Catfishing expedition doesn’t hold water

DEAR AMY » I learned that my boyfriend might have cheated on me.

The story he told me was that a friend of his saw a female on a dating site.

The friend wanted to get revenge on this ex, so he used my boyfriend’s old profile from the dating site to catfish her.

However, from everything I saw, it seems like my boyfriend was not the middleman, but the primary person.

All the messages between the two were from my boyfriend, and the messages from him sounded just like him, not like his friend.

My boyfriend and I got into an argument, and he left the house.

At the same time he was arguing with me, he was texting the girl, wanting to see her.

He went to her house that night and when he came home, he was acting differently.

I was in the dark about all of this at the time, but later I spoke with the female involved and she told me that she and my boyfriend had in fact slept together.

He has adamantly denied this, saying that he only went to her house as a bet from his friend, the one who was using his profile on the dating app.

I’m trying to move forward from this situation, but I feel like the answers I was given weren’t good, and I don’t know if I believe my boyfriend.

I need a second opinion: How does this situation sound to you?

Do you think he cheated?

Should I put this behind me, move on, and accept his explanation?

— Wondering and Worried

DEAR WONDERING » Rome’s Bocca della Verità, or “Mouth of Truth,” is an ancient marble mask, which according to the popular mediaeval legend will bite the hand off of anybody who has told a lie.

The idea is that you place your hand inside the mouth of this large sculptured mask, and then let the magic of the Bocca della Verita be your lie detector.

Let me put it this way: If your guy had placed his hand inside the “Mouth of Truth” while spinning his entertaining tale (about his friend using his account to catfish a woman), he would be left holding a bloody stump.

So yes, put this behind you. You also might want to put him behind you.

DEAR AMY » While I was browsing Facebook the other day, I came across photos my niece “Sandy” had posted of her enjoying her baby shower “with friends and family.”

I was completely stunned, as she never informed me about the event, even though I thought we had a good relationship.

Her dad (my younger brother) passed away 11 months ago, and now it seems that she feels that I am no longer family.

She is an adult, and of course can choose who she wants to include in her life.

Should I bother to try and keep this relationship? — Sad Auntie

DEAR SAD » You are having a somewhat nuclear reaction to this slight.

Yes, you should try and keep — and grow — this relationship.