I ordered a pedicure so I could ask her to share another bowl of pho

I met Melanie because I needed the bottle of chili sauce sitting on her table.

My name is Caleb. I am 36, white, and live in Winchester, Virginia. I had stopped at a pho restaurant for dinner after work and was eating alone.

Melanie was sitting at the next table, also by herself.

I asked if I could borrow the sauce. She handed it over and warned me that it was much hotter than it looked.

I told her I could handle it.

A minute later, I was coughing into my napkin while she tried not to laugh.

That started our conversation.

Melanie was 39, Vietnamese, curvy, and very easy to talk to. She told me she owned a nail salon in town and had come for a quiet meal after closing.

We talked about food, work, and the strange things customers complained about. I liked that she was confident without trying to impress anyone.

When we finished eating, I wanted to ask for her number.

Instead, I only told her it was nice meeting her.

She agreed, and we went our separate ways.

For the next several days, I kept thinking about how natural the conversation had felt. I also remembered the name of her salon because it was printed on her jacket.

I searched for it online and booked a pedicure.

I had never had one before.

When I entered the salon, Melanie was standing at the front desk. She recognized me immediately and looked down at my shoes.

She asked whether the chili sauce had damaged my feet somehow.

I admitted the pedicure was partly an excuse to see her again.

Melanie laughed, but she also seemed surprised.

She assigned another nail tech to me because she had appointments of her own. I thought that meant she was not interested, so I decided not to make things awkward.

Near the end of my service, she came over and asked how I liked my first pedicure.

I said it was more relaxing than I expected.

Then I asked whether she would like to eat pho with me again, except this time as an actual date.

Melanie hesitated.

For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood everything.

Then she explained that she had recently promised herself she would stop dating customers. Her last relationship had started at the salon and ended with the man continuing to come in just to argue with her.

I told her I understood and would not bother her again.

She smiled and said I had become a customer only ten minutes earlier, so technically there might still be time to make an exception.

We had dinner the following Sunday.

Melanie later admitted she had hoped I would ask for her number at the restaurant. When I walked away without doing it, she assumed I was only being friendly.

We have been dating for seven months now.

I still visit her salon, but Melanie says I do not need another pedicure every time I want her attention.

Now I simply ask whether she wants pho.

She always reminds me not to touch the chili sauce.