Fall in Love with These 14 Rhode Island Couples’ Meet Cutes

Illustration by Jessica McGuirl of First Pancake Studio

With all the dating apps that are out there — Tinder, Match, Bumble and Plenty of Fish — it’s easy to get discouraged in the world of shallow social media. But don’t give up; just approach the search with an open heart. Whether you give an app another shot, or pay attention to chance encounters and seize-the-moment possibilities, here’s proof that there is hope for finding true love in the Ocean State and beyond. Read on for some local love stories.

Ann Hood & Michael Ruhlman

When these two writers met, it was the stuff romance novels are made of. By Ann Hood

Photo by Chad Weeden

I met my husband Michael on a golden-lit August day in 1988 by the Inn at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Or so I’m told. I have absolutely no recollection of him calling out to me as I walked arm in arm across the green, green grass with two other writers, Jenny Egan and Helen Schulman. But he called out to me, “Miss Hood!” and I stopped and cocked my head and said, “What do you want to do?” 

“I want to write fiction,” Michael said. I was a new faculty member, he a coveted Scholar who won his place for a piece he’d written on his mentor, the writer Reynolds Price, for the New York Times Sunday Magazine. “You will,” I said, and walked away. Or so Michael tells me. He remembers every detail. The golden light. The green, green grass. Me.

Twenty years later I was in Cleveland teaching at a weekend writers’ conference. The keynote speaker was a writer I’d never heard of even though he had bestselling books and a James Beard Award: Michael Ruhlman. I was sitting in the fourth row. The speaker got up to the podium, looked around at the hundred or so people there, and said, “She doesn’t know this, but I’ve been in love with Ann Hood for twenty years.” To say I blushed would be a great understatement.

I cut the line at his book signing that followed and told him that usually I knew people who were in love with me. He said something about cooking dinner for me the next time I was in Cleveland, and
I laughed and said I wouldn’t be in Cleveland anytime soon. But we exchanged emails, or whatever people exchanged in 2008. From time to time we sent a message — he wanted to know what kind of yarn to buy as a gift for his knitter daughter; I wanted to know where to eat in Minneapolis.

More years passed. Michael contacted me. “I see you’re going
to be at the Miami Book Fair, too. Want to have drinks?” We met at a tiki bar, where we discovered we each had pieds-a-terre in Greenwich Village — literally around the corner from each other.

Still more years passed. My publicist, trying to expand my reading audience, came up with the idea to have a food writer take me to dinner and write about it. “Like who?” I asked. “I was thinking Michael Ruhlman?” she said. What she didn’t know and he didn’t know when Michael and I met at an Italian restaurant in our New York City neighborhood was that my life was in shambles, my marriage over, my future uncertain.

The food that night was terrible, and so we went to Barbuto’s, our favorite neighborhood restaurant, for bourbons. The bartender asked if we wanted “the big ice cubes,” and we said sure. By the time those bourbons were finished, we had both agreed: We were together forever. Months later we got married, at Barbuto’s. And lived happily ever after. 

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Brittany Simons & Luke Mersfelder

Two hospitality veterans bonded over cups of coffee from the neighborhood coffee shop. By Jamie Coelho

Photo by Philip Keith Photography.

Seven years ago, chef Luke Mersfelder offered “eternal love and gratitude” to Brittany Simons through text in exchange for bringing him a cup of coffee on her way to work. They were both part of the team at Persimmon — he a cook who moved over from the first Persimmon location in Bristol, and she part of the front-of-house team at the new Providence location. Simons offered to pick up coffee at the Shop on Wickenden Street, which recently closed. 

“It was a weird premonition, but at the time, I was dating somebody else,” Luke says. Brittany was also involved, and her beau happened to be Luke’s roommate, which meant she was at their apartment hanging out. A lot. “After spending more time with her, I decided to blow my whole life up and start dating her instead,” Luke says.

It was a mutual feeling. “We would all stay up late and hang out, and I’d leave at the end of the night, and say what a great time,” Brittany says. “I realized the reason I had so much fun when I was over that house is because Luke made me laugh.” 

