That Time I Accidentally Dated Two Men...

This is a fun story I was reminded of tonight...

I am a serial monogamist.  When I am in a relationship, I am committed and have zero eyes for anyone else.  I do not date around - I'm pretty sure it's physically impossible for me.

After my divorce, I spent a solid chunk of time refusing to date.  I needed to sort myself out and I couldn't do that with random men floating around.  When I did decide to start dating again, I had clear boundaries and codified a plan to follow for weeding out would-be suitors.

One of those would-be suitors, Rick, made it far enough through the plan to be considered a "boyfriend."  So when a prospect hits that milestone, all other would-be suitors go straight out the window.  It's just how I work.

So Rick and I had been dating for maybe a month or two when a colleague of mine (let's call him Steve) invited me out to dinner.  He and I worked together- very well, in fact- and I genuinely enjoyed our relationship.  We both had similar senses of humor, and while he was much more reserved than I was, his values aligned with mine and we challenged one another to excel in our given tasks.

Anyway, Steve invited me for dinner one night, and because I already had dinner plans with Rick, I suggested we do lunch, instead.  At the time, it didn't occur to me that Steve wanted to do anything beyond catch up.  I've got plenty of colleagues (male and female alike) who have met up with me for lunch/dinner.  So I put him in the books for lunch knowing I'd still have enough time to get home and dressed for dinner with Rick.

Steve picked the place to eat and it turned out to be a cute Italian place between both our homes.  About halfway through our normal banter, I noticed he was being more shy than usual.  The word "bashful" popped to mind, and I suddenly realized I was on a date.  He then said something that confirmed we were on a date, and...

...I cannot tell you the mortification and guilt I felt in that moment.

Looking back, it's super funny now because I didn't do anything wrong, but Ms. Serial Monogamist was suddenly juggling two men on the same day and I felt like the biggest hypocrite in the universe.

As soon as I realized that lunch wasn't just lunch, I did my best to casually wrap things up as amicably and quickly as possible.  I didn't want to make him feel embarrassed or anything, so I didn't mention my dinner plans with Rick later, but oooooo boy.  There's not enough limoncello in the world to make that experience less awkward.  Ha ha!

I made it clear I wasn't interested in anything more than friendship and to this day, we remain good friends.  He's a great guy and I enjoy his company so much.  He and Rick ended up becoming buddies, too (oddly enough), but I never mentioned what happened to either one of them.  It's not like Steve knew I was dating Rick at the time, and there was exactly zero reason to share with Rick what had erroneously happened before our dinner.  

Anyway, that happened.  Best part?  My current husband has met both Steve and Rick and gets along splendidly with both of them.  God is good, friends.  What could've been a train wreck of embarrassment turned out to be a funny story of how blind I can be sometimes.

​Whomp whomp.  LoL!