I met a man through mutual friends during a weekend away at the beach. Both in our mid-20s, we immediately hit it off and had an intensely romantic weekend. He lives in a city four hours away, and though I gave him my telephone number at the end of the vacation, I never really expected to see him again.
However, he started to text and call me frequently, and saw me while visiting my city a few weeks later. Because we both frequent the other’s city often, we managed to have a surprisingly traditional courtship. He would take me to nice dinners, say such nice things, and be a complete gentleman. He introduced me to his friends and even took me to his family’s beach house, where I met his mother (though I was introduced as a “friend”). We then both went on separate trips abroad for about a month and a half. During this time, we emailed frequently.
When we returned to the states, we saw each other almost immediately and recommenced our regular dates. After about three months since meeting, I asked if he was seeing other people. He said he wasn’t ready for that conversation yet, which was okay with me. He opened up to me about his past relationships with unkind women and his parent’s ugly divorce. Several weeks ago, he told me he was falling in love with me and then last week, he said “I love you.”
After saying those three words, though, he’s grown more distant. Although he texts or calls every day, he has begun to insist that he’s not interested in a long-distance relationship or in a serious relationship at all because of his new career, etc. Because I am interested in something serious and would consider long-distance with this guy, I tried to end things. I told him I would only get hurt in the long-run. He insisted, however, that he feels so strongly for me and might change his mind eventually. He begged me to continue to see him.
So, should I trust what this guy [i]says[/i] (that he’ll never want a serious long-distance relationship) or what he [i]does[/i] (call daily, introduce me to friends and family, tells me he loves me)? Is there any chance he’ll ever want something more serious? Should I be patient, or should I get out?
