Erin Napier Posts Throwback Photo With Ben ‘After Our First Kiss’

“Home Town” star Erin Napier shared an old photo of herself and her husband, fellow HGTV star Ben Napier, after they had just met. Erin has talked about meeting Ben while they were at college, but she never shared a photo from that time — until now.

The picture, which is posted to her official Instagram account, shows Ben and Erin sitting side by side — with their arms wrapped around one another — in front of a fireplace with Christmas stockings hanging from the mantle. Erin is wearing a sweater and blue jeans and Ben is wearing a long sleeve T-shirt and blue jeans, too.

Erin, 36, said she was dating someone else — who she refers to as “Charlie” — before she locked eyes with Ben, 39. She remembers promising Charlie she would go to an event with him, but what she really wanted to do was look at Christmas lights in Laurel with Ben.

“The night after our first kiss, I had one last obligation to Charlie: a work Christmas party we had agreed to go to together,” she started her Instagram post.

Erin writes that there wasn’t much chemistry between herself and Charlie. “I thanked him for taking me when he dropped me off at the dorm and I think he knew. And we left it there,” she said.

Erin said the pictures she posted were taken after she and Ben knew each other for 12 days. She was scheduled to go to Savannah College of Art, but applied to Ole Miss instead because wherever Ben went, “I would go too.”

Erin Went on a Date With Ben That Same Night

Ben enters the picture after Erin’s date with Charlie ended.

“A short while later @scotsman.co picked me up and we went driving looking for Christmas lights—ending at Mason Park in Laurel,” she wrote. “A tradition we’ve kept doing with our girls, and every year before they were born too on our ‘love week.'”

Ben and Erin have two daughters together: 4-year-old Helen and 1-year-old Mae.

Erin was working at a hospital at the time, but Ben waited until she got off her 12-hour shift to do some holiday shopping with her.

“We went to Walmart to buy gift wrap, and chose the longest line to stand in and flirt for as long as possible before going to my parent’s house where he would meet my daddy,” she said.

They had only known each other for five days and she was already bringing him home to meet her parents. It was the first time Ben would be meeting his future father-in-law, and the second time he’d be meeting Erin’s mom.

“They had an immediate friendship like I had never imagined and had certainly never seen. Daddy trusted him, but even better: he liked him,” Erin said.

Ben Knew He Wanted to Marry Erin After Knowing Her For 6 Days

It was practically love at first sight for Ben and Erin. She wrote that they were “inseparable” for six days.