So I’m dating this truck driver who’s 30 and currently going through a messy divorce. His ex is holding the kids over his head all the time and he may be losing his job due to the coronavirus. He ghosted me for 4 days. I left him countless voicemails and texts. The only time he texted me was on last Sunday after I had left him a voicemail of me bawling my eyes out to him. He told me he was sorry and was just “stressed and shutting down. I’m not talking to anyone”.

So dumb me kept messaging him everyday until this last Friday. I decided I was gonna let him message me first from now on. Which he has been doing. I have a new job in which after the training I could move back up to NJ to be near him again. He says “wait until after the divorce”.

Do men actually get so stressed out that they shut everyone out? Does he really want to be with me and is protecting me from getting hurt through the divorce process? Or is all of this just an excuse?