Meeting a Woman 02: At College

`````````````````````````````````````

He picked her up at 10 am like they planned and went to First Watch. He liked the place and had gone there a few times himself. There were probably cheaper places, but it wasn't overly expensive for his salary.

They both commented on how good it was to see each other and how hard it was to sleep alone after feeling so comfortable with each other the past few nights.

They started discussing ideas for their afternoon date. He said he had looked online and found an amusement park called Uncle Bernie's. It didn't look really big and is mostly marketed towards kids, but maybe that would make it fun too. But their website also mentioned fair food, so that sounds like we could get sick on cotton candy and crushed ice cones. She said with an offer like that, how could she refuse?

It did turn out to be fun but was smaller than they expected. There were only two rides that you might be comfortable riding as an adult. But they did those twice each. There were also some carnival games like seeing who can use a water gun to fill up the balloon the fastest, knocking over the milk bottles, and bursting the balloons with darts. And they weren't trying to make themselves sick but they did each have an elephant ear, cotton candy, caramel corn, homemade taffy, and a couple of pieces of cardboard pizza.

Overall, they had a good time, but it was more about being together. They would never return there but for a nerdy and quirky date venue, it worked. Neither of them felt like having any dinner after eating all of the junk food. So he suggested they might want to go back to his apartment. She liked the idea of alone time with her Joey.

Strangely, neither of them was super horny and they just wanted to be together today. Of course, that could change with one passionate kiss, but for now, cooler heads were prevailing. He suggested watching a movie. She said that they never finished La Femme Nakita. He thought that sounded even better. Believe it or not, he did find it on a streaming service. They couldn't remember exactly where they left off, but they thought they had finished season 1 and started season 2 they just weren't sure. They started with season 2 episode 2 and they had seen it. Move on to episode 3 and that was new so that is where they started. They ended up watching 3 episodes while holding hands.

"Nic."

"Fi."

"I spoke to daddy about me moving out and maybe to the apartments here. He was supportive but asked me to be cautious. He agreed it might be too soon for us live together, but he cautioned that being so close we should be careful that we aren't always staying over a lot with each other. Like my father usually does, I thought it made a lot of sense. So I thought we should talk about some boundaries if I end up moving in. What do you think?"

"I think it is a good point and it would be good for us to lay down some ground rules. They've been working well for us so far. And even better for me with you call women's privilege." Smack. Kiss.

"How restrictive do you think we should be, Nic?"

"What do you think about limiting the number of nights we can sleep over in a week?

"That would make it easy to implement. Since we both will need our rest being so new at work, what about a curfew or be-home-by time?"

"I think those two things would helpfully limit our time together in a mature way. What about 1 night a week and midnight?"

"How about 1 night and 11 pm."

"Deal. I'm sure you've already thought of additional things you would like to add. Right Fi?"

"Maybe. I think we will still have to be careful, otherwise, we will only be sleeping in our beds from 11 pm to 7 am, and live with each other the rest of the time. We will still need to be careful. But I was going to suggest something like you cook for me on Monday night. I cook for you on Wednesday night. We go out for a date on Friday and /or Saturday. I think daddy would probably be inviting us over on Sunday a lot. That would leave Tuesday and Thursday for us to do laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, bill paying, or any of the other million things we will need to do."

"Controlling much?" Smack. Kiss. "But seriously, those seem like all good ideas and it's not like we can't change something. We could still be spontaneous and but this just lays out the framework for us to start with."

"What are you fixing for me tomorrow night by the way?"

"Ummmmm. I think I'll just order pizza every Monday. Don't hit me, I was just teasing. I guess that is probably something else we should talk about. Food preferences, any allergies, don't like rice because it reminds you of maggots. You know, that sort of thing."

"Now that is just gross, Joey." But she was smiling.

"Seriously though. Give me some ideas so that I know something you will like and I know how to prepare it."

"Ok. I like most anything like Italian pasta, I'm good with hot or cold sandwiches, soup if it is cool enough, chicken, steak, fish....."

"Ok, ok, ok. How about specific things you don't like."

"Ummmm, seafood, but I do like fish, Brussel sprouts, and very spicy foods."

"That's a good start. Something I like is breakfast for supper. I don't like seafood, but I do like fish, most Asian food, and nothing overly fancy."

"So what are you fixing, not ordering, for me tomorrow night, Nic?"

"How about one of my favorites? Salmon patties and fried potatoes? If you haven't heard of them, they are like a crab cake but with salmon. I fry them both in a cast iron skillet with bacon grease. Scared yet?"

"A little, but I'll try it."

"Good. This food talk is making me hungry. I don't want a full meal, but how about some popcorn while we watch the next episode?"

"Can I have my own bag or do we have to share?"

"Evil woman."

He fixed their two bags of popcorn and watched a few more episodes of their program. She said it was probably time that she head home. So he took her home and walked her to the door. He told her thanks for the fun day. They had a nice long hug and a couple of soft kisses. One more hug and a kiss on the top of her head. She told him she would see him at work tomorrow.

