Kelly Lyles and Ron Verstappen coincidentally each sipped Champagne as they first chatted on the phone. They soon began sharing a glass daily.
Kelly Alise Lyles sipped Champagne while chatting with Ronald Bernardus Cornelis Franciscus Verstappen on the phone for the first time in December 2022. He had a glass in hand, too.
“It was a fun coincidence,” said Mr. Verstappen, 56, who met her through the Bumble dating app. He was in Hawaii; she in Miami.
Ms. Lyles said her friends call her “the Champagne girl.” “I’ve had Champagne Sundays, Champagne Saturdays and Champagne parties. It’s just a little excitement on your tongue. It’s a celebration.”
During that initial phone call, she asked him where in Miami he lived — he had unwittingly set his Bumble to Miami as his permanent location, not as his vacation location for his upcoming 10-day trip. When he answered “Kauai,” he lost some fizz. She put him in her “practice date” category.
Ms. Lyles, 47, had been one of eight dates he had lined up for a boys’ trip over Christmas 2022. He had ended an engagement four months earlier, and his previous marriage ended in divorce.
Ms. Lyles, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and has two grown sons, is a broker at Kelly Lyles International Realty in Miami, and in August is starting Chef2Nite, a booking platform connecting people to private chefs. She studied fashion design at the now-closed International Fine Arts College in Miami.
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