Bed, Bath, And Beyond Disappointing

For Valentine's Day, my boyfriend of two months gave me a gift basket of smelly lotions and shaped soaps. Not my kind of thing, but even more not my thing because I recognized it as a regift of something somebody gave his mom. When I met his parents, this basket was in his mom's bathroom. He's seemed sweet so far, but maybe this gift says he's just using me.

--Overscented

Ideally, if you're surprised on Valentine's Day, it isn't because your boyfriend's given you that gift that says he cares enough to look under his mom's bathroom sink and see what's still in the package. (Good thing she'd already cracked into that gallon jug of toilet bowl cleaner.) There are several possible explanations for his gift: A. He doesn't care. B. He doesn't have a clue. C. He does care, but Valentine's Day popped up early in the relationship, and he went back and forth on how much lovey-dovey to express -- until he ended up at the last-minute gift counter in his mom's bathroom. Give him the gift of time. Paying attention to how he treats you over the next few months will tell you whether he's caring and maybe clueless or whether all he cared about was placating you with whatever gifting roadkill he came upon. You can't train a guy to adore you. A woman can work with caring and clueless -- although when her birthday rolls around, she may find herself doing it from behind the wheel of his mom's almost-new car.