DR. WALLACE: I'm 18 and dating a guy 20 who lives alone with his widowed mother. To my face, this woman is very sweet, but behind my back she says things that make me think she despises me. Much of the stuff comes back to me because she is a good friend of my best friend's mom. What can I do to get her to keep her big mouth shut about me? —Nameless, Gary, Ind.

NAMELESS: Stop dating her son! P.S.: Is there a good reason why she despises you?

DON'T DATE FRIEND'S OLD BOYFRIEND

DR. WALLACE: I'm a regular reader of your column and I've noticed that several times girls have written to you about dating an ex-boyfriend of their best friend. You always advise against it and I must say it's the right answer.

When I was 19, Cindy and I had been very close friends for over nine years. We suffered through each other's worst moments together — our problems at home and at school, and also a serious auto accident. We were each other's closest confidant and helped each other many times.

That is, until the boy Cindy had dated for over two years dumped her. After dating another girl for a while he asked me out. When I told Cindy I was going to go out with him, she cried and then quit speaking to me. Then after I went out with him a couple of times I realized I had made a big mistake and dumped this guy.

It's now over ten years later, and I'm married to a wonderful man and we have a beautiful daughter and a very happy marriage. But I still think about Cindy often and miss her and the great friendship we once shared.

I should have known how Cindy would react to the situation. In the play "The Mourning Bride," by English playwright, William Congrieve, he wrote, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." He sure knew what he was writing about! — Sarah, Reno, Nev.

SARAH: Thanks for writing about your sad, but unfortunate, experience of dating a best friend's former boyfriend. It will inspire any young lady with the same temptation to say, "No thanks" to a best friend's former boyfriend's invitation to go out with him.

MY MOM IS CHANGING CHURCHES, BUT I PREFER THE OLD ONE

DR. WALLACE: I'm 14 and my parents were recently divorced. Our family had always attended the local Baptist Church together, but after the divorce things changed. My mother was raised a Catholic and she decided to return to the Catholic Church and she wants me to go with her. I would rather continue going to the Baptist Church because I was baptized in the church and I know everybody there.

I don't want to go to my mother's church. Please give me your advice. — Nameless, Cumberland, Md.

NAMELESS: This is a very delicate situation. I can understand why your mother would want to acquaint you with her own religious tradition, but I can also see why you would resist.

Perhaps the best way to resolve the matter, for now, is to have your Baptist minister and the Catholic priest talk with mother and you together to reach an agreeable decision. Whatever it might be, honor it.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.