```````````````````````

The next few months saw their relationship blossoming even more. They had been doing well staying within their dating boundaries. It would be hard for most twenty-somethings to see their relationship going so slow and understand how special it was. Most might even think they were being childish or purest, but for them, they were just enjoying being a couple and growing together. Their personal experiences had been someone stunted by their almost non-existent high school and college relationships, so on a comparative scale, they were behind. But it wasn't about comparing what they had to anyone else. They were fine and that is all that mattered.

They were able to spend several days around Thanksgiving with his family in Montana and Christmas with her father. Joey had recently received a promotion to Team Leader which gave him a pay raise.

They were starting to talk about what their plans would be in a few months when they had their 1st work anniversary and need to be out of their apartments. They had several options. Move in together to a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment, get two new apartments, one of them buy a house and the other get an apartment, or they get a house together. They talked a lot about the pros and cons of each. There just wasn't a clear choice that either could see. Joey asked about them talking with her father about it and seeing if he might have some thoughts or ideas that might help them.

They were over for Sunday dinner and after moving to the study, Joey asked if he could give them his opinion on something. He agreed.

"Well, Andrew, our 1st work anniversary is coming up in a few months and we are trying to figure out the best solution to our housing for the next year or more. We have a lot of options but we are having a hard time seeing which might be the best option. We are stuck. Do we move in together in an apartment or house, do we keep separate apartments, etc? We see pros and cons to each, but again no clear front runner."

"Ok, let me think for a minute. How far in time do you want this decision to affect? Meaning do you want to just get through another year or do you want it to take care of you for the next 5?"

"We hadn't thought of it from a length of time angle."

"Have you discussed a timeline for marriage and how that might affect your decision?

"We have had a few discussions, but no real planning for a date."

"I would also add children to the marriage discussion. How I mean that is if you would go with a house, would you want to size it so that it would be big enough for 1 child or more?"

"Another thought is around living together. Has anything changed in the reason why you aren't living together today, if so what has changed that would make you both feel comfortable with it now that you didn't 3 months ago?"

"Andrew, I think you have just revealed to us that the problem we are having isn't about where we are going to live in three months, it is about making a few decisions about how we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. Once we have a good general direction for those questions, then where we will live in three months will be much easier. Is that what I heard you not say but imply?"

"Maybe."

"Look at that Joey, he is already pressuring us about grandchildren."

"I'm not getting any younger sweetheart, and neither are you."

"Daddy!"

"Andrew, once again, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. It sounds like we have some additional talking and planning to do to make sure we get this right. Honey, I don't mean to rush us off from our visit today, but I think I'd like to spend some time tonight working on some of your dad's suggestions. Are you ok with that?"

