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I’ve been communicating with a nice woman on a dating site. I’d like to meet up with her and she’s also interested. The thing is I’m going to Europe at the end of August for three weeks and I don’t want to get into a relationship before then. The reason is that I don’t want to be thinking of anyone while I’m overseas. What do I say to this woman if we end up going on a date and we end up clicking and she expects another date? If I keep her at arm’s length for two months, she’ll get fed up and think I’m not that interested. It sounds like I’m…

My boyfriend and I have been dating for almost two years and we’re now trying to find a place to move into together. The other day he mentioned how he’s been thinking that he wants to be polyamorous, and he asked how I felt about it. I immediately said I don’t know and would think about it. But my gut reaction is that I’m not okay with that. I’m a fairly insecure person and feel like I would be jealous and feel inadequate if he were to commit to other women and I just feel like I’m a monogamous type. The thing is, this seems to be pretty important for him. I…

I’ve been a paid companion for some time and have been involved with my current sugar daddy for a while. He lives in another state and pays me twice monthly pretty well. Well, now I’m about 6 weeks pregnant with someone else’s baby, not a client’s. I plan on waiting to tell SD for as long as possible, but I’m still nervous. Any tips on how to tell him and explain our arrangement should continue on as normal? — Pregnant Sugar Baby

My sister is undiagnosed bipolar with incredible rage especially toward me. She moved in with my mother one year before my father passed away. Eight years later the house is full of stuff she hoards. I believe her “self-therapy” is shopping. If Dollar General has lamps marked down to $2, then she will buy all of them because it is a good buy and one day she might need them. The real problem is she has positioned herself as my mother’s sole caregiver. She takes over-the-top good physical care. However, if Mother does not agree to something, E becomes enraged, gets in her face, teeth gritting until Mother gives up. My sister…

I have been divorced a few years now. (We got a divorce because he left me for another woman.) I gave up my career to be a homemaker at mostly his insistence as he wouldn’t support my working. (For example, before I quit, if I was running late, finishing projects or meetings, he’d blow up my phone and threaten to divorce me.) He was extremely verbally and emotionally abusive — when I was in labor for 35 hours and the OB finally said we were going to have to consider a C-section, which he was adamantly opposed to, he told me it was my fault for not being able to suck up…

My sister recently got engaged to this man who does not seem interested in becoming part of our family. At family gatherings he doesn’t speak to anyone or interact; he sits on his phone or falls asleep. Yes, falls asleep. I try to be friendly and converse with him, and he never responds. He didn’t ask for my father’s blessing for my sister’s hand in marriage. To my knowledge, we have not done anything to upset him. He has always been this way. And I know he is not shy because he is very social at parties and things like that. His behavior is rude. It’s like he doesn’t even try. I’ve…

From the forums: I was on a business trip across the country recently. On my first night at the hotel, I decided to check out the hotel bar. It was a quaint place, and it not very busy that night. The bartender was very nice, and she wasn’t afraid to make conversation (but that’s her job, right?). We ended up chit-chatting with each other until she had to close. We exchanged first names, we shook hands, and I returned to my room. Business kept me out most of the next night. But with an hour before closing, I decided to return to the hotel bar, and I discovered she was working again….

​​It’s time again for Shortcuts. For every question, I’ll give my advice in just a few sentences because sometimes the answer to a person’s question is so obvious and the need to hear it so great that being as clear and frank as possible is simply the best way to go. I’m in a relationship with a man who continues to put his ex’s daughter before me. The daughter is 30 years old with a child of her own, but yet my boyfriend still allows her to count on him to be a father-figure to her and to help her out with money, fixing her car, allowing her daughter to spend the…