When I arrived (purposely a little late) at the restaurant where he’d made reservations, the soft-spoken divorcé I’d only met once briefly was already waiting for me. He was shorter and more attractive than I remembered him being.

We were meeting for a casual supper and I was surprised to find that despite our age gap, we had a lot to talk about.

But several days later, I was concerned I’d misrepresented myself. For starters, I spent next to the whole night talking about myself (nervous habit), I giggled a lot and I talked really fast. I was the energizer bunny when my normal self is much calmer and more thoughtful.

So much for being genuine, I thought. I gave a great performance of Raquel’s Public Persona.

But then again, that’s not really fair. Public Persona is still me. She’s just the charming and flirtatious side, non-confrontational and an easy character to fall in love with. But she’s only one half of me. Unfortunately, she’s the half of me I’m more comfortable with. The other half of me, I’m still getting to know.