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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Husband and our (f) best friend on holiday

1000 replies

OfMyDog · 06/08/2023 14:10

Sanity check please. Just back from 10 days in Santorini where it was me, DH our DS and also my best friend and her DS of same age. She is on a lower income so we offered for her and her son to join us and we paid for everything. She’s married too but she and her husband aren’t close so he stayed home, so just took her and her son.

She’s mainly my best friend and we’re super close and I trust her implicitly, but my husband also counts her as his best friend. They used to work together years ago. At home they go out alone together all the time, play sport together, meet for coffee and if one is WFH, they meet up at our house or hers for lunch without me. Our sons are in same class at school and it’s all one merged family. Her husband doesn’t seem to care what she does.

In the first week of the holiday they were spending loads of time together and I felt a bit like a spare part sometimes, he chats to her more than me, they joke together, they went to watch the sunset together on the beach alone etc. If we go somewhere, he sits in the middle of us with one of us either side but then he talks to her and ignores me, and if I bring this up he just makes out that it’s his right and that I’m boring him by even mentioning it.

I love her to bits and believe she is fully on my side, but I hate seeing him laughing and joking with her. I trust her and I’ve no physical evidence to doubt that he is doing anything, though he’s alwsys on his phone late at night :/ My family says that I’m being too trusting and that it’s not right. When I’ve tried speaking to him about it and how I feel, he shuts it down and says I’m being ridiculous and turns it into an argument about how it’s my fault and I’m being silly.

One thing that really stood out was a night on holiday where both our DS had fallen asleep in ‘our’ hotel room, so I stayed with them, and DH who’d been texting her all eve went to her hotel room and was gone for ages. When I went over and knocked, they were just sat on sofa and she was in her PJs, I have no reason to think anything happened then or any other time, but maybe I’m also being naiive!?!?

I don’t know what I’m asking other than AINBU to think that they’re just friends and it’s fine? I trust her, and I’ve never seen any evidence of him cheating. It’s just a bit uncomfortable with it sometimes and any of my other friends who hear about it think im a mug. I also hate how he just shuts me down and says I’m being too clingy for even mentioning it. Now we’re back in the UK they’re literally finding every opportunity to go for walks together and again I feel like the spare part, argh!

Please tell me I’m not being ridiculous!

xx

OP posts:
frazzledasarock · 06/08/2023 14:43

they watched the sunset together on the beach?

they were sat in her hotel room chatting whilst she’s in her pj’s and you’re babysitting?

I take it your H would be thrilled if you were doing this with an attractive close male friend?

neither of these people are on your side. The behaviour is wildly inappropriate.

AllOfThemWitches · 06/08/2023 14:44

I'd bring this out into the open as well. Tell him you want space and tell them both exactly why.

SandraFromTheCornerShop · 06/08/2023 14:44

Stop being such a doormat op!

Boatshoes · 06/08/2023 14:44

Not a snowball’s chance in hell I would be happy with that. Why does her husband not care what she does? I would speak to your husband and tell him how much their close friendship is bothering you. I would be so upset if my DH favoured his best female friend over me. If it’s not a physical affair then it most certainly is an emotional affair at the very least.

Bromptotoo · 06/08/2023 14:44

As in a couple of previous threads I'm pretty easy over close friends of the opposite sex but I think a line or several have been crossed here.

Watching sunset is a bit iffy but in her room and her in PJs?

I suppose they could regard each other as like siblings but even so....

MrsRachelDanvers · 06/08/2023 14:44

You’re absolutely not being ridiculous. I couldn’t imagine my friends doing something like this with my husband-nor I with theirs. You just have an automatic boundary which they seem to have crossed. They may not be having a physical affair but they’re certainly disrespecting you and I wouldn’t consider her much of a friend to be honest. And your husband dismissing you and telling you you’re silly-he should be listening to you and wanting to put things right by putting in a bit of distance. I’d be quite upset by this and wondering what sort of marriage did I have if my husband was so dismissive of me and my feelings.

BranchGold · 06/08/2023 14:44

Sort out the finances. Get copies of pay slips, important documents etc.

send your son to your family for the day.

Ask him to see his phone/messages. Be clear that this is a requirement for the marriage to continue. He’ll probably refuse and call you crazy. That’s your answer.

Ask for a divorce.

