My fiance is good friends with his ex-girlfriend from college. (We're all in our 30s.) She isn't a romantic threat, but she's become a source of stress. Long before I met my boyfriend, they began hanging out at a local bar together twice a week. They still do this, and I go along, but I've increasingly found these evenings a draining time-suck. When I don't want to go, my fiance hangs at home with me. This prompts a tantrum from his ex-girlfriend, complete with a barrage of angry texts. I've tried reasoning with her, but she claims that when he was single, he "dragged (her) out constantly" so he still owes her. My boyfriend is a laid-back, nonconfrontational kind of guy and just says she needs to calm down.

--No Wonder They Broke Up

They've translated the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it turns out they're actually a 900-page list of everything this "friend" has ever done for your fiance.

Okay, when he was single, maybe he "dragged (her) out constantly." Unless he did this by unchaining her from the wall and yanking her to the bar on a choke collar, it was up to her to decline. Gotta love the notion that her companionship led to some unwritten indentured frienditude contract that he still owes big on. (One person's friendship is another's mob extortion scheme.)

It's your fiance's job to be "reasoning" with his friend, not yours. (You're marrying the guy, not adopting him and trying to get him into a good preschool.) You excuse his passivity by describing him as a "laid-back, nonconfrontational kind of guy." Well, there's laid-back, and there's confusing onlookers as to whether you're a person or a paperweight.

The thing is, whether somebody gets to abuse you is usually up to you. In other words, your fiance needs to grow a pair (or at least crochet a pair and pop 'em in) and then get on the phone. Tell him that he needs to tell this woman -- calmly and firmly -- something like, "You know, lovey, I've got a fiancee now, and I can't be as available as I used to be." He needs to shut down the abusive text storm the same way, telling her, "Not acceptable. Cut it out," and then block her number if she keeps up the telephone thuggery.

Sure, it's uncomfortable standing up to a person who's been treating you badly -- an uncomfortable and necessary part of adult life. It's how you send the message "Nuh-uh...no more" instead of "Forever your tool." And here's a tip: You don't need to feel all cuddly and good about confronting somebody; you just need to do it, as opposed to cowering in fear as the Bing! Bing! Bings! of their texted multi-part tantrum come in on your phone. Start encouraging assertiveness in your fiance now, and keep letting him know how much you admire all the steps he takes. He could soon be a man who's got your back when there's trouble -- and not just in the corner of his eye as he curls up in a fetal position and whimpers, "Donnnn't hurrrrt meeee!"