Jackie clicked the "send" button on her email to Jeff and, after check

Jackie clicked the "send" button on her email to Jeff and, after checking for any new incoming messages, she shut off her laptop. She and Jeff had been online dating for about a year now and they had settled into a regular communication routine. She knew when to expect to hear from him.

It had been a tentative relationship right from the start. Jackie had been participating in an online chat room for single parents and really enjoyed the chance to connect with others who understood what her life was all about. The members of the site tended to be predominantly female so, when Jeff had logged in one night with the screen name "SingleDadofTwo," the women had been pretty skeptical of his intentions. Jeff had turned out to be a really sociable guy with a great sense of humor and, in spite of their initial hesitation, the women welcomed him to the group.

After several nights of chatting, Jackie had heard the first "ding!" of an instant message. It was Jeff. She was surprised but opened the window to read, "Hey you! How's it going?" Jackie had replied that she was fine and asked the same of him. "I'm great!" he had said, then proceeded to ask "I hope you don't mind that I'd sort of like to have a private conversation with you?" Jackie had been a little nervous about it because she wasn't particularly experienced in chatting online. She had naturally heard the horror stories about online dating and people being dishonest and more. "Well, it's just a conversation," she had told herself. That night, she and Jeff had chatted privately long after most of the members had gone off to bed. Jackie found his personality really intriguing.

Eventually, Jeff and Jackie's conversations left the chat room and became more intimate. They would email back and forth and spend long hours in instant messages. After a couple of months, they started chatting on the phone. Once they could hear each other, Jackie fell in love with the voice on the other end of the phone. They continued online dating and would sometimes talk on the phone while they surfed websites together or watched movies on television. More and more, Jackie found herself wanting to meet in person. She knew Jeff wanted it too. She blushed as she remembered some of their more intimate conversations. The tone had become increasingly sexual and they found themselves craving each other's touch. Jackie longed for Jeff's embrace and knew that online dating just wasn't enough anymore. So, in her last email, she had taken the plunge and invited Jeff into her bedroom. She was embarrassed at being the first one to ask and that rather explained her quick shutting down of her computer. She would wait until the morning to check for Jeff's reply and she could only hope that he really wanted her as much as he had said. It was uncharacteristic for Jackie to be so forward but, in Jeff, she had found everything she ever wanted. Now she had to brave enough to follow through on her dreams.