Dear Eric: I tend not to tell people they hurt my feelings because it seems rude to critique. I am now in a situation that seems like a deal breaker. A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a person I consider to be a very good friend. This is someone I see a few times each month and with whom I have traveled.

Dear Eric: I’m a 50-something woman living with my lovely (male) partner: We’ve been together for more than 15 years but never married. I had a first marriage to my teenage sweetheart which ended in divorce, something that was not only deeply painful to me but also to my conservative religious family. Mine was only the second divorce in our family.

Three years ago, I met a woman, Margaret, and we became best friends very rapidly. Last year, during a tough year, I began to feel that some of Margaret’s behavior was that of someone