There are people who draw an emotional line in the sand.

They seem to say, "This far and no farther." They let you in but only up to a point. Craig is one of those guys ...

Amy recently ended a nine-month relationship with him.

She says: "He appeared to be everything any woman could want. He was extremely good-looking, had a well-paying job and pleasant personality. He loved to take me places. One day he even raced across town to fix my flat tire before I could call a tow truck. It was wonderful for about four months. Then things started to change."

You know how it goes. The regular Friday and Saturday night dates turned into one date. Most of his excuses concerned his 12-year-old daughter. She had recently been diagnosed with ADHD. She was failing school, and she had meltdowns when asked to do chores or homework. If he wasn't busy with his daughter, he was working a second job. Instead of daily phone calls, there were calls every other day, and then days without a call or a text. Amy was at the bottom of his priority list, never quite sure if she would see him or not.

She says: "The strange thing was I tried to give him outs. I suggested he might be too busy to be in a relationship and that he should take a break from dating to focus on his daughter. Each time he assured me, 'No, no, things will get better, I promise! Don't give up on me!' I knew there wasn't anyone else. We live in a very small community. It would have gotten back to me.

"I began to realize that the relationship could get to a certain point and then go no further. In my gut, I knew something wasn't right. Even during the rare times we did spend together, there was no emotional intimacy between us — no meaningful conversations, no loving teasing, no displays of affection. I wondered if he had been so hurt by his two divorces that he had placed a shield around his heart to prevent any woman from hurting him again."

Amy thinks Craig really wanted to have a relationship but just wasn't able to give enough of himself to have one. When she told him she didn't want to see him anymore, he hung up on her.

She says: "I haven't heard from him since. I was shocked to hear from a mutual friend that I'm the person he dated the longest since his second divorce 10 years ago! My guess is he treated all the women this way, I just tolerated it the longest. Things were so great in the beginning, I wanted to believe Craig when he told me that things would get better. I finally realized they wouldn't.

"The relationship was one of the most draining, depressing, and stressful I've ever experienced. He left me feeling unloved, unattractive, and uncared for. I'm angry at myself for having wasted so much time. I should've ended it the minute his words didn't match his actions — the give-away of an emotionally unavailable person."

Have you been with an emotionally unavailable person? 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.