Dear Prudence,
I rent. My girlfriend of three years owns her place. We were planning on moving in together in December, when her older brother unexpectedly had to move to the Midwest. Her 16- and 13-year-old nieces didn’t want to leave their schools in the middle of the semester, so they moved in with my girlfriend. This was supposed to be a temporary solution. Only now, the pair of them are throwing a fit about not being able to finish high school here with their friends. It is only a two-bedroom place. I am extremely uncomfortable about how the girls act around me. They are extremely rude and walk all over their aunt (they don’t do chores and feel free to make messes that she cleans up). I have caught the oldest sneaking out beer and she threatened to call the cops on me for being a “pervert.”
She later apologized and claimed it was just a “joke,” but there have been similar incidents.
Their father thinks it is just fine to pawn off parenting for the next four or more years on my girlfriend. Our relationship has ground to a halt, and I am tired of it. It isn’t like this is a real family crisis. The girls just don’t want to move! My lease is up in July. I don’t want to make an ultimatum, but we went from discussing our future together to … nothing. What should I say? My girlfriend says that she is being pulled in too many directions.
—End of July