Creeped out by friend’s fiance

DEAR MISS MANNERS »

My close friend, Celeste, is a wonderful cook and hostess who frequently invites me, and mutual friends, over to her home for meals. While I love Celeste dearly, her fiance makes me incredibly uncomfortable. She has told me stories in which his behavior is emotionally abusive and controlling. I have also had interactions with him at group events that have left me feeling more than unsettled.

I have tried approaching dinner party and other invitations with “Is this a couples’ party or a girl’s night?” and similar lines to assess whether or not he will be joining. I have since learned that he keeps hidden cameras throughout the home, and watches them when he is not there. He also tracks her whereabouts.

I have determined that I will not accept any invitations at her home, and his tracking of her has prevented me from inviting her to my home, so we only meet at public places.

Celeste and I have already had a conversation about his abusiveness; however, I am wondering if there is proper etiquette for discussing my hesitation to accept invitations to her home.

I do not want to lose her as a friend, but I believe consistently declining invitations to her home, while accepting invitations to meet at restaurants and coffee shops, may be turning out to be more offensive. GENTLE READER » Being supportive of your friends does not, Miss Manners assures you, require you to relinquish your own privacy. “You know that I have concerns about your relationship, but as your friend, I will follow your lead. However, I will not be videotaped, or tracked in my own home. So while you are in this relationship, I will have to insist on the two of us meeting in public spaces.”

Your friend will have to make her own decision about the situation, but perhaps the insanity of it can be properly conveyed by seeing it from your perspective.