“And I suppose that means California too, like Long Beach?” He said indeed it was, and I asked him a bit more. It took almost 5 minutes to get him...to admit that one of the requirements was to be in the Infantry. Nope! Nothing against the grunts, but I had no intention of spending my career as one!I turned that down, and his next suggestion was Maintenance Management. Now that sounded interesting, but it only took a few minutes reading the information sheet to realize it was entirely a paperwork. Ted is a good guy, and he would do anything to make me happy. What he didn't know was just how exceptionally happy this was going to make me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. You can see how excited I am about this but it’s not the time for that part of my story. Not yet…At the salon, I talked to Lilly. She usually does my pedicure, and I explained about Ted, asking if she had someone really special who would make it a great experience for him. Lilly showed us to our chairs, and I was pleased. "Loved your money, darling, your money," she chuckled. "Shouldn't have given it to me, should you?"He knew that now, of course, but he also knew it was too late. The transaction was not reversible."Champagne time, don't you think?" said Melissa. "Trouble is, I need a big, strong, able bodied man ... you know Derek, a proper man ... to open it, don't I?"Derek's eyes were glistening as he fought to hold back the tears.Melissa, cool and amused, just looked at him for a few seconds. This was such. . We agreed to meet at Bucklers Hard in Beaulieu 10 am the very next day. Fortunately, even though that was a Saturday you said that Hubby was off out with his friends for the day and taking the girls with him. I thought I better make this a very special day if I could. I hurriedly made a few phone calls on my way home and managed to arrange a little surprise. I also thought about our encounter in Waitrose, I still could not believe we hit it off so well, the chemistry was electric, I did not.