Swinging 70s
Another blast from the romantic past thanks to the romance anthology Hearth Throbs. Here reserved Doris is pushed out of her love for Rick by the free spirited Carol. Carol is just about as free as they get, and when Rick heads off to Europe on a business trip she gives full license to Rick to have as much "fun" as he wants because that is what she plans to do back home. She shows at one point that she really loves Rick, but meanwhile Doris keeps doting on him to the point that when a guy gives her a surprise kiss at a party she is all for it - as long as she imagines it is Rick kissing her. The ending here is not particularly horrible, but the fact that it occurs so fast makes it feel kind of forced. One of the women gets to be happy, the other got her heart broken, the woman reading it just rolled her eyes at a bit of 1970s style romantic nostalgia.
