This past weekend I discovered Gary has kept a secret from me for almost forty years.
When Gary was young, he went through a fallow period regarding women. No dates, no interests, but in his late twenties he got a better job, better self-image, and made up for lost time. He joined a singles group and landed in a pretty long-term physical relationship with the group president.
According to him, he broke off that relationship with Madame President, because it was purely physical, and he wanted more.
He then dated such a variety of women that he couldn’t keep track of their names and eventually focused on me.
So, I had been given to believe this was the timeline:
- Gary bones Madame President for months
- Gary ditches Madame President because he is a man too noble to ever be satisfied with just a physical relationship
- Gary dates lots of other women, all at the same time, but soon finds me
But no, Gary has now revealed that the real timeline was:
- Gary bones Madame President for months AND Gary dates lots of other women, all at the same time
- Madame President finds out and ditches Gary
- Gary dates other women, all at the same time, but soon finds me
So, in retrospect, I should have been able to figure out the real narrative — especially given that I did the same thing with my first real boyfriend: cheated on that purely physical relationship with more than one other person.
I understand why he kept that a secret at first. I’m sure he thought I’d have said, “Once a cheater, always a cheater” and not dated him. I suppose the statute of limitations runs out after 40 years?