A reader doesn’t want to upset his father, who requested his presence, but the idea of taking a vacation to celebrate a woman he has cut out of his life makes him squirm.

A reader asks which details of her marriage — if any — she is obligated to share with her visiting mother-in-law.

A reader ponders her next move after being left out of vacation plans with four other women.

After ending a yearslong extramarital affair, a reader worries about a coming dinner party that will be attended by both the former lover and the reader’s spouse.

After getting an initial thumbs up that may have been in jest, a reader wonders how to make a sensitive request that is more likely to be taken seriously.

After her sister-in-law spent the money from the sale of her parents’ house on upgrades to her own, a reader bristles at being made to feel she must chip into costs for their care.

When an ex returns from out of the blue with the same drinking problem but a new desire to be in his daughter’s life, a reader is unsure how best to protect her child.

Mindful of costs, a reader wonders whether she and her husband are obligated to extend the same hospitality to their daughter’s best friend as to their son’s partner.

A reader asks whether she has to apologize after recounting a joke that used racist language in front of her son’s friend, who later said he had felt unsafe.