They hung out at the Hot Club as friends on a beautiful summer day. “We both had to leave and had a hard time doing that, so we realized there might be something there,” Luke says. They started officially dating soon after. 

“I would like to mention that Britt was kind of a homewrecker at the time. Can you write that down for the record?” Luke says with a laugh.

“Luke!” Brittany gasps.

The couple recently wed on Barrington Beach in August (Luke teases that he did it for the health insurance), followed by a reception at Bywater restaurant in Warren. The East Bay restaurant is where they enjoyed a memorable first date, and where Luke was formerly the chef. Their good friends in the hospitality industry prepared the meals for the reception.

The closure of the Shop hit them hard. After that first text message, the independent coffee shop had continued to be a part of their lives. “Every now and then, I would bring in coffees for the kitchen as a little treat,” Brittany says.

Adds Luke: “We live around the corner, and that’s how we started our weekends. You could usually see some industry people dragging their bodies through the door for caffeine.”  

They moved to Chicago for a brief period to gain experience in the culinary and beverage industry, but chose to bring what they learned back to Rhode Island. Brittany is now part of the beverage team at the Eddy. “The reason we ever left Providence in the first place was to get more industry experience just to bring it back here, because we love this community so much,” she says. “Hopefully this new wave of chefs and industry people can continue to push the dining scene.” And perhaps be lucky enough to find love along the way. 

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Keith Stokes & Theresa ‘Soni’ Guzmán Stokes

Rosa Parks played a part in their first date. 

Photo by Chad Weeden.

 I met Keith in 1984 while I was stationed at Naval Station Newport, and Keith had just returned to Newport after graduating from the University of Chicago. I had seen Keith at a popular nightclub, and he likes to say I ‘picked him up’; truthfully, he just asked me to dance. After dancing, we started talking and discovered we both shared a love of history, particularly the history of Newport’s historic God’s Little Acre Burying Ground. I had become involved in the cleanup of the burying ground and had begun researching the enslaved and free people buried there. The funny thing about it was after our first date (he took me to the Providence NAACP dinner where Rosa Parks was the speaker!) we discovered that we shared a few mentors, specifically Rowena Stewart, the founder of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society. While we were dating, we found many other mutual connections and interests, so it was surprising that we hadn’t met before that night. But I guess the timing was just right. Our love of history (and each other) has lasted through four children and forty years. By the way, Keith is not a great dancer, but I still love him.” —As told to Lauren Clem 

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Providence Mayor Brett Smiley & Jim DeRentis

Campaigning played a major role in the evolving relationship of this political power couple.

Photo by Stephanie Ewens Photography.

When mayor Brett Smiley and his husband, Jim DeRentis, walked in the Pride Parade in Providence while Smiley was still campaigning for mayor, they noticed faces light up along the route. DeRentis held a sign that said, “I’m Brett’s husband,” and as they looked around, they could see that their openness made others feel accepted, too. 

“You see a face light up, and you realize that even though we have all the right laws and protections in place, that that’s different from the human component of seeing someone as a role model,” Smiley says.

Mayor Smiley is proud to have DeRentis, a third-generation Rhode Islander, political powerhouse and top local real estate agent, support him as First Husband. “It’s not lost on us that when people introduce the mayor and his husband, that it is still a very powerful thing,” Smiley says, “Who knows who is in the audience that needs to hear that?”

While Smiley is from Chicago, he moved here for work in 2006 and fell in love with DeRentis, which made him decide to stay. Their first meeting at the Downcity Diner quickly turned into a first date. At the time, Smiley was working as the campaign manager for former Lieutenant Governor Charlie Fogarty, who was running for governor that year. Throughout the campaign, Smiley kept
reminding DeRentis that he would be leaving Providence in November, after the election was over. 

“That’s where I was in my career at the time. I was picking up and moving around the country every year,” Smiley says. “By that summer, it had gotten quite serious, and I stopped reminding him that I was leaving.”

