AUBURN, Mass. - "It was a night like any other night," Laurie Petro of Auburn said.

In the Spring of 1985, Petro was driving home, along Route 9 after a workout at a gym in Shrewsbury.

"I was a mess from working out, but I didn't care because I was just going home. I rode by the Ground Round Restaurant on my way, but didn't notice anything," she said.

When she approached a traffic light near UMass Hospital she glanced over to a nearby car and saw a guy giving her "the look."

"I decided to be a little sassy and blew him a kiss," she said.

Not thinking anything of it, she continued driving down Belmont Street.

"It wasn't until I got to the end of my street by Newton Square in Worcester that I noticed the same guy directly behind me. He followed me all the way home. I was a bit nervous at that time."

Petro pulled into her driveway. When she got out of her car, she noticed the man had stopped in front of her house across the street.

"I don't know what made me do it, but I went out front to talk to him. We made plans to meet the next day after work and the rest, they say, is history," she said.

"I was only 19 at the time and lived at my parents' house. I couldn't tell my parents how we really met so I made up a little fib. Eventually I told them the truth. What a story."

Laurie and Paul will be married for 22 years this September.