"I think that would be good. It is so nice having you two in my life. Between the two of you, I've never been steered wrong yet."

```````````````````````

Back at his apartment, they had 3 things to start talking about. Living together, marriage and children. The first one seemed they seemed to come to a consensus quickly. They had grown so much in the past few months that any apprehension they had was gone. They were confident that living together wouldn't present a problem and probably resolve a few most likely.

Marriage and Children would take longer to flush out.

"Honey, what do you think about talking about Children next?" I think that we both see ourselves getting married at some point. How about we stipulate for this part of the discussion about children that we are getting married? Then the question about Children is yes or no, and if yes how many, and timing after the wedding."

"That sounds good. I would say yes and 5 or less but more than one."

"Mine would be yes and more than 1 with no upper limit. What are your thoughts on your career and having children?"

"Well, my dad has groomed me with the idea that maybe I could take over someday. I don't know that I'm cut out for that. I'm not saying I want to not work after becoming a mom, I just don't know. I could easily see myself enjoying being a mom more than the satisfaction of working. I guess if a house is an option, we should probably think about that as only being on your salary in case I want to stay home?"

"That would seem wise."

"So, how soon after marriage, Fi?"

"Maybe a year or so. It's not like we have to take a few years and go party like some of our friends have. That just isn't us, so why not start sooner?"

"I came to a similar conclusion."

"So Joey, we somewhat decided that we can live together, we will get married, we will have 2 or more kids with a limit of 5, and we will start having them around a year into our marriage. Does that sound like what we've agreed to so far?

"Yep."

"So the last question might be as simple as when are you going to get your head out of your ass and ask me?"

"HA! Fi, come here my little evil women. I'm going to show you a whole new meaning for head up the ass."

"You wouldn't dare do that do me goofball."

"You might ask someday, ya never know."

"I love you, Joey."

"And I love you, Josephine. So how about we take a few days and think about marriage and the timing of when we should start planning for that? Are we sure we agree that we are and it is just a matter of timing?"

"Listen here buster, you don't marry me in a reasonable amount of time, I'm going to take some of my daddy's money and hire someone to convince you. You got that?"

"Loud and clear boss."

"Now come over here and hold me."

They cuddled for over an hour and didn't say a word. Just the beautiful love between them feeding on each other.

Before she went home to her apartment, she asked if they could plan to talk about it in her apartment after their Wednesday dinner. Not decide, but talk.

``````````````````

She had prepared another nice meal for them. Her cooking was much better than his and she had a much larger range of things she felt comfortable preparing.

After, they sat down and started to discuss marriage.

"Fi, did you have anything change or want to expand on the stuff we talked about on Sunday?"

"No, all of those answers seem calm in my heart. I think I'm good with everything."

"Me too. Do you want to start or me about the marriage question?"

"I don't mind starting. I feel like I'm ready. If you asked me tonight, I would marry you tomorrow. I don't want to wait too long but I will give you time if you aren't ready."

"Wow, Fi. That was a much shorter answer than I expected. I like it though. Like almost everything, we seem to be on the same page, including this one. So soon without rushing but before when?"

"How about before the end of the year?"

"I'm good with it. So we buy a house, move in together in 3 months, married before year-end, have our first child the year after that, and have 1 to 4 more within the next 10 years. So by the time we are well under 40, we will have between 2 to 5 kids, with them all out of the house by the time we are in our mid to late 50s and be through with college by the time we are retired?" We just planned our whole life. Should we go ahead and talk about our burial plans tonight as well?"

"You are an absolute goofball! But I have to agree with your math."

"Is it too early to pick out our children's names?"

"I'm going to poison your food if you don't straighten mister."

