Sunday morning = a Rhymer hypotethical. Except of course when it doesn’t.
Today’s story stars Don, a character from a previous hypthetical of mine. He was the nerdy guy afraid to ask out his cute classmate, Jenny, only to have her get tired of watiing for him and ask out his studly best friend, Dave, instead. Now it’s twenty years later. Dave and Jenny have long since married; they are Don’s best friends. As a few people predicted in the other thread, Don has done extremely well in life, at least financially. But for all that he’s spent most of his life alone; by the time he was over his crippling shyness, he was too involved in his career to take time for women. Now, in hislate 30s, he’s a bit adrift. Though he lives modestly (never having been interested in bling), he in fact has far more money to than he knows what to do with. Once he’s made his fortune he dates a a bit, but every woman he goes out with, it seems, is only interested in being the wife of a rich man. One suggests that, if they ever marry, of course they’ll have to move into a mansion; another insists on expensive gifts before she’ll consent to sex; a third is fond of suggesting month-long Paris vacations; and so forth.
That changed at Dave’s 40th birthday part, when Don met Mary. Mary is about ten years younger than Don; she works for Jenny and is quite beautiful. Don & Mary get along swimmingly at the party and start dating shortly afterwards. After about three months they begin dating exclusively. Long before then Don is sure he’s in love; he’s ready to pop the question six months into the affair, but on the advice of Dave & Jenny he waits. The former wants Don to be sure that Mary is interested in more than his bank account; the latter doesn’t want him to scare her off.
A year after he & Mary start dating, Don is in a car accident and nearly dies. He’s unconscious for days and in the hosptial for weeks. Mary is there every day, not just while he is conscious but before that as well; both Dave and Jenny attest to this. When he’s released she takes him home and she takes on much of the burden of caring for him through rehab. She never asks if he wants her help; she just does it; and without her emotional and practical support,
Months later Don is healthy again, and as one might imagine more in love with Mary than ever. One night they go out to dinner. Producing a diamond ring commensurate with his huge bank account, he tells Mary that she is the woman he’s been waiting for all his life. He’s never loved anyone as much as he loves her, and the past several months have made it clear that she’s interested in him for more than his bank account. “I love you, Mary,” he says. “Will you marry me?”
Mary hesitates for a long moment. Finally she says this:
“I want to say yes, Don. But I have to tell you this first, so you can decide whether you really want me to. You’re my best friend. I care for you a lot. But I can’t say I feel about you the way you feel about me. I just can’t say those words. I don’t care about your money now, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking it would be nice to marry a rich man when you first asked me out. And I just can’t say those words you just said to me. I don’t think I’m capable of saying that or feeling that. I’ll say yes if you want me to, but I need to know first that you’re okay with that reality. Can you please think things over and ask me again tomorrow?”
Stunned, Don agrees. The next day he sees Dave & Jenny, tells them what happened, and asks their advice. What do you think they should say?
