March of 2019, Malerie was working the sunday shift at Verizon where there would be a manager from the Dubuque store helping out. Walking in, the two introduced themselves, and carried on with normal opening procedures. Malerie was a bit intimidated by the mustache, she thought "Who does this guy think he is??". While waiting for morning huddle, Malerie remembered that there was a gallon of ice cream in the freezer that no one else said they wanted, so she took full advantage of that and started digging in. Paul walked by Malerie and was surprised to see this small, blonde (at the time) girl just absoluetly distroying this ice cream bucket. Elbow deep into the ice cream, Paul comments "Damn, no f**ks given, huh?". Malerie responds with "nope" and just continues on, unbothered. Later on, Malerie beings to grow more interested in the mustache guy, due to his random use of her nickname, "Mal" which completely caught her off guard. Only her closest friends and family call her that. Not much comes from that day, as it ends and both of them part ways. A week passes, and Malerie is asked by her manager to volunteer to help out at the Dubuque store. while at first had no issues making the trip, when it came time to drive, Malerie was really dreading this next 8 hours. Shortly after arriving at the dubuque store, Paul stumbles in through the door and is immediately met with "Long time-no see, stranger" by Malerie from across the room. Paul and Malerie found themselves in conversation throughout the entire work day. Paul was impressed with Maleries work ethic, and enjoyed collaborating ideas to find solutions with customers. because Malerie was not at her home store, she did not have a key to have access to the back rooms, which made helping customers a little tricky. Paul graciously lended Malerie his key copy so that Malerie could get around easier. Malerie will tell you that Paul "forgot" to ask for the key back before she left, while if you ask Paul, he'll say Malerie "forgot" to give it back, either way, it created another reason for Paul to drive to Cedar Rapids to see Malerie, I mean, get the key. Paul could have easily asked Maleries manager to mail the key back, but I think we all know the reason Paul drove all the way back to Cedar Rapids. The two drove around town for hours just talking about everything under the sun, listening to music, and just enjoying eachothers company. When Malerie got home that night she told her brother Brendon ,"I think he may be the one". You know what they say, when you know, you know.