Chapter 33: It’s Time

The next day she received a text from each of her three suitors. Each one proclaimed their love and loyalty. Each message suggested that they respected her private time and need to be alone, but would like the honor of a special date that would place her closer to committing to one of them as an exclusive girlfriend.

She was happy that fate had given her another chance with the guys. On top of that, each message had suggested their respect and personal time to spend with or without any of them as she wished or needed.

“Thank God,” she whispered. She cleaned her loft of all of the visible but declining reminders of her three admirers. The flowers had died. She had eaten all of the chocolate and drunk all of the red wine. And she had not yet made time to use and enjoy the luxury gift cards worth thousands of dollars.

First, she decided to read Don’s message.

“I have missed you very much and this time apart has shown me how empty my life is without you to share it with. I guess I thought after our passionate time together we would continue to repeat it, growing in intimacy and exclusivity. I’m no good without you, but I know that I am not the only one competing for your time.”

“I hope this time apart has given you the opportunity to realize that what we started is worth continuing. This may seem premature, but I am better with you than without you.”

“Just give me the word and I will either immediately come to be at your side or withdraw my affections and struggle somehow to go on, recognizing more and more the emptiness of a life spent without you. —-Don.”

“Wow,” she thought, “I never would have expected that I had such an impact on a guy like Don. I want to call him now, but I think it would be better to read all of the messages and then reply to each, balancing out what appeals to me from each and hopefully coming closer to picking one of these three admirers as my boyfriend.

Next, she read Alex’s message.

“Thanks to you I regained my self-confidence, reignited my passion for a loving relationship, and renewed my authenticity as a romance novelist. I felt that our weekend was just the ticket I needed to know once again the love of a good woman like yourself and the power and influence it can have on a man like me.”

“When I did not hear back from you after all of the flowers, chocolates, and gifts I sent you, I was confused. I thought that we had a good thing going and had it not been the end of the weekend, we would have continued exploring our passion.”

“I know that I am not the only man with an interest in you, but I would like to be your one and only if you would give me a chance. I believe that as artists and lovers we would be well matched and contribute to each others’ creative successes, growing ever deeper in intimacy and commitment. Will you please be my mate? I think you have seen how good we are together and, unfortunately, how miserable we are apart. Respectfully, Alex.”

Alex’s words made Laura’s heart skip a beat, but she still had one more message to read before she could respond to him.

Last, but not least she finished by reading Ricky’s message.

“Laura, I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to reach out to you to let you know that you are deep in my heart and never far from my thoughts. I am still interested in getting to know you better on a mutually agreeable schedule that honors your commitments and mine. I only hope and pray that you will add me to that list. Always, Ricky”

“Short but sweet. I just hope he wrote it and not his legal assistant.” she smiled.

She was tortured with having to choose. Her admirers felt the time was right to pick one of them. Her selection started with her responses to their messages. After thinking about it, she knew what she wanted to say.

“Don, I was so glad to get your message today. I had no idea that I had such a big impact on you. Your words touched me profoundly. I would be willing to go on another date to explore things further, if you will still have me as worthy of your time and affections. —-Love, Laura”

She pressed send. She decided to keep all of her responses brief to see what they would reply. Once again, she turned control over to the universe to resolve her dilemma of selecting one of these fine gentlemen. She started to doubt her worthiness to even have such a decision to make.

She re-read Alex’s text and crafted a response that she thought would be worthy of his love and words.

“Alex, I am truly fond of you and feel as though with time I could grow to care for you deeply and exclusively. You are a special human being and every moment I have spent with you so far has been wonderful.”

“Another date would not only bring me closer to you, but closer to a decision of whether we would make a good couple over the long term. I am glad to know that you are still interested in me and I hope that we can take things to the next level in a relationship. You have my heart. ——Kindly, Laura”

With each response she got increasingly better at it. Her confidence grew and she decided to let their responses be the determiner. Finally she turned to Ricky.

“Ricky, thanks for reaching out. Maybe we can schedule some lunch dates since we are both in the downtown area. Let me know when you are available for the first one. I, too, have missed you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks, Laura”

“It feels like a work thing, but I am just mirroring his style. There,” she said as she pressed send for the third and final time, “Let the pursuits continue and may the best man for me win.”