"Woke up early, got a great swim in before meeting my girl friend for brunch. Took care of some house chores and now to work up chest pain at the hospital. How's your day going?" Classic Meredith, making the first move and sliding into Gavin's Bumble messages. Classic Gavin, not phased for a minute by a girl who had her life together. He knew he had to act fast to reel in this catch, so 2 days later they met up at San Chez, a tapas restaurant in Grand Rapids ("I'm usually very organized, but today I started thinking I really wanted to ask you out and if not tonight then it might be a while with the holidays and everything. So I thought I should go for it" he would write Mere). And so it was that on December 18, 2021 Meredith and Gavin had their first date. They stretched it out by a couple more hours, going to Eastern Kills for cocktails after dinner. Meredith left that night impressed by Gavin's parking lot goodnight kiss, but not if she would see him again. Christmas came and went, with Gavin checking in on Mere every day, and even asking her to help him guess the correct number of buttons in a jar during one of his family's traditional Christmas games. But still, she wasn't sold on this warm, genuine, kindhearted soul from Ludington. It wasn't until New Years Day 2022 they had their next date. Meredith was admittedly dragging after a late NYE party and really just wanted a guy she could trust to come over and snuggle on her couch with some takeout and Netflix. When Gavin arrived to her condo, she came downstairs to let him in. Gentle snowflakes falling in his hair, a brown paper bag in his hand, and the biggest smile on his face, we climbed the stone steps to greet her. As he stepped through the door, Meredith's heart melted just like those snowflakes. Never had she been so happy to see a date. And the rest, they say, is history.