Amanda says it was love at first sight.

(Right away, I'm suspicious.)

She met Chris at a ballroom dancing class, and for a year, everything was great. Then he told her he needed to "press the restart button on his life."

(Yes, that's an actual quote.)

He called after a week to say it was all her fault. Her divorce was taking too long. She was too busy with her teenage children. She didn't make him feel special. Blah, blah, blah.

Amanda says: "I was vulnerable and he knew it. So I changed. I pampered him, coddled him and did what I could to be a good girlfriend."

A year later, he told her — again — that he didn't feel special.

She described: "It was my fault, of course. And I, of course, changed, again."

A lot of good it did. A year later, Chris disappeared again. No calls. No letters. No emails. No nothing. Poof! Gone!

Amanda says: "I thought, 'What the hell!' I was devastated. So, I went with one of my girlfriends to a ballroom dancing class. And guess who was there?"

(Dear Readers: I think you can tell that this is not going to end well. But I digress.)

She bought his bull all over again. Or, as she puts it, "I felt like I was a teenager again!"

(Reader Alert! Feeling like a teenager is not a good thing! Even teenagers don't like to feel like teenagers!)

She says: "Then it started again. I would do something horrible, like ask him to take out the trash or want to watch a movie instead of talk to him. He would say, and I quote, 'I'm interesting enough to carry the evening.' Or I wasn't making him the center of my universe when we went out. Or I was talking more than he thought I should in social situations."

The final kicker was last week.

Amanda has been laid off. Chris has a general contracting business. He suggested they do some home improvements at her place. When the project was finished, he asked her for money for the materials. She was OK with that. And money for the helper he hired. She was OK with that, too. And then he told her he expected to be paid his full going rate.

Six hundred dollars a day.

She adds: "It came to $1500 because he charged me for the day we went shopping for material! Did I mention he slept over the night before, I made him breakfast and bought him lunch?"

(It gets worse.)

The project was finished on Friday. Amanda left him a voicemail on Saturday asking whether everything was OK.

(I know, I know ...)

Chris didn't return her call. She talked to some friends. They said: "You didn't hire him. Why would he ask for money? You're his girlfriend!" When she finally got a hold of him on Tuesday, she told him not to cash the check.

She says: "He was appalled! I said this was supposed to be our project. I can't pay that kind of money! But he went ahead and cashed the check said that our 'business was finished.' He hung up and I haven't heard from him since!"

(Readers, where do I start?)

What would you tell Amanda? Send your tale, along with your questions and problems to [email protected]. And check out my e-books, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front" and "I'll Call You. Not."