The Dating Chronicles – The Last Straw

The Dating Chronicles

The Last Straw

It was his birthday and Barb listened quietly as Scott explained why he couldn’t come over.  She had painstakingly cooked a lovely meal in anticipation of his visit.  She had spent money she didn’t have on an elaborate table, complete with very expensive champagne, long-stemmed roses, and silver wine goblets.  She had gone so far as to even pay her out-of-work brother $50.00 to serve the meal.

She had been waiting since seven o’clock that evening for the doorbell to ring and it was eight-thirty before he finally called.  She had sent her brother home.

As Scott explained that his car had broken down on the way there and there were no bars left on his phone to call her, tears ran slowly down her cheeks.  Gathering her voice, she pleaded with him to still come, so the dinner would not go to waste.  But he declined, saying he was exhausted from the incident and was going home to bed.

When she hung up the phone, she sobbed uncontrollably.  This was not the first time he had disappointed her. In the four months they’d been dating, he had stood her up seven times without calling.  After promising to pick her up from work on a night she’d worked past midnight, he failed to show up or call, leaving her stranded without money or a way home. A co-worker ended up giving her a lift home.

A week later, he showed up at her house late one night to borrow some money with a woman in his car, whom he claimed was his stranded cousin from out of town.  The week before, after accompanying her to a friend’s party, he suddenly disappeared without a word and came back two hours later claiming he had taken a sick friend home.

Through it all, she endured the disappointments and hoped that special treatment might inspire him to treat her better.  But it hadn’t worked.  As she looked at the candles slowly burning out, she felt like a fool. Suddenly anger replaced her disappointment.  She picked up the phone and dialed Scott’s number.  When he answered, she told him never to call her again in life and hung up. Thirty minutes later, he was ringing her doorbell apologizing, but she didn’t answer. Her high hopes had disintegrated. She was done.