A beach meet cute

A man I met in real-life without a dating app

Photo by Liza Azorina on Unsplash

For this story, I will refer to my meet-cute guy as “Peach” because that was the nickname I gave him since he was from Georgia.

I had been staying in a condo at the beach for the week. I had been there since Sunday. It was Thursday morning, around 9 am. It was the first time I had gone to the beach that early because it was typically rainy or cold in the mornings. This morning it happened to be hot and gorgeous.

I was standing near the water, toeing the sand, looking for shells worth keeping. A couple approached me from my left and greeted me with a cheery good morning as they passed by. I noticed a man approaching on my right, but paid him no mind until he got closer.

Then, I looked up and saw him profusely sweating in a black Steelers hoodie. Being me, I said, “You might want to lose the sweatshirt so you don’t die.” He started laughing and stopped to chat.

The chat lasted about 30 minutes in the blazing morning Florida sun while he continued to sweat and mop his bald head with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. I learned he was on a spring break trip with his son and his senior football friends. This was the first time he ventured out all week to walk the beach. He had been walking for several hours!

The vibe was nice. The conversation flowed easily with lots of laughing. Eventually, I said he needed to get home before it got hotter, so he didn’t dehydrate himself. With that, he pulled out his wallet and handed me his card.

”I leave tomorrow, and I don’t want to leave without taking you to dinner,” Peach said.

Wow. A man actually had the balls to ask me out! I knew right then and there I was going to say yes. I can’t tell you how many times men shy away and never make a move. This was so refreshing!

I spent my day enjoying the beach with new friends I had met at the complex where I was staying. People who noticed I was alone and took me in as family during the week.

After I had had enough sun, I went to the room and called Peach. Again, the conversation flowed nicely, and we made a plan for dinner.

At 6:00 on the dot, he pulled up in his pickup truck in front of my condo complex to pick me up. He opened the door for me like a kind gentleman, and off we went, a whole .5 miles down the street to McGuire’s Irish Pub.

I had been to this restaurant two nights prior. I told Peach how much I loved the Senate Bean Soup, which is only 18 cents, and the humongous hot pretzel. He suggested we go back so he can try it.

We waited outside for our table, and the conversation continued to flow. I felt very comfortable with him. It seemed like a lot of others were getting seated before us, so he told me to sit tight and he would check. He returned shortly and said they had a table for us.

We ordered two Senate Bean Soups, two Old Fashion drinks, and the giant hot pretzel when we got seated. We carried on and laughed the entire time. We shared stories, talked about movies, and whatever else came up. We did not stop talking. The waitress was having a ball. She said we were her favorite table that night.

She asked if she could take our picture as the restaurant loved to share pictures of customers in their monthly newsletter. Peach looked at me and said, “You still have that warrant out for your arrest, don’t you?” I looked at him with fake concern and said, “I don’t think your wife would approve, would she?” We both started laughing, and the waitress, slowly catching on to our jokes, said, “Wait, you two aren’t a couple?” We told her we had just met that morning on the beach. She laughed, shook her head, and walked away, giving up on taking a picture.

Peach asked the waitress why so many dollar bills were stapled to the wall. She explained it was tradition, and the restaurant had over a million dollars on the walls. She asked if we wanted a stapler to put a dollar bill on the wall. Peach said yes and pulled out four dollar bills. She returned with a Sharpie as well, and he pushed the dollar bills to me and said, "Write our story.”

So I wrote, “We met because he almost died walking the beach with a black Steeler’s hoodie. He asked me to dinner, and now here we are!” We dated and put our names. He stapled all four bills to the wall.

We left the restaurant and walked the .5 miles back to the condo. It was a beautiful night. We spent more time just talking and getting to know each other. He said it was the best date he had ever been on. We were both sad he was leaving in the morning. Unfortunately, we lived several states away from each other.

The next morning, before he left, he came by the condo to drop off biscuits he had made that morning, complete with butter and honey. We said goodbye and promised to keep in touch.

We indeed kept in touch. That man didn’t miss a day of calling me. Not only did he call me daily, but he FaceTimed me multiple times a day. He shared his life with me.

He was fun. We laughed, cried, and supported each other with whatever was going on in our lives. We would spend hours talking on the phone. We would listen to music together on FaceTime. We shared our favorite songs via text or new songs we discovered. We sent each other inspirational quotes, memes or podcasts. He would ask my opinion on which shirt to wear to his son’s graduation. He knew I was still suffering from a breakup. He knew I wasn’t over it. He didn’t care. He said he just wanted to be my best friend.

Peach eventually came to visit me, and we had a wonderful weekend together. He was kind, gentle, sweet, thoughtful, protective, and a complete gentleman. He never said a mean thing or disrespected me.

He gave me so much hope that great men are still out there.

Readers, this is where all good things come to an end. While Peach gave me hope and set the bar high for the next guy, he had an issue I couldn’t overlook, and I had to call it quits before I fell too far into feelings. I miss him dearly.

I hope to experience another magical meet-cute with a man someday. Single ladies who are still looking, I pray you also find your own Peach.