The Strawberry Letter: My 3-Way Love Affair

Dear Steve and Shirley,

I'm a forty-year-old married woman, and my husband and I have a sister-friend who has been a major part of my life since I was seven years old. We did everything together—even went to the same college and graduated at the same time.

When I got engaged, she got engaged. Our fiancés didn’t get along, so my man would always take my bestie’s side when she was having an issue with her fiancé. A few weeks after we got engaged, my man told me that my bestie’s man was cheating on her. I was shocked and hurt when I saw the video of her fiancé asleep and naked at his side chick’s house.

My man and I decided not to tell her anything, but then my man got really upset with the dude and ended up telling my bestie about the cheating. She was so devastated. She stayed with us for two weeks and called off their engagement.

Now that we're married, she’s part of our family. She travels with my husband and me, and she comes over for weekly movie nights at our house. She's dating again, and when she meets men, she brings them to meet us so we can pass judgment on them.

Lately, I’ve been noticing that my husband is more opinionated than usual, and none of the guys have been good enough for my bestie. That’s a red flag for me, so I jokingly asked him if he’d like to clone himself so my bestie could be with a man just like him. He got very irritated with me.

I’ve been wondering if something is going on between him and my bestie. As a test, I told him that we’re going on an anniversary trip—alone. He said it would be weird to leave my bestie out.

I asked him if we are in a three-way love affair. He laughed it off and said no, but does he really care about her feelings?