“Here we are yet again”

—“Can I just say one tiny little thing to you?” I asked my pretty jogger friend along Lehigh Valley RailTrail.
She already had stopped and turned to smile at me, eyes flashing.
“I thought I’d never see you again in my entire life,” I said.
“Yet here we are again!” she smiled.
“Fourth or fifth time?” I asked.
“I’ve met many pretty ladies along this rail-trail, other trails too. I hoped me and that lady might meet again, and even pursued it. But we never do.”
“Yet here we are,” she said again.
What I didn't say — maybe next time — was “half the reason I hike this rail-trail is hoping I’d meet you again.
The other half is my dog’s ashes are up at that marker. I like to visit; he was a fabulous dog.”
Here we are again readers: bridging the dreaded boy/girl gap. (I'm a guy, and she’s a girl — and pretty too.)
I’m indirectly telling a girl I really like meeting her, plus I’m also indirectly telling her she’s pretty. It isn’t lust. It’s just talk.
The first time we met a few months ago, same rail-trail, with her jogging; I struck up a conversation as she approached, and she was thrilled.
“A guy wants to talk with me, instead of take me home as a trophy.
I hope we meet again,” she said.
I hoped we might too, but “that never happens.”
Yet “here we are again!”

• Notice my use of “one tiny little thing” and asking permission. Tricks of the trade, readers. Just diving into a topic with a lady never works. And they’ll listen to a “tiny little” topic. I’m giving her permission to say no. Push yourself on a lady, and she’ll walk away.