And Then He Kissed Me! Part 1

The date was May 24th, 1995. This is the day that I met Steve... the hubbin of lovin, the stud muffin, the father of my children, my dork. This is a re-cap of how our story began, and the events that led up to "the first kiss".

One day I went to my landlord's house to drop off my rent and he asked me to come in and chat with him and his wife. They asked how I was doing and asked if I was dating anyone. What kind of landlord asks about your love life?

"Sheesh! I wish." I said.

I had been on a few dates since I had moved to Utah and so far, I was NOT impressed! My landlord then told me I needed to find someone to date!

I told him, "hey, I'm game, if you can find someone for me!"

A week later the landlord and his wife came over to our apartment to visit. They asked if there were any problems with the apartment and I told him about the leaky faucet in the bathroom. He told me and my roommate he knew someone that could fix it and he would contact him.

"Yeah right," I thought.

Then he asked me if I could show the apartment next to us to people that were looking to rent. What the heck, I had nothing else to do. The very next night the phone rang.

Ring, Ring. I answered, "Hello".

"Is Jennifer Parry there?"

"This is her."

"Uh, yes Jennifer, Ron (landlord) told me that you have a leaky faucet and I was wondering if I could come over tomorrow to replace it?"

"Sure, what time?"

"How about 11:00."

"Okay, that'll work. See you then. Bye."

"Bye."

11:30 the next day, and the "plumber" is late. Knock, knock. I opened the door and there stood this guy in white t-shirt with some sort of logo/picture/wording on the front and jeans. The first thing I noticed about him was the chain around his neck and his freckles. Only guys named Vinnie and Guido with tons of chest hair wear chains, I thought. The chain looked out of place. Because of the "plumber's" tardiness, I just assumed this guy was someone wanting to check out the apartment next to us.

Before he could even say one word, I blurted out, "oh you must be here to check out the apartment." I handed him the key and told him to return it when he was done.

"Uh, no... I'm here to fix your faucet. I'm sorry I'm late."

"Oh I'm sorry. Come on in."

I then showed him where the bathroom was and told him what was going on with the faucet. As I followed him towards the bathroom, I checked out the goods. What? Like you wouldn't? Nice butt! He must work out, I thought.

He looked all serious and turned the faucet on and off to diagnose it. Then he proceeded to lay out his tools and the new faucet.

"Okay, well I'll just be in the living room if you need anything," I said.

Weird, awkward silence followed.

Do I go in there and talk to him?

Where would I sit? On the toilet? No, that's weird!

I'll just sit here and watch t.v..

About a half hour passed. Not a word was uttered between the two of us. He came out and said the faucet was fixed and to call Ron if there were any problems and he told me to not use it for a few hours.

"Thanks," I said.

A few hours later my landlord and his wife stop by to see how good of a job the "plumber" did. They asked what I thought about the "plumber".

I told them he was late, but he had a nice butt and the new faucet is working great. Then my landlord's wife starts telling me about the "plumber."

"Oh Jennifer, he's such a nice guy. He's been home from his mission since August. He's good friend's with our son-in-law and went to school with our daughter and her husband. He's going to school and he just bought a new set of pots and pans!"

(Huh? Okay.... What kind of single guy buys pots and pans?)

"You should go out with him!"

Okay, whatever. So anyhoo, with out my knowledge this whole thing was a SETUP! You heard me right. The "plumber", the fixing of the faucet, the landlord and his wife coming over to see what I thought about the "plumber", was a SETUP! They immediately went home to tell the so-called "plumber" what I said and what I thought about him. Oh yes, he was at their home waiting to hear the report. The first thing they tell him was that I said he had a nice butt! And here's another little tid bit of info... the "plumber" had NEVER, EVER fixed a faucet in his whole entire life!

Later on that night the phone rings.

Ring, Ring. "Hello, is Jennifer there?"

"This is her."

"This is Steve, the guy that fixed the faucet today. I need to come over tomorrow to see if the faucet is working right."

"Okay. I'll see you then." "Bye."

"Bye."

Sounds fishy huh?

The next day, in the evening, Steve the so-called "plumber" stopped by. My roommate was there and the couple across the street were there. Steve went to the bathroom and checked out the faucet while I sat in a chair talking to my friends. When he was done, he came out and then kneeled down by my chair.

"Is this guy going to propose?" I thought.

"There's this institute party in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if you would like to go with me? But I would like to get to know you a little better before then and I was wondering if you would like to go out this Friday?"

"Sure!" I said.

"Okay, how about 6:00?"

"Sounds good. I'll see ya then. Bye."

"Bye."

Was this guy crazy? Did he just ask me out for two dates? Maybe he knows a good thing when he sees it. Maybe he's nuts.

Did Jennifer end up going on two dates with the so-called plumber? Did the bathroom faucet hold up? If they did go on a date, did they kiss on the first date? Or did they kiss on the second date? Check out my blog tomorrow to find out the gory details!