Will her married boyfriend leave his wife? (Then cheat again?)

Carolyn Hax is away. The following first appeared Nov. 12, 2008, and Feb. 11, 2009.

Dear Carolyn: My boyfriend is married. You can’t imagine the scolding I’ve endured from my close friends over this. Some of it is beginning to sink in, and I’m doubting whether he will ever end his marriage for me. In your opinion, if I am deeply in love with this man, is it worth the wait? In other words, do you believe the philosophy that he will cheat on me, too, because he’s cheating on her? – Philadelphia

Philadelphia: Those are two separate questions: Should you wait, and, if he ever becomes eligible, should you trust him?

The first is the easiest call you’ll ever have to make: No. You don’t “wait.” You move on with your life. For one thing, you don’t want him to end his marriage “for me.” You want him to end it only if, and only when, it’s the right outcome for that marriage. Being the reason a marriage ends might look purty in a novel, but in real life it means you took someone else’s candy just because you wanted it. Not exactly epitaph material. And no, “the marriage was already in trouble” doesn’t count, not if you’re there to help it collapse.

Meanwhile, when you “wait,” you fall for another bit of fiction. Continuing to see him is not the only way to keep him, stay in love or whatever else you hope to accomplish. In this case, the reverse is true: If you love him and love yourself, then you will walk away. No calls, texts – nothing. That’s because a love worth your attention not only will survive the wait for better circumstances but also deserves better circumstances. If it isn’t and doesn’t, it won’t. Of course, decisions can be easy to make and hell to execute.

However, whenever your resolve weakens, remind yourself that your show of strength will help answer the trickier question (assuming he becomes available and you still want him): Should you trust him?

Why people cheat and whether they’ll cheat again are case-by-case questions. Right now, by being available to him on the side, you’re enabling the worst case: that he feels entitled to something on the side. If you’re available to him only when he’s available to you, then you starve the worst case of its oxygen, at least for now. Choose best case or nothing at all.

Dear Carolyn: I check my husband’s email without his knowing it, and I don’t know why I do it. I’m not suspicious of anything; I guess I’m just curious. What do you think this means? – Snooper

Snooper: It means either you care more about your curiosity than you do your husband’s privacy (or your integrity, for that matter) – or you’re lying to yourself about the depth of your insecurity. Stop looking. Have some decency. If you can’t stop or just don’t, then please take a hard look at what’s going on – including your own motives, your own possibly guilty conscience, any history of compulsive behavior and any behavior on your husband’s part that would justify spousal suspicion. Not that justified suspicion would justify snooping; it wouldn’t. However, if it turns out you do have grounds to question his behavior, then facing that would allow you to deal with the problem in a more honest and transparent way.