Dear Prudence,
I own a three-bedroom townhouse. One of the bedrooms is my dedicated office. My boyfriend of two years moved in six months ago. We are talking about marriage but taking it slow for his five-year-old son. He has a room here. He splits custody evenly with his ex. She has two older daughters as well.
Her rent has been raised so high she can’t afford her apartment anymore. She is making plans to move out of state to her parents’ place. My boyfriend has equal custody of his son and could take on full custody, but doesn’t want to separate his son from his mother and sisters.
His idea is the entire family moves in temporarily with us and I give up my office, or he moves in with his ex to help out financially. Both of those solutions will kill our relationship.
My boyfriend is begging me not to make him choose between his son and me. I am not trying to. I am fine with his son moving in with us full time, but I can’t deal with his solutions. My heart is breaking here. Please help.
— Deal Breaker