DEAR ABBY: I have a 59-year-old brother-in-law who has always been a "proud bachelor." He isn't a rich, handsome, George Clooney-type bachelor, but a hand-to-mouth, burping, uncouth "Shallow Hal" kind of bachelor. He befriended a woman with four daughters, paying most of his attention to one of the daughters. He would take the woman and her girls to dinner, and take the daughters shopping without the mother.
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Fast forward eight years. He wants to take the one daughter on a trip to Hawaii. And he has been telling everyone she is now 18 (the girl is still in high school). Should I say something to him, or mind my own business? He will likely hang up on me. I don't know the daughters or their mom well. Am I wrong to hear some alarm bells going off? -- WARY IN WASHINGTON
DEAR WARY: No, you are not wrong. The statement that the girl is "now 18" is a red flag for me, too. Rather than talk to your brother-in-law, inform the mother that he may be "grooming" her daughter for something more than an innocent tour of the islands. She should have noticed something was amiss eight years ago, when one daughter was singled out for special treatment, and put a stop to it then.