If clothes can make the man, clothes can also unmake the man. Here, Marley finds out the hard way that her boyfriend's priorities and honesty were lacking ...

"I knew it was over when I found out a shirt was more important to him than his own friends.

I was 21 and working as an administrative assistant in a large hospital. Ned was 26 and a doctor there. We dated exclusively for several months when he started talking very seriously about marriage. He needed an answer because he was moving to another state to start his residency. I liked the way he dressed, really GQ, but was that love? My mother and every one of my friends told me he was a good catch and I would regret it if I let him go.

We had many dates where he showed up very late. His reason was always the same: he was detained on the wards. Who could argue with that? He just cares so much about his patients. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The weekend after Ned popped the question, we were set to go to a dinner party being hosted by one of his friends. It was a dinner party for a dozen people, not just an open house. Since Ned lived near the host's house, the game plan was that I was to come to Ned's apartment a few minutes before the party started, and then we would go together to his friend's house.

To my surprise, when I knocked on Ned's door, he was still in his pjs. He said the shirt he was planning to wear was dirty, so he'd have to wash it. I suggested he wear another shirt, since time was running short. Ned was adamant that he had to have one particular shirt, and he insisted we wait until he had washed and then dried a load of laundry before we left.

Needless to say, we were quite late in arriving at the dinner party. When the host answered the door, he was obviously dismayed to see us. He said they had waited for us, decided we weren't coming, and then gone ahead with dinner. Ned just smiled and said without skipping a beat, "I was detained on the wards."

I knew at that moment that it was over. I'd spend the rest of my life waiting for him to show up late, in a nice shirt, saying, "I was detained on the wards."

A really nice guy will give you the shirt off his back, but Ned? He only cares about the shirt."

And here's another: "I knew it was over ...

... when I was almost 22 and about to have my second wedding anniversary. My sweet, good-looking boss told me he was leaving the company and as I was driving home, Elton John's song 'Daniel' came on. I started crying. There had never been anything between me and my boss, but I knew if I felt that way, I wasn't in love with my husband.

"Still, I'd made vows, so I was determined to honor them. Happily, he made it easy for me a few months later.

We didn't have a 3rd anniversary."

When did you know it was over? When did you know it was love? Send your thoughts along with your questions and problems to [email protected]. And check out my ebook, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front." COPYRIGHT 2016 CREATORS.COM

Photo credit: Asher Isbrucker