Larry Metcalf is an old friend of Shirley Partridge.
Background[]
Larry and Shirley used to be romantically involved, but they stopped seeing each other after Larry, an engineer, went to South America. Now he has his own engineering company and $1,500,000 dollars. Larry has come close to getting married a few times, but he always backed out. However, lately he's been feeling lonely and wanting a family.
On the series[]
Larry comes into town for his niece Tina's graduation. In a hotel lobby, he bumps into Shirley, who has been on tour for the last four weeks. He asks her to dinner, and she accepts. They stay out talking until one in the morning. Over the next few days, the two continue to see each other regularly. Larry hopes to rekindle his romance with Shirley, but the two eventually realize that their friendship is mostly platonic and that a romantic relationship between them wouldn't work. Then the Partridge kids, led by Keith, confront Larry in the hotel room and accuse him of cheating on Shirley. It turns out that Keith and Laurie saw Larry buying a ring for Tina as a graduation present and thought Tina was his mistress. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, the kids apologize to Larry and worry that they've ruined his and Shirley's chances of happiness. Larry and Shirley come up with a plan for Larry to pretend to propose to Shirley so she can tell him she doesn't love him while Keith, Danny, and Chris are listening in. Now that the kids' consciences have been cleared, Larry goes to Peru to build a bridge.