You would be a fool to send beach boy money

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This article was published 30/01/2016 (3887 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: When I was on holidays in the Caribbean earlier this month, I fell for a man who lives there. He cried when I left, and I mooned over him all the way home, and for days afterward. He asked me to come back and I promised I would. Then this week, we were talking on the phone, and he said he spent so much money on clothes to please me when I was there, he was short for his rent and food.

All of a sudden, I felt dirty, like I had been using a hooker. I thought he was different from the rest of the local guys on the beach. I knew he was poorer than I am, so I paid for all the restaurant and drink bills for the weeks I was there and he stayed in my room at night. Should I send him one payment of money and then say goodbye? If I was unknowingly using a hooker, do I actually owe him money? Did he expect a handful of bills before I left? I’m naive and don’t know how this works. Should I feel so guilty?

— Feeling Like a Fool, River Heights

Dear Feeling Like a Fool: You paid a lot by buying all the meals for two and keeping him in your fancy room You didn’t make a deal with him for money, and you thought it was a holiday romance. Maybe it was a little bit of a romance and the tears were kind of real, but it sounds like he was just a subtler type from the beach, but this is living. Didn’t you ask him why he didn’t go to work? Don’t regret what you didn’t know — that he’s a beach boy like the rest. Just don’t be a fool and wire him a pile of money now.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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