Gerry Turner Reveals the 'Comfortable Agreement' He and New Girlfriend Lana Came to About Marrying Again

• One year after his divorce from final rose recipient Theresa Nist, Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner revealed he’s in a new relationship
• Turner tells PEOPLE he and new girlfriend Lana both “want a long-term committed permanent relationship”
• The reality star says The Golden Bachelor has influenced his approach to dating: “I learned to ask better questions and be patient and see if the actions line up with the answers to the questions”

Gerry Turner had a whirlwind romance on The Golden Bachelor, getting engaged to Theresa Nist in the show’s finale, tying the knot on TV six weeks later and divorcing three months after that.

Now, in his new relationship with fellow Indiana native Lana — who’s also been married twice like him — Turner, 73, tells PEOPLE he doesn’t know “that either of us necessarily would be looking to get married, but we've also said that's not off the table.”

Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner Says He and New Girlfriend Have Been ‘Fantasy House Shopping’ 2 Months into Dating (Exclusive)

Turner and the retired educator just started dating in March after she messaged him on Facebook, so he acknowledges that a “serious discussion” about marriage “is down the road a bit.”

“But I do think we've both come to the comfortable agreement that we both want a long-term committed permanent relationship, and I think we're both feeling like we're there that we're in that now,” he says. “It's kind of two different things, but they are closely related.”

The couple has already taken some serious steps, though. Turner shares that Lana met his two kids “probably two or three weekends” into dating.

“With my youngest daughter and her husband, Angie and Rob, we went to dinner and had a really nice time,” Turner says. “And then a week later, there was a volleyball tournament where my granddaughter Charlie was playing and Lana got to meet my other daughter and son-in-law, Jenny and John. And then it was probably one week after that I was in the Indianapolis area and went to dinner with her daughter Rachel and her son-in-law, Noah, her youngest daughter Jordan.”

The TV personality feels like his new girlfriend “easily related to my family and I really easily related to hers.” But when it came to meeting her parents in late April, “I was a little nervous,” Turner admits. "But her parents were so accommodating, and I could see so much of Lana in her mom — a lot of energy, a very attentive hostess. And she was just so, so sweet. We went out and had an enjoyable dinner. It was good right off the bat.”

He and Lana have also gone “fantasy house shopping” and been traveling nearly every weekend; this summer they’ll take their romance international with a trip to London and Paris.

“We've been together every weekend,” Turner says. “She's retired, so she's not tied down. On a moment's notice, she could come here or if I go there. There's no encumbrances with work, so there's just an awful lot of pluses that are helping us along.”

Turner, whose first wife Toni died suddenly in 2017 after being diagnosed with a bacterial infection, says he learned “so many lessons” from his time on The Golden Bachelor that he’s been applying to dating today.

“I learned to ask better questions and be patient and see if the actions line up with the answers to the questions,” he says. “And there was just an awful lot that I think is very relevant that I've pulled forward from being on The Golden Bachelor.”

The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!

Turner has already been impressed by Lana’s actions, especially with how she handled him sharing his cancer diagnosis. (The retired restaurateur revealed last year that he was diagnosed with a slow-growing bone marrow cancer that has no cure.)

“I started to talk about it and she goes, ‘Gerry, I know what the cancer is you have. I've researched it and I'm fine with that, so don't worry about that one bit,’” Turner says. “And it's like, ‘Oh my God, this is a person that's really, before even meeting me, is invested.’ “

Gerry Turner Shares Update on Incurable Cancer, Says He’s ‘Optimistic’ He’ll ‘Live Another Couple of Years’

The reality star also discloses the sweet gestures — not too dissimilar from the ones some contestants attempt while pulling up to Bachelor Mansion — that Lana made on their first date.

“She brought a small, framed saying as a gift, and that saying was simply, ‘You miss a 100% of the shots you don't take.’ And she was simply saying, ‘Hey, I'm going to take a shot here. There's no way I could have made it if I didn't make this effort,’" Turner says. “She brought a condolence card for the passing of my dad who had passed away the last week of February, so she's obviously very thoughtful, very generous.”

Turner recognizes that “a lot can happen in a year — and a lot has” since his divorce. “Some of it's not been so great, and some of it's been spectacularly great,” he continues. “But all in all, I'll gladly take the mix that's come to me in the last year. I am really happy to let people know how good things are going.”