Dear Prudence,
For reasons I’ve never quite understood, my husband and my father seem to hate being around each other. They’re both incredibly polite, they engage in formulaic small talk, but the interactions are awkward, stilted, and uncomfortable. Individually, they’re the life of any party. Together, they suck all the oxygen out of the room. My parents are getting really old, so we’re spending more time with them and neither of them are happy about that. How do I navigate this? Ask my husband to stay away? Ask them to go to therapy together? Sit them down and tell them I expect more from them? They seem to be doing their best to get along but are both clearly gritting their teeth while doing so.
–Oil and Water