Last night I met a man

It's the first time since I’ve been here that I met someone who made my heart beat a little faster. At the recommendation of a fellow blogger (thanks for that fabulous list!), I went to Etabli for drinks with a couple friends. We arrived around 10pm and the place was practically empty but the décor was supercute so we decided to stay anyway. By the time we ordered our 2nd bottle of prosecco, the place was packed and we had the perfect table to watch all the action at the bar.

There was a guy I noticed standing at the bar with 2 friends—we called him The Scarf Guy and were gossiping about him, trying to figure out if he was cute or not. Then his friend (who we called The Short Guy) caught us looking, nodded in our direction and the group turned around, looked at us and smiled. For the rest of the evening, every time I looked up The Short Guy was looking my way and when our eyes met, he would smile or give a little wave.

Around 1am we asked the waiter for glasses of water and he said we had to get it at the bar. So Ana and I went up to the bar which, of course, happened to be right next to where these guys were sitting. The Short Guy waved again and then got up and came over to introduce himself. We all started chatting and then Ana tactfully excused herself and left us alone. I learned that he’s from a small town in Abruzzo but has been working as a derivatives trader in London for the past 15 years and was just in town for the weekend, meeting with a client.

Later, he and Scarf Guy invited us to join them at a club nearby. It was a great place, I wish I could remember the name (cute cave-like space and SO many cute men, my head was spinning)—we danced until 4am when we finally decided to call it a night and said goodbye to the guys. Randomly, as we were leaving, I bumped into a friend of Wendy’s that I met the night of my birthday party… unfortunately the Suit Guy wasn’t with him :o/

Its funny b/c I wasn’t at all interested in Short Guy at first, I thought Scarf Guy was more attractive. He isn’t bad looking but short guys just don’t do it for me (I’m short myself, I need to marry someone with a little height to give my kids a fighting chance! lol). But he ended up being really interesting and said all the right words. Not in that smooth-talking Casanova way, just sweet. Like at one point he said, “You have a beautiful smile, it lights up your whole face. Scarf Guy and I were talking about it earlier. When I saw you across the bar and I couldn’t stop looking at you. It just… I don’t know… made my heart happy”. I know that sounds totally cheesy but he said it in this shy, quiet way that totally won me over. He was really fascinated by my life, my travels, everything; New York and Paris are his favorite cities; We had a lot to talk about.


Anyway, as I was heading out he asked if he could see me again. He had a 1pm flight later that day and said he knew it was early but would I possibly consider meeting him for coffee around 9am. That was just way too early for me (it was after 4am by that point and I could already feel the hangover setting in) plus I didn't want to ruin the magic of that evening with a less than perfect reality, but I gave him my number and email address anyway and he said he hoped I would consider coming to visit him in London.

We spent all of 4 hours together, the night was so short. And I’ll probably never see him again but that’s ok. I think it was exactly what I needed. I’ve been feeling a little lonely these past couple of weeks. I don’t know if its b/c the weather’s turned cold and grey and the days are shorter and everyone’s coupling up, getting ready to hibernate for the winter... but I’ve been missing love lately—and all those deliciously warm feelings that come along with it. A fleeting encounter was probably all this was meant to be, but meeting him “made my heart happy” :)