Member-only story
Five years ago, I met a guy on Tinder.
I know, I rolled my own eyes at that sentence too, but alas, that is indeed how this story begins. J was the quiet type, who kept to himself. This was a kind of pleasant rarity in the town we lived in, where everyone was always into everyone else’s business.
I was somewhat new to town, a transplant from up north a year before we met. He had been born and raised here, having ventured out in his early twenties only to end up back in town, running a little business on Main Street.
I remember seeing his picture come up on my phone as I was mindlessly swiping through the shallow end of the dating pool. He was sitting on a weight bench with headphones on, the paint peeling off the dark basement wall behind him.
The first thing I noticed was this glorious, red beard he had, and the next thing was his eyes. They were blue, filled with kindness. They had a knowing look to them as if even through the screen of my phone he could see me.
Little did I know that he would be the first person to really ever see me.
I could hardly make my thumb swipe fast enough. It was like he was a fish at the end of a line and I had to…