“Ladies, ladies,” I tried, “Can’t we be reasonable?”

Becky snarled, “I’ll show you reasonable!” A vase came whipping past my head and shattered against the wall.

I gave her my best disarming smile, “I know how bad this seems, but didn’t I make all of you happy?”

“He, um, sort of has a point, ya know,” Jill mumbled around the fingernails she was nervously nibbling.

Cara gave her an odd look, but just had to ask, “How did you get your hair like that? It’s really cute.”

“See, this is just what I meant earlier,” I jumped in at this brief moment of positive interaction, “You’re all so different, which is exactly what I love about each of you. I mean, I love all you, separately and differently, but I love all of you. How can that much love be wrong?”

The three of them, the three women in my life, together for the first time, eyed me for a moment. With a jerk of her thumb, Becky pulled the other two into a huddle. And there in the living room, they convened to decide my fate.