Unfortunately, Fogarty lost, but Smiley changed his mind and decided to stay. DeRentis proposed in 2007 at Nicks on Broadway and they married in 2008 at a small ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with both of their mothers in attendance. “Marriage equality had not passed in Rhode Island and same-sex marriage was still not legal in Rhode Island at the time,” Smiley says. “Like
a couple of outlaws, we went across state lines.”

We have DeRentis to thank for making Smiley reside in Rhode Island for good. “I’ve been here since 2006 and I found as I campaigned, more and more people have a similar story, which is when you marry a Rhode Islander, you marry Rhode Island,” he says. —J.C.

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Justin Russillo & Laura Afonso

Their love followed them from South County to the city and all the restaurants in between. By Kaitlyn Murray

Photo by Chad Weeden.

Sometimes it seems as though some couples are guided together by a higher power. 

One might even call it Providence. 

Take Laura Afonso and Justin Russillo. Though they both grew up in the Creative Capital, they didn’t cross paths until landing jobs at Buster Krab’s in Narragansett during the summer of 2012.

“He was the bar manager, and I was a waitress while attending URI,” Laura says. “Pretty much everyone else we worked with was from South County, so we connected and bonded over being from Providence.”  

While Laura had a crush on Justin from the start, it took her most of the summer to win him over. (“She was very pretty and the nicest person I ever met, but I was a few years older,” Justin says with a laugh.) But once he was in, he was all in. He knew she was the one within two weeks of their first date.

The next few years brought them closer together, including a joint venture into the world of real estate and raising Justin’s son from a previous relationship together. They got engaged in 2018 and married at the Trinity Beer Garden, followed by brunch at Gracie’s and an after-party at the District.

“I was kind of down and out [when we first met] and I attribute all my success to her helping me turn it around,” Justin says. “And my son gets to see what a healthy relationship looks like from inception as a child.”

In turn, he also helped his partner grow and thrive. Many will recognize Laura as the face behind the food-loving brand Buns and Bites, which has 80,000 followers and counting.

“Justin is a huge foodie and has always been along for my dining adventures,” she says. “He has been my biggest supporter, and my biggest cheerleader when it comes to Buns and Bites. He also often comes along with me to photoshoots and events
to help me with content.”

The couple takes annual trips to Portugal, sporting their purple pride (Justin’s son goes to the couple’s alma mater, Classical High School), and, of course, frequently dining out in their favorite city. 

“When we want a chill, low-key night, we usually end up at the sushi bar at Lim’s in Wayland Square. But for a date night, our go-to is Oberlin. It is always just the best!” Laura says. “We also adore Gracie’s and make a point to dine there for our anniversary.” 

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Jason Case & Amy Diaz Case

A chance encounter on Federal Hill set forward a future filled with adventure. 

Left to right: Jaclyn (age 2), Jason Allen Case, Allyson (4), Amy Diaz, Jacson (1), Jalen (5), and Mya (7). Photo by Chad Weeden.

A psychic had told Amy Diaz, “You are going to meet someone, and you’re going to know it’s him because he will have polished shoes and cufflinks.”

She always kept that in the back of her mind.

Fast-forward to an unseasonably warm day in March, when Diaz headed to Federal Hill with friends. An afternoon spent at the Nara hookah lounge stretched into evening, and in walked a handsome man who sat down near her and her friends. It was the man’s first time at the hookah lounge, and he had no idea what to do. Amy observed his confusion, leaned over, and said, “If you want to try my hookah, you can.” The groups combined and ended up socializing into the night. Amy learned the man’s name was Jason Case, and they made plans to get breakfast the next day.

The next morning, Jason met Amy on his way to Boston for work. As soon as she looked down, the sun gleamed off his shoes, and he put one elbow on the table. “He sits down and crosses his legs, and I see the polished shoes,” Amy says. “And what young thirty-year-old even wears cufflinks? He put his elbow on the table, and I see the cufflinks.”

Photo by Chad Weeden.

