By the end of May 2020, restaurants reopened for outdoor dining only. Philip asked me if he could take me out on a Saturday night.

Wow. Such excitement. A real date. I worried that he’d want to stay overnight. I decided I’d deal with that later.

Knowing me only via text, phone, a few meltdowns, and one Stew Leonard’s meetup, Philip was still one step ahead. It was like he could read my mind.

“I’ll get an Uber driver,” he said.

I didn’t know exactly where Philip lived; his profile was full of contradictions. However, he was not far from Stew Leonard’s in Danbury and, prior to COVID, he took Metro-North into NYC for work, so I figured he lived somewhere in Duchess County, NY as there was a train station there. I didn’t think Uber would make a  NY/CT round trip like that, but it wasn’t my problem.

Date night arrived. I stood at my living-room window awaiting Philip’s arrival. I was butterflies-in-the-gut nervous. I watched silver-and-pink mylar heart-shaped balloons float above my mailbox. I’d tied them there to help Philip find me.

I noticed a masked man wearing madras Bermuda shorts, a collared shirt, and Sperry deck shoes walking down the street carrying a bottle of wine. He turned into my driveway. I realized it was Philip. Where the hell was the  car?  He arrived at the front door. I opened it. He pulled off his mask, smiled broadly, stepped up into the house and kissed me.  A real, suck-face kiss. I must admit, it was pretty good!

“Where’s your driver?” I asked.

“Oh, I asked him to drop me at the end of the street so I could surprise you,” he replied.

Philip asked for a corkscrew. I got one and he opened the bottle he’d brought. It was red wine. He poured two glasses, made a toast to us, took a sip, then immediately put the glass down.

“I can’t drink this,” he stated. “Some red wines give me Rosacea. I never know until I try them, but the reaction is instant. This is one of them,” he explained. I watched as his pale complexion became speckled with a red rash. 

I drove us to the restaurant where I’d made a reservation– an old Simsbury mansion converted into a hotel and eatery. We were seated at a table on the home’s wrap-around porch that overlooked an expansive lawn. A masked guitarist quietly played. 

Philip loved the venue. He held my hand through dinner. When I drove home, I expected to see the Uber driver waiting in the driveway. 

“Where’s your driver?” I asked.  Philip took out his phone and sent a text.

“Are you contacting him now?” I asked.

“Sort of,” replied Philip. 

“What do you mean, sort of?” I asked. 

“My driver is my ‘tard’ son, Nathan,” he replied. “Uber wouldn’t do it.”

It took me a moment to comprehend. “Wait,” I said. “You are referring to your special-needs son? Your son has been driving around Avon and Simsbury waiting for you?”

“I wanted to be alone with you,” Philip said defensively. “I knew you’d have him join us if you knew.”

He was right. 

“How could you refer to him as tard?”  I asked.  I thought that was awful. 

“Don’t start,” he angrily replied. “It’s been a nice evening. Don’t ruin it. I paid Nathan a hundred bucks to drive me.”

A white Cadillac SUV with NY plates pulled up in the driveway. I went out to greet the young man who got out of the car. He was a very large person with a very large head–a part of  his condition. He smiled a shy smile as I approached him. 

“Hi, Nathan. I’m Mimi,” I told him.

“I know,” he replied. He wasn’t wearing a mask. I didn’t get too close.

“Had I known you were the driver, I would have insisted you join us,” I said. My comment angered Philip. He got into the passenger seat of his car and pulled the door closed. He barked at Nathan to get in.

“It was nice meeting you,” said Nathan.  He got into the Cadillac,  backed out of the driveway, and they were gone.

© Miriam Greenberg, and the blog Love In The Time Of Corona, beginning April 2022 to the Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Miriam Greenberg and Love In The Time Of Corona with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.