Whoa, talk about sub-zero temperatures. I can still feel the chill minutes after he’d gone. I felt even more self-conscious than I had when I first walked into the room earlier. I’d been halfway down the stairs before I realized there was anyone in here, and with all eyes staring at me, was too gauche to turn and run back up the way I wanted to.

Those first few minutes after exchanging good mornings were nerve-wracking, to say the least, and in the end, it was the guys who made me ...