Oddly, my evening bus was late, for the first time in the 2 months I've been taking it. Gordon called me to confirm our plans while I stood there in the gathering storm with Alberta. He was to come for me between 7 and 7:15; it was 5:50, or thereabout. I knew I needed to eat dinner, shower, and revitalize my hair. I began to be concerned about the time.

Alberta got us a taxi home, and by the time all was said and done, I was home at 6 on the dot just like always. Time is so relative depending on your means of travel. By the time the meter was running it had begun to rain. But I decided to go through the effort of washing, conditioning, moussing, and styling my hair anyway. I thought "I'll look great for 5 minutes so he knows how good it can be..." When he looked at me it was all the pay-off I needed, and his comment was so affirming. He noted twice how much he liked it. Very sincere. I complimented him on his shirt, which was kind of a madras number in the style of 70s clothing that he scored at some kind of flea market for 2 dollars. Apparently, he receives a lot of favourable remarks when he dons it. I had never seen it before.

I had to ride in the backseat. It's a long story, but he had an air conditioning unit in his front seat, so I enjoyed sitting behind him and having him tell me anecdotes about the guy in whose house he is staying. The conversation on the way to the movie was largely about whether or not God would ever tell someone who their specific spouse is (ahead of time). His roommate, as it turns out, is very taken with a woman friend of his whom he believed God revealed to him he would marry. This woman seemed to get an opposite revelation. Nevertheless she keeps wanting to hang out and spend time with G's roommate. It's hard for him. The topic was a bit ironic, and I was somewhat anxious to leave it. I am always fearing that when we talk about things like this, Gordon is going to end up inadvertently telling me something that will hurt my feelings.

We also talked about the watercolour subset of his paintings; I expressed interest in seeing them, so we made a plan to go to his studio on Sunday afternoon. This was before we even got to the theatre. Once at the moviehouse, he purchased our tickets and asked me if I wanted any candy. I did, but they didn't have my poison, so we shared his peanut M&Ms.

On the way back home our plans for Sunday morphed into church, lunch, and going to his painting studio. I let him know that I had abandoned all efforts to attend the Methodist church I'd been going to, so in a conversation about his parish, he mentioned that I should come there with him sometime, so I enthusiastically replied that I would love to. He took it from there.

I needed to make a pit stop at Rite-Aid, so we swung by there before he dropped me off at my apartment. I needed to make a small purchase using the debit feature so I could get cash back for bus fare. Because he knew I was short on cash, he asked me when I'd be paid again. I told him, and followed up with "So I can pay you back for the movie pretty soon." He told me not to worry about it; I said "Yeah, I can just take you out for a drink sometime or something..." He said "Or, you can take me to another movie..." I indicated my agreement, and we drove off with 1 more official plan under our belts and a hint of a second one.

Oh. Sidebar. Earlier in the evening I mentioned going to Boston in the late summer, and to South Dakota for the wedding. He remarked how much he'd like to see South Dakota someday. I left it there for the time being.