Chapter 42: What Should I Do?

She was alone. Her three whirlwind romances were on pause. By failing to make a choice, she had made her own failure. Now she had to get herself out of it. Somehow.

It was a long shot, but she needed advice so she reached out to Caitlin. The last time they were together was pretty rough, so when Laura asked her to meet, she suggested the cafe. Maybe a public setting would protect Laura from a scene. If there was one thing that she knew about her friend: appearances were everything.

At the cafe she spotted her friend instantly and called out to her. A hug and some air kisses later. Laura had made up her mind to test the waters, but once she was here with her friend, apologies poured forth as hot and heavy as the house coffee blend that the cafe served.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing else I can say. And now that the three boyfriends are giving me the blues, I dare to come crawling back to you for advice and desperately in need of your friendship.”

“You’re forgiven. I know that you have a lot going on. I did not mean to make you angry. I guess I am a little jealous about all of the attention.”

“Thanks. You’re my oldest friend. Let’s move forward and try to preserve that bond.”

“So, any developments on the boyfriend frontier?”

“If that’s your way of asking if I’ve made my choice yet, the answer is no. Not because I did not want to. I’ve had plenty of opportunities. Just when I’m ready to tell one of my commitment to the others, that one does something that makes me rethink my decision and I end up saying yes to another one of the three.”

“What? How confusing. That’s not like you.”

“I know, I know. I just don’t know what to do. It even affects my sleep. One night I had a horrible nightmare about what ten years in the future would be like with each one. Caitlin, I’ve never been so happy to hear my alarm clock ring. That dream was positively dismal and scared me away from all three until I woke up.”

“Well, I won’t sugar coat it. Dump all three and send them my way.”

“Okay, let me do a group text or maybe we could make it a group video call?” Laura asked sarcastically.

“I’m serious. You were with the same guy for years. Then these three come along and you don’t know what to do with them or which one you want.”

“No. Just because I can’t choose one billionaire out of three, I should opt out and refer all of them to you?”

“Definitely.”

“And those are your pearls of wisdom for me: dump them?”

The two women sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping their beverages and thinking about what was said.

“Look Laura, you’ve had a few weeks to make a decision. I think they have been more than patient or fair, given your casual dating arrangement. That’s why you ought to quit now and refer them over.”

“Okay,” she replied, wondering if this was the best Caitlin could do in terms of advice. Even her advice was opportunistic. She did not want to help Laura to make a choice. She wanted to be the one to date and choose one of Laura’s three suitors for herself.

She changed the topic to her music and this created another jealousy-informed slew of comments from Caitlin.

“Are you serious? Are you just lucky, blessed, or did you sell out? Now your music has gone viral and you are swimming in success.”

“I know it must be hard to have compassion for me. I am trying to imagine what I would do or how I would respond if the shoe was on the other foot. Until any of this happens to you, the billionaires, the career catapult, the luxurious gifts, and amazing dates, it’s hard not to be jealous at my reality. But I’m asking you to try to see it from my perspective. I’m at a loss and I want to do right by them and, because of the arguments we’ve had lately, I wanna do right by you too.”


“You’re too soft, Laura. If I were in your shoes, I’d date them, get everything I could, then say I couldn’t make a decision and break up with each one. You can’t possibly care for each one the same. That’s why they’re fed up with you.”

“Pardon me?”

“Most women would be like me. You are different; you are not a gold digger. So, in that huge way you’re an anomaly. But it’s gone on too long. At first they wanted to believe you: the casual dating and making a choice. And that made you desirable as the spoils of victory after they competed for you. But you kept choosing all three. Then they had to keep competing. It’s taking too long. If you don’t choose one, you’re going to lose all three. Mark my words.”

“Are you finished with your speech?”

“Yes, unless you are going to give me their digits and a favorable reference with your personal recommendation.”

“Okay. I can see I’m on my own with this one.”

“What about your nightmare? What do you take away from that? This love rectangle arrangement is even pervading your dreams. And when you dream of them, you dream of all three simultaneously with the most negative future possible with each guy. You won’t let yourself have the happily ever after even when you are in deep sleep. What more could you want?”

“I want one guy with the characteristics of all three.”

“Oh, hahaha, you’re joking, right? One billionaire doesn’t have everything you want, so that justifies your dating all three. Get this, Laura, no man, billionaire or pauper, will have everything you want. You choose one with the most that you want and the fewest deal breakers and make a go of it.”

She continued, “No one has or is everything. If you believe that one man would have everything you’d want in a partner, you’re setting yourself up to fail and condemning yourself to that dismal dream about your future with any one of them 10, 20, 30 years into the relationship, that is, if it lasts that long. This might not be the advice you want, but, you need to hear this sometime and it might as well come from me. Here’s $5 for the coffee or the tip or whatever a girl dating three billionaires’ would need $5 for. Later.”