Growing up in different parts of the Panhandle, Hailey and Matthew were only ever 70 miles apart. Both graduated from high school and caught the Seminole Fever, starting at Florida State University in 2013 for Hailey and 2015 for Matthew. The two graduated from Florida State’s college of Criminology. Though they cannot confirm, it is believed they were in at least 1 criminology course together (when Hailey was not skipping classes). Hailey and Matthew also attended Friday Night block parties while in Tallahassee, remembering how they both saw Morgan Whalen for the first time at the *same* small concert but never each other.

While Matthew returned to his home in Walton County to begin his career in law enforcement, Hailey was still living and working in Tallahassee. Fate had not given up on the pair though, and in June of 2020 Hailey was now working at the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, but had not met Matthew. As Hailey tells the story, while in field training she saw Matthew for the first time. He was working night shift in the south end of the county and she had to go down to the south office with her field trainer. The field trainer struck up a conversation with Matthew quickly while Hailey stood out in the hallway struck with nervousness about both the job and how charming the young deputy was with his outer carrier and hat. She did not interject into the conversation (shocking, Hailey not having something to say) and they soon left.

Three months later, Hailey joined Matthew’s shift in District 3 on nights, immediately bringing chaos to their crew. Trying to meet the *new girl* Hailey went to a call to back-up Matthew, and he kept her there talking for an hour after the service call was handled. She says that she was more worried about getting back to her assigned zone than being distracted by how handsome her new shift mate was, while Matthew tells it he was so distracted by how cute his new shift mate was he did not want her to leave. The two would go to calls together, run traffic with Matthew’s radar/laser certificate, and frequently be “56ing” sitting car to car discussing anything and everything to spend time together. Little did either pay attention to this, but the amount of time they got to spend together was the work of their supervisor, Sgt. Gaydos, and other shift mate and Best Man, Tyler Loy, who were conniving to get the pair to date.

By October it was obvious Hailey and Matthew were into each other, but both *strongly* held to their stubborn thoughts that the other was not interested or that they would ruin the dynamic of the shift if they acted on their feelings. Fate *finally* won in November of 2021, when the couple began dating..... And the rest is HISTORY!