She knew it was him. From that moment, they planned a whirlwind of adventures, including a trip to London and Paris after only three weeks of dating. In Paris, Jason filmed Amy on his flip phone as she climbed the Eiffel Tower in six-inch Louboutin heels and a cocktail dress. That video clip became their audition for the TV show “The Amazing Race,” for which they were accepted. They ended up winning the whole around-the-world adventure in 2013, and returned home $1 million richer, realizing the real challenge was proving that they could spend the rest of their lives together. They married and now have five children, all under the age of seven. 

“Fast-forward ten years ago, exactly this weekend that we won, and now we have five children,” Amy says. “And that has been a completely different ‘Amazing Race’ for us.” —J.C. 

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Jane & Brian Govednik

When running together leads to walking down the aisle.

Photo by East Passage Photography.

Running is one of the ways Jane Couto got through her divorce. Normally, she preferred running alone, but a friend invited her to a weekly five-mile race, the Red Rooster Ramble in Warren, that the friend ran every Thursday night. “A great group of people showed up for it every week,” Jane says. “And every week I resisted going because, well, I didn’t run with people. I ran by myself.”

But one Thursday in early August 2009, she finally agreed. She needed to run five miles that day as part of her marathon training. Before the race, her friend introduced her to a man named Brian. Around the first mile, she saw Brian directing traffic. There was no police presence at these weekly races, and he helped the traffic flow. Around mile three, Brian approached Jane and said, “Howdy.” The two started talking. “What did I do for a living? Why was I moving to New York? Where did I usually run?” Jane says he asked her. He slowed down and chatted, keeping her at a good pace.

Over the next few weeks, they saw each other in group settings. Then one Saturday, Brian and Jane had their first long run together. Jane was training for the Marine Corps Marathon and planned on running seventeen miles alone, but Brian offered to come. 

“I wondered if I would have enough to talk about for over two hours with someone I had just met. I basically took the contents of my brain and emptied them onto him over the course of those seventeen miles,” Jane says. “Everything I had been working through on my own throughout the months and months of my solo runs landed right in his lap.” 

Jane says he just listened and gave his input at just the right moments. After the run, he came back with English muffins, eggs, fresh veggies, granola and yogurt. Brian made breakfast for the two of them. Then he asked Jane if she wanted to go running again the next Saturday. —J.C.

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Stephen & Jeanne Raymond

Love under the golden arches. By Lauren Clem

Photo courtesy of Jeanne Raymond.

Stephen and Jeanne Raymond were both staff members at Saint Patrick School on Smith Hill, admiring each other from afar, when the Blizzard of ’78 forced it to close for a week. With the school converted to a makeshift shelter for drivers trapped on Route 95, the two traded off volunteer shifts, and Jeanne delivered food from the nearby church rectory. “I still remember looking out the front door and seeing her trudging up through these drifts of snow,” Steve recalls. “I think I kind of fell in love with her right there.” With the school set to reopen the following morning, Steve invited her for lunch on Valentine’s Day, and the two walked the still-snow-covered streets to the McDonald’s on North Main Street for what would become the first of many dates. They married the following year. For years afterward, they returned to the same McDonald’s every Valentine’s Day to relive their first date. “That was the beginning of it all,” Steve says. “The rest, as they say, is history.” 

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Robin Dionne & BJ Mansuetti

Resisting an urge to stay in solidified a future of staying in it together. By Dana Laverty

Photo by Carly Rae Photography.

Neither of them wanted to be there that day.

It was Nov. 15, 2019, the night of Sojourner House’s annual Masquerade Ball at the Graduate Providence. After having a no-good, horrible, very bad week, Robin Dionne was helping to coordinate the event’s cake competition, while BJ Mansuetti was judging the entries.

There was just one problem: The gaunt-looking BJ — fresh from a hospital stay after a bout of pancreatitis — couldn’t actually eat any of the cake, or any other solid food for that matter. So he enlisted the help of a friend, who tasted all of the creations while BJ took copious notes.

To fit into the evening’s “Moonlight Serenade” theme, he did all this while outfitted in gray dress pants, a gray vest, a shiny purple shirt and a silver tie.

