Publix Guy

A few days ago I was at my local grocery store, Publix to be exact, and I ran into the man I have always called "Publix guy". He's called Publix guy because we met there and, if you didn't know any better, you'd think it's the only place either of us ever went since we always seem to run into each other there.

The first time I met Publix guy was over a year ago. My oldest child and I were at the store to get ice cream for our movie night and while in the ice cream aisle, we ran into Publix guy and his son. We both stood there trying to decide what ice cream flavor to get and ended up in a 15 minute conversation regarding the kids, local schools and Kiss.....I'm still not sure how we went from elementary school teachers to the band Kiss but it happened. We talked our way to, and through, the checkout. I was sure he was interested and when we walked to the parking lot and he didn't ask for my number I was a tad miffed (my kid even commented "He was flirting with you mom!") but got in the car, watched him drive off and headed across the street to the drugstore for Jujube's (it was movie night after all!).

About a week later I was, once again, at Publix and as I drove out of the parking lot I saw Publix guy pulling out. We were going to dinner and half way to the restaurant my kid says "I think that guy from Publix last week is following us"......and he was in fact! He'd seen us in the parking lot too and apologized for not having the courage to ask for my number the week before and we exchanged numbers. We met for drinks a few times and seemed to get along well. A couple weeks after exchanging numbers I was reading a local publications "I saw you" ad's and half way through read one that was about me! Written by Publix guy! I asked him about it and apparently he wrote it and sent it in before he saw me leaving the Publix parking lot. I thought it was kinda cute that he was that interested in me and thought "Hey, if this works out it will make a really cool story".

Of course that didn't happen. As it turns out Publix guy was going through a divorce which was strike one. He also seemed a little needy which was strike two. Strike three, and the biggest nail in his coffin, was his blatant sexism and preference for his son over his daughter. It was so bad the when he was talking to me about the visitation he was writing into is divorce decree he told me he was having it written than he gets his son every weekend and his daughter only one a month! There were allot of red flags the more I heard about his relationship with his kids and it just wasn't something I could get past. If he he was willing to show that much favoritism with his own kids, how was he going to treat mine if things worked out?