Chapter One–The Blind Date

Chapter One of Good Will Win in the End ends with the blind date that Kyra had arranged for Sean at the beginning of the chapter. I had a really good time writing that portion of the chapter. 

Writing Sean’s preparation for the blind date and his dialogue on the date was relatively easy for me because I had little trouble empathizing with the plight of a long married man forced to return to dating. In my mind, Sean was planning on playing it safe by talking about trivial things. The blind date might or might not have to led to a second date because Sean would have come across as he seems to most people, a dull, scholarly pedant.

The date didn’t work out that way because of Jo’s personality. Jo, like many peace officers, is verbally direct. If you are going to deal with her successfully, you are going to have to respond emotionally and honestly. With Jo polite indifference won’t cut the mustard.

From an analytic standpoint, a blind date is a game where neither party knows much, if anything at all, about the other player. Consequently, each player comes into the game using a strategy that is based on conjecture, rather than any empirical evidence. These plans, like battle plans, don’t last very long once the action starts.

Sean’s goal was to make it through the blind date without making a fool of himself or disappointing his friend Kyra. So his instinct was to play it safe, be polite and not open up very much at all.

Jo’s goals were different than Sean’s. She hadn’t a doubt in her mind that men find her attractive. Sean’s age and judicial position didn’t concern her in the least. So she didn’t waste any time being flirtatious or charming, because Jo rightly believed that she could win the heart of any man that she wanted. Maybe it was over confidence. Maybe it was experience. But as far as Sean went, she was right.

Jo had been happily married once and wanted to be married again. After her previous experience, Jo didn’t want to waste her time and energy on a wimpy male. She was determined to make sure that she wasn’t to have her heart broken again by a man who folded under pressure. Poor Jo was making the mistake of the French General Staff –always preparing to fight the last war.

Okay, so Sean just wants to make it through the evening alive and unembarrassed. He was prepared to play it safe. Jo wanted to weed out a possible wimp. So Jo employed a strategy that would have scared off a meek man. Unfortunately, her strategy would have scared off quite a few acceptable men as well. Jo’s strategy emphasized weeding out the weak, at the expense of perhaps weeding out acceptable candidates, who just aren’t terribly verbally aggressive at first.

Fortunately for Sean and Jo, she used the wrong technique. In the unlikely event that Jo would have actually thought about what she doing before she did it, she would have realized that lawyers tend to be a verbally aggressive lot, thanks to the Socratic method and what they do in court. Anyone who made it through law school will be able to hold up his or her end of a hot discussion or argument. It comes with the territory.

So by coming on strong with Sean, Jo triggered his old verbal reflexes. He wasn’t about to give in and be walked over no matter what. On most blind dates, that would have been a losing strategy. But as things worked out, Sean responded admirably to Jo’s poorly chosen strategy and it worked out just fine.

By the time that Kyra and Max had departed, Jo had decided that Sean offered possibilities. Sean had no earthly idea that he had passed Jo’s test. But in their time alone, Jo slipped into her usual warm, flirtatious self, which simultaneously confused and totally captivated Sean. The poor guy didn’t know it, but he was already hooked.