“He looked like a children’s magician,” says Robin (who, to be fair, admits she was clad in an “awful” black and gold glittery dress that evening).

That didn’t stop the pair from bonding. Robin was at the tail-end of planning the first RI VegFest and needed a beer partner. BJ, at the time brand director at Narragansett Beer, had plenty of experience running events at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence, where the VegFest was taking place. They talked in the corner all night about cake and the night’s attire and everything and nothing at all. The next day, they connected on Facebook Messenger and chatted some more.

“We never stopped talking all day, every day, after that,” Robin says.  

A few days later they had their first date at the Dorrance. After a few months, they moved into Robin’s Cranston home. On Oct. 10, 2020, they got married at the Providence Athenaeum with their parents and two friends in attendance, ending the night with dinner at the Dorrance.

“We were very much on the same wavelength immediately and we cared about the same things. It was the first time I could feel and act like the absolute idiot I am,” BJ says. “It was really comfortable and we just kind of knew right away.”

Now they’re the creative force behind Ampersand Creative Co., which produces large events like the RI VegFest, Little City Thrifty and the Good Trade Makers Market. They partner often with the Graduate Providence, booking hotel blocks for out-of-state vendors, and recently expanded their events to Burlington, Vermont.

In November 2020, the Sojourner House Masquerade Ball, like most everything else, was held virtually. Since the Graduate Providence was closed, Robin surprised BJ with a stay at the Graduate New Haven in Connecticut, where the newlyweds dialed in to the gala from their hotel room, BJ wearing his magical purple shirt and Robin donning her black and gold glittery dress.

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Victor & Jocelyn Lopes

Two Rhody Rams solidify a future together. By Edelinda Baptista

Photo courtesy of Jocelyn Lopes.

College sweethearts Jocelyn and Victor Lopes met at URI in Dorr Hall, where they were both living in the fall of 2007.

Their first date was originally planned for the Factory of Terror in Fall River, Massachusetts, but after looking at the long line in the freezing autumn cold, they changed course and went across the street to a nearby pizza shop. “We talked for hours,” Jocelyn says. “It was an instant, easy connection.” A week before Valentine’s Day, the two became boyfriend and girlfriend.

In 2015, six months after Victor and Jocelyn had Kai, their first child, the idea of proposing entered Victor’s head. He bought a ring, which remained in his pocket during the holidays until he mustered up the courage to pop the question on Valentine’s Day.

“There was a battle in my head, thinking when the perfect time was to propose and how do I want to do it,” says Victor. “I ended up getting the courage, but there was a blizzard that day.” Looking at the rising snow on the ground, Jocelyn told him they should stay home, but their reservation at Hemenway’s in Providence was waiting for them.

“I remember thinking, ‘He really wants to go out if he’s shoveling in dress pants right now,’ ” Jocelyn laughs. “He had his heart set on that date and he made it happen, regardless of the conditions.” Thankfully, their friend Jessica agreed to stay over and watch Kai.

Just before dessert, Victor asked the waitstaff to bring the ring out on a covered silver tray. Jocelyn thought it was a complimentary dessert for their anniversary, but once the contents were revealed, she was in complete shock.

After sixteen years together and seven years of marriage, the two are raising three children — Kai, nine; Lennox, five; and Alyvia, two — and ensuring they find time in their hectic schedule for each
other.

“It’s a challenge to carve out time but we’re good about prioritizing date night even if that means it has to be at home,” Jocelyn says. The duo will whip up a new recipe together, open a bottle of wine and watch a movie or sports game, or just chat about the week.

Their advice for couples and those trying to find love is simple: “Communication and trust are the most important factors to a long relationship,” says Jocelyn. “When you can build those two, you can continue to grow.”

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Amanda Briere & Shannon Curley  

Queers & Beers of Rhode Island helped this pair toast to finding love.

Photo courtesy of Shannon Curley.

 Shannon Curley didn’t start Queers & Beers of Rhode Island to find love.

But, she has to admit, it was a nice benefit.

