she was very good at it; but heck I am a sailor, that is like drinking a playing poker and drinking, it is what we do. So I took on the challenge and played a little 8-ball action. I "let her win" the first game and "took" the second. Unfortunately, she was the one that was dictating who was winning and losing as I was schooled on the third and final game.

It was a fantastic date and we both had a great time. So we decided that the previous date was not an indication of things to come, but a blip on the radar. I had accomplished my goal, I showed her that I was committed to this relationship, as early as it was. This would be a defining moment in our relationship.