Dear Steve and Shirley,
My man and I have been friends for years, and he's always been down on his luck. I called him Bad Luck Berry because he couldn't ever catch a break. Over the years, we grew fond of each other and we slowly became more than friends. One day he admitted that he's always loved me, and that's why he has taken such good care of me for twenty five years. I could not remember one time he took care of me, but then I had flashbacks of the small but sweet things he's done for me—things like coming over in the middle of the night when my dishwasher was leaking, painting my bedroom, and helping me rake leaves one Sunday afternoon. I then remembered how I had to pick him up and take him back to his brother's house after he helped me.
Despite all of that, I fell for him after we made love for the first time. He went from Bad Luck Berry to Boss Daddy because he put it down. That's his nickname now. And my friends laugh at me because my man is not the boss of anything. He has a dead-end job and he shares a car with his brother. I drive everywhere we go, and I slide my credit card to him when we go out to eat so that he can pretend to pay for our meals.
Look, I get it. Everyone is struggling or has struggled in the past, but the people around me are ambitious and hard working people. I'm afraid that my man is too comfortable with his circumstances. He's fifty-two and I'm fifty. So should I stick with him and encourage him to get a better job and maybe help him buy a car? Or should we go back to being friends and I let him come over often for great sex? That is the question.