When my best friend Mia told me she wanted to set me up with her boyfriend’s friend, I hesitated. Blind dates weren’t really my thing. But Mia was insistent. “You’ll love him,” she said. “He’s polite, smart, stable — a total gentleman.”

Against my better judgment, I agreed. His name was Eric. From the first message, he came off as confident but not pushy — the kind of guy who used complete sentences and asked thoughtful questions instead of sending one-word replies. After a week of chatting, he suggested dinner at a nice Italian place downtown.

The night started out perfectly. Eric showed up early, holding a bouquet of roses and wearing a crisp button-down. “These are for you,” he said with a practiced smile that somehow felt genuine. Inside, he pulled out my chair, complimented my dress, and even gave me a small personalized keychain — my initial engraved on polished metal.

I remember thinking, Wow, maybe Mia was right. He seemed like the kind of man who actually understood effort. Over dinner, conversation flowed easily. We talked about travel, work, bad Tinder dates, and how both of us missed movie theaters that didn’t cost a fortune.