“Jove Meyer and Kyle Torrence met the old-fashioned way—on Tinder—and their love story began just as the COVID-19 pandemic did, in May 2020. Jove, a wedding planner and event designer based in Brooklyn, New York, had been renovating his home on Fire Island; Kyle, a personal assistant, had been quarantining with a pod of friends in Connecticut for over two months. Suddenly, the world got quiet, which gave them ample time to date. “After a week or so of chatting over text, phone, and video, I invited Kyle to come out to Fire Island,” says Jove.
Though Kyle excitedly agreed, he missed the ferry—but he didn’t miss the boat. “To be fair, the schedule was confusing. He didn’t want to miss our first date, though, so he chartered his own private ferry to meet me,” says Jove. Upon his arrival, the duo took a long walk in the island’s sunken forest (the only national park in the United States that is below sea level) and “at the highest point with sweeping views of the ocean, we shared our first kiss.” During their extended first date, they cooked, strolled along the beach, and hung out with Jove’s two dogs, Sadie and Sausage. “They loved him,” Jove says. “It all felt so natural and both of us knew it was something special…”