She and her now-fiancee, Amanda Briere, met at a local brewery last fall, when Amanda first started attending the monthly LGBTQ+ meetups. They were both in relationships at the time but chatted as friends and bonded over a shared love of puzzles and hacky sack.

“We were bringing hacky sacks to the meetings as an excuse to get one-on-one time together because nobody else wanted to play with us,” Shannon says with a laugh.

In January 2023, their respective relationships ended. As they relayed their experiences and comforted each other, they became best friends. Before they knew it, they were falling in love.

They’re not exactly sure how it started, but they had a running joke about getting engaged with a Ring Pop. Shannon would ask, “Would you marry me with a Ring Pop?” to which Amanda would reply, “Yes, but only if it’s watermelon.”

On Nov. 10, Shannon found herself with a rare day off. She met up with a good friend she hadn’t seen in a while, and then spent time with her mom, Christine, with whom she co-hosts the podcast Sex Ed Debunked, which discusses all the things sex ed never told you. She ended the night by meeting Amanda for dinner and dessert at Basta in Pawtuxet Village.

“The day was perfect and getting to end it with her was perfect,” Shannon says, who decided it was time to pop the question.

She reached their home first — they had taken separate cars to the restaurant — and when Amanda arrived Shannon tossed a watermelon Ring Pop package her way.

“She said, ‘You should open this,’ and no part of me wanted a Ring Pop because we had just had dessert,” says Amanda. “But something told me to just open it.”

She saw the custom-designed ring right away.

“It was a really, really sweet, considerate thoughtful thing, like she always does, and how can you say no to that?” 

We’ll toast to that. —D.L.

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Bobby Gondola & Guillaume René Bagal

A chance encounter in an airport led to falling in love with each other — and Rhode Island. 

Photo by Chad Weeden.

 In 2010, Bobby Gondola was heading home to Providence from a trip to Washington, D.C., to see friends he had met in South Africa. He was at Reagan National Airport when a handsome man walked by, stylishly dressed in a tan jacket after returning from a trip to France. Bobby gazed at him, smiled, and said, “I love your jacket.” The gentleman said thank you and they chatted for a minute, but Bobby was late for his flight. In a split second, he decided to give the man his phone number. 

The man’s name was Guillaume René Bagal, a Cameroon native living and working as a director of policy in Washington, D.C., at the time.

“How many times does someone compliment you on an outfit or your shoes, and you say thank you and just walk away?” says Bobby. “But there was something in that moment, and I texted my friend from the plane that I had just met my future husband.”

The two stayed in touch and became friends. They officially started dating in 2014 and traveled long distance to see each other for another two years, with Guillaume living in D.C. and Bobby in Providence. Guillaume said he’d never move for a guy, but soon realized  that he wouldn’t be moving to Rhode Island for just a guy — “I’d be moving for the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with,” he says. 

They moved in together in Providence and wed at the Fairlawn Estate in Newport in 2018. Now Guillaume loves Rhode Island and Bobby has a hard time getting him to go anywhere else. 

The couple is very involved in the community in their own separate ways. Bobby is head of the Lincoln campus at Community College of Rhode Island and executive director of the CCRI Foundation, while Guillaume is vice president of DEI and well-being at UNFI. They both have experience on several boards, too; Bobby previously served on WaterFire’s board and on the school board in Providence and recently earned his Ph.D in education, while
Guillaume serves on the board of Youth Pride, as vice chair of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute and on the board of directors at Amos House and Trinity Repertory Company. 

“I’m inspired by how hard he works and his commitment to service to the community,” Bobby says. Likewise, that’s what attracted Guillaume to Bobby in the first place. “It was his connections to boards that made me also fall in love with Rhode Island because I met so many great people,” he says. —J.C.

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Bekah Berger & Tony Amaral III

A local comedy appearance sent sparks from the stage.

Photo courtesy of Bekah Berger.

Bekah berger, 92 pro-fm radio host, jokes about the days when she said yes to everything. “I’d attend the opening of an envelope,” she says with a laugh. One night, her boss couldn’t attend the Catch a Rising Star comedy competition at Bally’s Twin River, and asked Bekah to serve as a judge in their place. Bekah said yes, and her parents came along to watch the show, too. 

