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Bernie Wolfe had been divorced from Marcus for almost a year and was pretty happy being single, but deep down she wanted to find someone, but didn’t know how to put herself out there. She was a newly lesbian and 52. Where do you even go to meet people now? Pubs are lame and online dating can be tough, there aren’t many dating apps that are just for lesbians. Plus, she would be worried someone she knew would find her. Time for her gay friend Dom to set her up with someone.
He was known as GG on Darwin, which stood for Gay Gossiper. He knew everything about everyone in the hospital. He knew Bernie was happily living her life as a single Pringle, but he just wanted her to have someone to spend time with after work. Mostly, he wanted to get her out of his hair. She would spend a lot of nights after work telling him all about the army and how great it was, but there was only so much he could take. She had to retire due to a bad back after carrying a wounded colleague two miles back to the medical tent after a long, hot day in the field. Their car had broken down and couldn’t get a signal to contact anyone.
“I’m setting you up on a date,” Dom said to Bernie one morning while they were at the nurses station.
“Hm? Why?” Bernie asked. It was a random thing for him to say given that they weren’t even talking about dating or relationships in general.
“Because Christmas is approaching and you need someone in your life to spend it with,” he replied.
“What about my kids?” the blonde asked.
“You said they were spending it with Marcus in Scotland.”
“Fine, but it better be a good one,” Bernie sighed.
“Don’t worry, I think you two will hit it off.” Dom smiled as he walked away to help a patient.
Bernie was nervous, she hadn’t been on a date since before she met Marcus. What do you even do on a date? What do you talk about? Hopefully Dom would help her out so she didn’t look like a fool in front of this person.
The date was set for Saturday morning, three weeks before Christmas, at a coffee shop. Dom had drilled Bernie about what to do and say, and also what not to do and say. Don’t talk about your divorce, do talk about your kids. Don’t play with your food or your hands, do look at the person’s eyes when they’re talking.
Of course, Bernie got there twenty minutes early. She was taught in the military that if you didn’t arrive at least twenty minutes early to a meeting or interview, then you weren’t serious enough about it. The same applies to a date, right?
Fifteen minutes past when she was supposed to meet her date, in walked a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair, she assumed that was her date, considering everyone that had walked in since she had been there were 20something. The woman walked right up to Bernie and introduced herself.
“Hello, I’m Serena Campbell, you must be Bernie,” the woman said as she held out her hand.
The date was going well. The women had several things in common. Divorced with children and happy with life, but wanting something a little more. They enjoyed talking about their favorite hobbies, their family, their Christmas traditions—well, what they used to do when they were married, and what their life would be like if they’d come out when they were younger.
The date lasted nearly two hours, both women were shocked when they realized they had hardly drank their coffee or eaten the croissants they ordered. Since the date went so well, they wanted to exchange numbers and meet up again sometime in the future.
Somehow, the two women had three dates in the span of two weeks. Their days off surprisingly lined up with each other, so they decided they would get together for a few hours. It’s not like they had other plans besides sitting at home watching TV.
They kept the dates simple. Lunch or just walking around a park as they didn’t feel like they needed to impress one another.
On their third date, Bernie decided to take Serena to dinner. They had talked about their favorite foods, so Bernie took Serena to an Italian restaurant with, yes, an extensive wine list. Serena would never say no to a glass of wine. The meal was fabulous and the wine was flowing.
“Would you want to spend Christmas with me?” Bernie asked. She was being brave, she knew that Serena could say no. That it was way too soon to spend holidays together.
“Really?” the gray-haired asked.
“Yes really. My kids will be with their dad so I’ll be by myself. If you’ve got plans or don’t want to, I understand, I just thought I’d ask,” she said as she bowed her head, expecting rejection.
“I’d love to,” Serena smiled.
“Really?”
“Yes really,” Serena laughed.
Christmas Day arrived and the two women were snuggled up together on Bernie’s couch watching Elf and sipping hot chocolate. They agreed not to get each other gifts because just spending the day with someone, anyone, was a great gift.
“I know this is early days, but I like you,” Bernie said as she rubbed Serena’s hand that was entwined with hers.
“I like you too,” the other woman replied. “Dom did a good job,” she said before snuggling up to Bernie more.
“What?” Bernie asked, confused.
“He did a good job setting us up.”
“Oh. Yes he did. He’s a good matchmaker.” Bernie smiled.