The Strawberry Letter: My Fixer Upper is Feeling Himself

Dear Steve and Shirley,

I met my boyfriend at the car dealership. I was there for an oil change, and he greeted me. There was a long wait time, so during that time, I enjoyed talking to him. He told me that he moved in with his son and grandson two years ago after his divorce. He also shared that he is a lead mechanic at the dealership but is trying to open his own garage.

I felt something for this man and admired how he’s rebuilding his life at age fifty-eight. He asked me to have dinner with him, and I said yes. He also told me to take it easy on him because he could tell I liked the finer things in life. That humbled me. So, on our first date, I ordered a salad out of respect for his financial situation.

He needed a lot of TLC because he was rough around the edges. Now, here we are eleven months later, and he practically lives with me. I helped him buy a car in cash, and I’ve bought him a lot of clothing and shoes to update his wardrobe. I did all of this because I saw him as my fixer-upper. I finally got him to cut his hair and shave his facial hair. His dental work is all done, and I can see that he’s more confident. In fact, he’s far too handsome to be working at the dealership now, so I have encouraged him to look for other jobs.

There’s just one little thing that’s bothering me, though. He has really been feeling himself lately, constantly bragging about how other women flirt with him at work. He even told his son that he’s back and better than ever, and I didn’t like that.

Lately, he has been hiding his phone and coming home much later than usual. If he’s seeing someone else, I will feel like such a fool after all I’ve done to uplift this man. Is he just going through a phase, or have I fixed him up for the streets?