Our story begins at a McAlister’s Deli back in 2019. We worked side-by-side for a few years, yet somehow never truly crossed paths—no real conversations, no memorable moments. Just two people moving through the same space without ever realizing what was waiting for them years down the road. Fast forward to the summer of 2024. I (Dalton) came home from college for break and returned to that same McAlister’s. That summer, Kelsey also decided to come back while she was in dental assistant school. The moment I saw her, something clicked—this faint spark of recognition I couldn’t explain. I finally asked if she used to work there. She said yes… and that was the entire conversation. Within the next minute, I managed to accidentally throw soup at her—one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, but somehow the perfect beginning to something neither of us expected. Weeks went by, and our conversations stayed simple and casual, mostly about work or the people we worked with. Then one day, out of the blue, she asked if I knew how to dance. I told her no—I’m definitely not a dancer. A week later, right before I was leaving for vacation, I asked if she’d be willing to teach me. She said yes. We planned to hang out with no labels, no expectations—just two people trying to figure out what this new connection meant. That night felt easy, warm, and strangely familiar, like talking to a friend I’d known for years. When we said goodbye, neither of us knew whether it had been a date or just two friends spending time together… but something was definitely different. While I was away on vacation, it became clear to both of us that what we were feeling wasn’t just casual or accidental. It was something real, something worth exploring. And so, we made plans for our first real date—the beginning of everything that followed.