Introduction

Whisper only the truth to her, for as Keats said, truth is beauty. A moment must never go by that you do not inspire a smile to adorn her pretty face. To have that light that is like no other shine in her eyes. Never let a day go by that you do not remind her why she loves you.

Seems reasonable and straight forward and yet ‘the one’ can be so hard to find. Date after date, flower after given flower, you search for ‘the one’ who fills that need in you to be more than you can be on your own.

Many people have many ideas how to go about it and when and how you know a relationship has gone from sharing time and space to being ‘the one’. For Derek that moment is when he gives a girl the three-hundredth flower. It is a special flower and must be a long-stemmed single red rose, unless she has a favorite flower that is as rare as she. Not only that, but that three-hundredth flower must be accompanied with an engagement ring.

Perhaps Derek holds to this belief because he likes flowers. Or perhaps because the beauty that is woman and the beauty that are flowers are synonymous in his heart and mind. But, I think, most of all it is a needed time frame to discover if a woman is ‘the one’.

Can you know immediately if a woman is ‘the one’? As the saying goes, ‘love at first sight’. Perhaps! Perhaps not! It is hard to say with a definitive belief when you have not experienced such phenomena.

Of course, it does not help when you find yourself in your thirties and yet you rarely make it past one or two given flowers per woman. On several occasions Derek had made it to a dozen, even two, but he knew as soon as he ran out of reasons and motivations to buy her more flowers that she was not ‘the one’.

Believe it or not on one occasion Derek stayed with the same woman long enough to give her over forty flowers, and with every new flower he gave her, his heart beat a little faster, but in the end, their interest in each other, like the flower, withered on the vine.

Even Derek’s immediate group of friends, whom he has known since high school or earlier thinks his methodology is a little odd, but they know he has a good heart and they hope the very best for him. Even on many occasions they have done their best to assist his search for ‘the one’

Chapter 1 »