One of the comedians was a tall, confident redhead named Tony Amaral III. “I thought to myself, ‘Who is this tall redhead with so much swag?’” Bekah says. “He was so confident and funny.”

Three drinks later, at the end of the night, Bekah decided to “slide into his Facebook DMs before doing that was a thing.” She congratulated him on the competition. 

They talked for a few months and finally went out on a date. Later, as things progressed, they found out that the nice boy from East Providence and the outgoing girl from Cranston had a lot of mutual friends and acquaintances. In fact, Tony’s grandparents and Bekah’s grandparents grew up in the same neighborhood in Cranston and Tony was friendly with Bekah’s cousin. 

The couple married in 2016 and have two children, Arielle, four, and Iris, two.

When they finally got together, Bekah learned that the night she and her family first saw Tony perform, her mother had leaned over to her father and said, “Now why can’t she meet a nice guy like that?” —J.C.

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Phil Griffin & Malinda Coletta

They already knew each other, they just didn’t know it.

Photo by Chad Weeden.

 Phil griffin was widowed with three daughters enrolled at Bay View Academy. He had lost his wife, Karen, to breast cancer and subsequent ovarian cancer, and after that, poured his heart and soul into volunteering at his daughters’ school. Two years after his wife’s death, he signed up for Match.com. 

A woman sent his profile a wink, and then tried to engage him in conversation. They scheduled a phone call, and the woman, Malinda Coletta, began grilling him about his life. Phil told her he had three daughters, and Coletta asked where they went to school. 

“Bay View,” he said.

“Oh no,” she thought. 

“What grades are they in?” she asked. 

“The oldest is a junior,” he replied. 

Then she said, “Do you do any volunteer work at school?” 

Phil went into a big explanation about how the school has this major fundraiser called Manhattan at the Bay, and how he handles the Irish room. 

Malinda hit him with more questions, then broke the news. 

“I graduated from Bay View. My only daughter is a junior in your daughter’s class. I volunteer for Manhattan at the Bay, and I’m the loudmouth who sits at the corner table, and I handle all the marketing and PR for the event,” she said to him, bracing for his response.

It turned out they had met before. They just thought the other was married. Phil still wore his wedding band and Malinda also wore a diamond ring that might be confused for a wedding ring. 

They hit it off right away. “You never know, there could be someone right in front of you and you can’t see the forest for the trees,” Malinda says with a laugh. 

They dated for two years, and even though Malinda, who had been divorced for a long time, said she’d never wed again, in 2010, Phil convinced her to get married so she could get on his health insurance plan. “I already had three daughters on the family plan, so what was two more?” he says.

They had so much in common, including a love of cooking. They started a business called Professor Chef, offering cooking classes out of their home in North Providence. “She’s Italian, so she thinks she knows how to cook, where I am definitely the better cook,” Phil says with a chuckle. 

“I’m Italian, I didn’t have to pay to learn how to cook,” Malinda rebuffs with a smirk. 

In addition to being cooking partners in crime, they also run an undercover operation. During the holiday season, they magically transform into Mr. Santa and Mrs. Claus. It all started after Phil’s granddaughter noticed his mustache, and Malinda said he only needed to grow a beard to look like Santa. He never shaved again. He completed his secret transformation by visiting friends’ holiday parties dressed as the man in red, then attended Santa Camp in New Hampshire. The couple eventually invested in a year-round sleigh — a red Tesla with “SANTACLAUS” plates that’s equipped with a Christmas light show, Santa mode for sleigh navigation, and a microphone that can be used to shout out, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” Malinda also makes a perfect Mrs. Claus. They enjoy cheering kids up around the holidays. 

“This is the best experience in my life. It brings joy to everyone, not just us,” Phil says. “Anywhere you go, you’re a celebrity without knowing you’re a celebrity.” 

Now they spread their love all the way from the Ocean State to the North Pole. —J.C.