Her decision was not taken lightly. She called her mother, her sister and a couple of friends to help determine if she could date someone in his 50s. Her limit had been 45, and even that was pushing it. Finally, she resolved to take the plunge. “If you keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, what the hell are you doing?” reasoned Julia, who is in nonprofit fundraising and leadership development, and has never been married.

On the other hand, Richard, a retired federal employee who is divorced, has dated women Julia’s age with varying results. “It’s got nothing to do with age; it has to do with attitude,” he noted.

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That said, soon after they met at Fig & Olive downtown, they discussed his age, and he gave her an easy exit: “If you want to run out of the restaurant screaming now, you’re not gonna hurt my feelings,” he recalled saying. “It’s not like it’s the first time it’s happened. I am what I am.” She opted to stick around.

Another thing Richard got out of the way immediately: He’d pick up whatever portion of their check went over The Post’s allotted $150. “I appreciated that was clear,” said Julia. “He was very mannish. I liked that. I’m an aggressive feminist, but sometimes normative gender roles are … sometimes I’m mad at them, sometimes I appreciate it.”

Julia also appreciated how forward Richard was about being reserved. “He was like, ‘You’re not taking me home tonight.’ I was like, ‘All right, cool,’ ” recalled Julia. “It was a light way to make me feel like, ‘Look, I’m not going to be a creeper.’ ”

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Over shared appetizers and small plates including crostini, beet salad and carpaccio, and some stiff drinks (whiskey cocktails for her, Scotch for him), they talked about … uh, some stuff. Both were quite vague in their answers to repeated questions about the particulars of their date.

“We talked about religion, we talked about politics, we talked about whatever came up,” said Julia. “At the end of the day, a bad date makes for a much better story. We were enjoying each other’s company, and it was remarkably unremarkable. It was a lovely date.”

Their date happened to fall on Election Day, though that didn’t seem to make much of an impact either way. Julia said they briefly discussed the election and would check in on results from time to time. But: “I’m not particularly wonky. I don’t know that he is either.”

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“At first blush, she’s bright, she’s informed, she has opinions, she listens,” Richard told me. “It was like sitting across the table from someone you find interesting. We’re fairly politically aligned. [Both are left-leaning.] We grew up in similar social standings. We’re both Jewish, although she adheres to it a little bit more than I do.”

They conceded to some degree of attraction: She called him a “hot older man,” and he said that she was “very cute” with “a nice way about her.”

And?!?

Julia admitted that she was being intentionally tight-lipped and that they had discussed describing their date as “lovely” in the interview the next day.

But was it romantic or what? “Sure!” chirped Julia, chuckling to herself. Finally after more probing, she relented: “Don’t get me wrong, there was chemistry,” she admitted. “Oh yeah, there’s chemistry. There’s definitely chemistry.”

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After Fig & Olive they had a nightcap at a nearby whiskey bar. Richard was willing to drive Julia back to Maryland, but it was out of his way since he lives in Alexandria and she opted to take the Metro.

So did they end the night with a kiss? “I know that’s what your readers want,” said Richard, denying us the one thing that would make us happy. “Let’s just say I hope there’s a next date.”

So did Julia. In the ultimate sign of burgeoning Date Lab romance, both asked about what the other said in their interviews. Unlike them, though, I don’t keep secrets and confirmed they were on the same page … for now.

Rate the date

Richard: 4.5 [out of 5]. It was a very nice evening and I enjoyed it.

Julia: 4.25. It was a very solid date.

Update