01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Their First Date Was Delayed. Their Future Wasn't.
Corey Edwin Lockett was 30 minutes late to his first date with Vanessa Dalemark Berentsen at Dutch Fred's, a cocktail bar in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. After a long day at work with the New York Giants, where he was a pro personnel intern at the time, he had driven in from Alpine, N.J., and hadn't anticipated just how difficult parking in Manhattan would be.
'I thought he was ghosting me,' Ms. Berentsen said. 'He kept texting me saying he was looking for parking, but I was confused. How is it taking this long?'
It was July 28, 2018, just nine days after the two had matched on Tinder. With the National Football League preseason underway — one of the busiest times in football operations — Mr. Lockett wasn't interested in dating casually. 'A large portion of dating intentionally was due to my schedule,' he said, 'but also how comfortable that person would be with the hours that I work.'
When he finally arrived, they greeted each other with a hug. 'I felt the connection right away,' Mr. Lockett said. Over cocktails and appetizers, they talked for more than three hours about family, music and the different cities and cultures that shaped them.
Ms. Berentsen, who had moved to New York City from Edmonds, Wash., after spending her earliest years in Kristiansand, Norway, didn't have family nearby. Mr. Lockett, who had relocated from Warner Robins, Ga., understood. 'He grew up in a small town in Georgia, and I was born far away,' Ms. Berentsen said. 'I think that helped us understand each other immediately.'
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
