Date #3c: Parking It

What a surprise. What a joy. 80 degrees and sunny in Boston (on a weekend!) for the first time since, what seems like, the All-Star Break...

Fabulous, then, that the CFO picked me up after church and, sunroof full open, we headed to the south end of town and the Arnold Arboretum. I've lived here 9 years and had never set foot in Boston's 265-acre landscape bonanza.....all the more reason to park there. We found a Japanese cherry tree by a pond, set up blanket underneath, and he pulled out a thermos of a fruity vodka cocktail. We kicked off shoes, watched clouds, contemplated eating peaches and almonds.

Like I've stated before, the CFO knows how to have a date that a girl can appreciate. He brought the picnic, naughty in its alcohol content. He perpetuated the slightly naughtier act of hopping the fence with me to some darkened forest for a camper's version of using the bathoom. He kissed me for a good long while in that out-of-bounds, out-of-sight but still in sight, traffic grinding by on Centre Street.

It's all the sweeter that we're not really dating. And strange to me, that I find it so sweet. Again today, we talked about this casualness we've both agreed to and unless he's lying blind, we both revel in. I can't say I've ever spent time in such a romantic fashion with someone who I don't want to be in a relationship with.

But I have no problem with a man who looks like a much-younger Sean Connery leaning me into a tree on a sunny afternoon. Then taking me to JP Licks for coffee oreo ice cream.

Curious, but indictative of the vibe, what happened next. While walking down Centre Street hand-in-hand, we crossed paths with a someone he knew. We all chatted, I was introduced, I was intrigued by the curly-haired young man whom--the CFO later explained--builds violins as a career. When I suggested to the CFO that this unpretentious, lanky drink of water was officially "my type," he grinned.

"So you'd like to meet him, maybe, eh?" he said. "So what if I write him some e-mail, copy you on it, say that you remember meeting him and, as a fellow musician, had a few questions about something with violins. Then you'd be talking!"

Being encouraged by my date to approach another man if I found him attractive? (And hey, no prostitution jokes in this space....)

Priceless. And, amazingly, OK by me.