Jeannine Spinella, a receptionist at Elders Futures, was shy. Evan Baron, a floor trader at the same company, was not. One Friday night 16 years ago, he asked if she wanted to go to a Mets game after work. She agreed. Then she got cold feet. When it was time to leave, Mr. Baron found a temporary receptionist sitting at her desk. The young woman told him that Ms. Spinella had gone home sick. That should have been that. But he called her at home. "He didn't believe me," she said. "So he said: `I'm going to pick you up tomorrow, and we're going to Central Park. We'll throw a Frisbee and then have a barbecue on my friend's roof deck.' I said O.K. He was from New Jersey. I didn't think he would find my house in Midwood, Brooklyn. But he did, and we've been together ever since." She became Mrs. Baron eight years ago. They had two children, Ethan, 6, and Julia, 2. Four years ago, Mr. Baron, 39, started working at Carr Futures, where he was a senior vice president and an energy specialist. He loved working as an oil trader, leaving college to take up the job full time. "He was determined," Mrs. Baron said. "He worked his way up until he was in an office instead of the floor of the stock exchange."