As a general rule, in Nashville at least, rain water and tourists follow the same path. Whether it’s sloped streets or the lure of loud music that pulls them along, they end up in the same place—Lower Broadway. The honky tonk capital of Tennessee (and therefore the entire planet), Lower Broadway plays host to numerous sights and attractions. It also serves as the unlikely starting place of this story.

Unlikely because for two years, Matt had spent much of his time avoiding that portion of Nashville. The thunderous bars and teeming crowds served as a deterrent rather than an attraction. He preferred the laid back, quiet locales of East Nashville, only venturing downtown if there was a good reason.

That good reason visited Nashville on a rainy weekend in March 2021. With her mother in tow, and an embarrassingly long and structured itinerary, Casey toured the city, searching for an apartment. Eventually she would settle on one and live there for the next several years. It was a nice apartment, spacious and well lit, where she would meet friends, host gatherings, have a dog for the first time in her life, get a promotion at work, and eventually commission the writing of this introduction.

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. First they had to meet. And as thorough as she was, Casey would not have met Matt if not for the intervention of a few facebook friends. This is the part of the story where Casey discourages Matt from saying they met online. They didn’t. They met on Broadway (but with the help of a few people who were online).

From his apartment in Rochester, Matt’s brother Josh had noticed a family friend was visiting Nashville. “You should text Mary Ellen,” he said, “She’s in Nashville and you should see her.” Matt did as instructed.

Matt noticed Casey immediately, or so the legend goes, sitting there at a cocktail table, a crown of florid red hair over a freckled face set in a sweet smile. They exchanged friendly looks and jokes that night, and then numbers the following night.

It was several months later, in, what Matt refers to as, the “it’s too f—ing hot season,” that Casey moved to Nashville. From there, they hit it off, rushing through the spectrum of familiarity and acquaintanceship, and eschewing the conventionalities of love by diving directly into it.