Advice | Carolyn Hax: Friends say to break other plans to avoid offending new man

Carolyn Hax is away. The following first appeared Feb. 14 and Feb. 7, 2010, and has been lightly edited.

Dear Carolyn: I’ve had two dates with a great guy who has expressed to me and to mutual friends that he is very interested in me. On Wednesday, after a dinner date, he asked me to do something this weekend. I said I’d love to, and mentioned I had a friend’s birthday dinner, organized by her husband, on Saturday night. He said he’d call me.