"I love you too, Fi."

````````````````````````

Andrew didn't have any travel plans this week so it allowed him to be in the office. He got settled in on Monday and sent Tommy and quick note and asked him to stop by when he got a chance this morning.

Tommy was his right-hand man. He had a good pulse on the staff as well as customers. He was a wealth of information. Tommy had worked his way up the ranks and liked working for the big boss. Andrew valued his opinion and often used him as a sounding board for ideas.

He stopped by around 10 am after the morning meeting was completed and a few fires were put out.

"Good morning, boss. What can I do for you?"

"Grab a seat, Tommy. I want to talk about Joey. Give your thoughts and don't hold back."

"Well, he is just approaching his 1st anniversary here, but he is doing well. All of the groups like to work with him. After becoming one of our Team Leaders, we have seen his group progress. Part of that is him in how he organizes things and part of it is his people want to work hard for him. He doesn't have a big budget, but he does reward his people when there is a good reason and they appreciate that. People know that he is dating your daughter, yet because of his character, it doesn't bother anyone. They know he is getting these opportunities because of his work and not because you have your golden hand placed on him. If he continues at the pace he is on, I think he is going to be as good or better than you Andrew. I seriously think we should consider creating a fast track to executive leadership for him."

"Maybe I was a bit rash when I said don't hold back Tommy. Better than me?"

"Sorry, boss, but yeah, I think so. You can talk with anyone on our team, or any of our customers, no matter what the size. People genuinely like you and it shows. But I think that Joey is going to have all of that when he grows and seasons in his career. He has a knack for pulling more out of people than they believe they can do and they are happy about it afterward. The other difference I see in him is the way he can contrast this "oh shucks, I'm from Montana" attitude and flip a switch and he has this dominant personality that drives people to bigger and better things. I frankly don't know how he does it."

"What would a fast track look like for him Tommy?"

"Well, I would want more time to come up with an actual training program and timeline, but it would probably come down to when you wanted him ready for each position along the way. If we did it right, we might be able to see him pull some other people along with him. If we go too quickly, he would have to start over every time, but if we let him season a little bit along the way, it might give his team time to grow with him and bring them along with him."

"I like your ideas on this so far. When can you have something for me on this?"

"Give me a week, but it might be sooner."

"Very good. Think about if there is an opportunity to get him some professional training to allow him to turn off the "oh, shucks" when the setting calls for it. I don't want to change his personality, just give him another wrinkle for how he can work with certain groups. Does that make sense?"

"Absolutely boss. So when are they getting married?"

"I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Judy in accounting's sister is a realtor and she said that this adorable couple was recommended to her recently and mentioned to her sister that they both worked here. She didn't mention names to her, but Judy assumed that it must be the two of them."

"Thanks for the heads up, Tommy. I should probably expect a visit from my future son-in-law soon then. I've been waiting for this for a long time. Do you know I've had my eye on him since his freshman year at OSU? Josephine introduced us back then. I've been mentoring him for his 4 years at OSU. I do it less now so that I don't interfere with his development here too much. I think you are spot on with your assessment Tommy. Thank you for sharing it with me."

````````````````

Joey met Josephine as they went out to the car to head to their apartments. Ridesharing to work was just another block of time that they got to spend with one another.

"I'd like to go out to dinner tonight Fi. Do you mind if we skip my cooking night?"

"What kind of trick are you trying to play on my mister?"

"I have some exciting news I want to share with you, babe. Where would you like to go?"

"There is a McDonald's right there, let's go there so I don't have to wait to hear the news."

"Are you serious?"

"I am. It sounds like good news."

"Ok then."

He pulled in, ordered their food, picked it up, and went to find a booth. She didn't unwrap her sandwich or even eat a fry. She just smiled and looked at him. She just knew it was something big.

"Well, Tommy Richfield came to see me today. It was an unscheduled appointment. He knocked and asked if I had a few minutes. I've spoken with him many times, but he has never been in my office before. Anyway, he came in and shut the door. That kind of freaked me out a little, to be honest. But he set down and said that he had good news for me. He said that he and your dad were having a conversation about me a few weeks ago and there was an idea that came out of that meeting he wished to discuss with me. Honey, I was so nervous I don't know if I nodded yes, burped, or farted."