Dear Eric: I was very friendly with a neighbor and asked if she and her husband would like to go out to dinner with us. She seemed enthusiastic and we set a date. Then she said they would be out of town, could we change the date. We did. The day before, she texted that she was too sick to go. I just responded “Sorry.”

Haven’t heard anything else. My question is: Should I contact her? My husband says I am being “mean.” Advise.

– Dinner Date

Dear Dinner: Mean? I’m not so sure. The “Sorry” may have come across as abrupt or churlish. And maybe you meant it that way. But it’s hard to read tone over text. You could have also simply been confirming the cancellation. I’d think it would be on your neighbor to reach out about rescheduling once she was feeling better.

However, if you’d still like to cultivate this relationship – and since you described it as “very friendly,” I suspect you might – I’d reach out again. Perhaps by telling her that you hope she’s feeling better, and you’d like to set another date, if she’s open to it. This gives her an out to decline if she is not interested, for whatever reason. If she cancels again, however, I’d leave it be.

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Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at [email protected] or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.