Redshoeblueshoe · 06/08/2023 14:44

She is not your friend

JarOfRocks · 06/08/2023 14:44

So you've spoken to her about it, yet she still went on sunset walks with your husband and let you babysit her son while they got comfy on the sofa in a different room ??? Yeah, she's not your friend.

AntiSocial6DaysAWeek · 06/08/2023 14:44

Oh my goodness, I know you are sticking up for her but she was happy for you to watch the children, on a holiday you paid for, while she sat with your husband?? And watch the sunrise together??

Just no. They are both as bad as each other and no matter if anything physical is going on, your husband doesn't care about your feelings. Neither does your 'friend'.

You deserve better @OfMyDog

gabsdot45 · 06/08/2023 14:45

It is possible for men and women to be friends. My husband's best friend is a women.
But, His primary relationship is with you and if you are not happy with the situation then he must change things. Talk to him and tell him how you feel. It may be totally innocent but you have to be able to totally trust him.

gamerchick · 06/08/2023 14:45

They're both taking the piss OP. I'd be having the harsh words with them me.

Right under your nose.

Mumof4plusbonus · 06/08/2023 14:45

OfMyDog · 06/08/2023 14:35

Thanks all. The comments match what my family and colleagues say.

Who‘s idea to take her - it came out of a conversation, it was joint, maybe more his but it seemed a great idea. The good bits of the holiday were fab and our boys get on etc.

Have I spoken to her about how I feel - yes. She is always respectful to me but I don’t think she gets how much he hurts me. It’s more his behaviour. He’s the prick. I still believe that there isn’t anything physical between them, but i take all the points on the emotional side and agree.

He’s not doing it on his own. She’s not respectful to you. If my friend spoke to me and said she was uncomfortable I would step right back and make a double effort to be respectful and considerate of her feelings even if I knew my feelings/actions were innocent. I certainly wouldn’t go watch a sunset and have her husband in my room while she babysat my child.

tolerable · 06/08/2023 14:46

yup- what everyone else said. They are both a pair of horrors.

Dinojump · 06/08/2023 14:46

All I see here is "I trust her," "she wouldn't do anything," etc etc.

You clearly don't trust HIM though. But at the end of the day, she is as bad as him.

They are playing you off. Get rid of both of them

mangochops · 06/08/2023 14:46

whitebreadjamsandwich · 06/08/2023 14:18

He's having an affair with her in plain sight. He's gaslighting you when you bring it up. Sorry OP, but he's checked out of your marriage, and your friend is no friend

THIS. WTAF- they want to watch the sunset together ALONE? are you serious?- they're having a an affair, it couldnt be more obvious.

Remembermynamealways · 06/08/2023 14:47

They must think it’s hilarious, how incredibly easy you have made things for them. They can even holiday together!!

Oohmissus · 06/08/2023 14:48

WTAF?

Just no to this "friendship".

Xrays · 06/08/2023 14:48

Wow. 😳😳 They are cheeky fuckers. Really, really inappropriate of them both. She is not your friend and you need to completely cut ties with her. Move if necessary.

Madamecastafiore · 06/08/2023 14:49

She's not your friend.

None of my friends would behave like this, over stepping relationship boundaries in the way they obviously are.

He's gaslighting you and you need to really start standing up for yourself.

imactuallyfine · 06/08/2023 14:49

I stopped reading at him brushing off your concerns.

That's not on. He doesn't care if he upsets you.

PimpMyFridge · 06/08/2023 14:49

You've been usurped as his primary female relationship.
This is not ok and she should not be stepping into that position of she's your friend.
He's negating your reasonable discomfort about it.
So whether they've done anything physical or not, she's his priority not you.
He probably likes the ego trip of having one on each side. Having her attention and you don't the wife work is a nice little set up for him.
If they respected you they would not push you to the back of the attention queue like this. They are prioritising them as a pair.

MillWood85 · 06/08/2023 14:50

At best, it's an emotional affair.

They're both taking you for a fool. Sharing a sunset is a very romantic thing to do, and he wasn't doing it with you. I'm sorry but you need to set them both free here.

user1471556818 · 06/08/2023 14:50

Sorry she's not your friend and I suspect your husband is either having an affair or trying to have an affair. So disrespectful

XelaM · 06/08/2023 14:50

I have many friends (mainly through work) who are married men and we get on well and go for drinks together, but what you are describing is an affair! None of this behaviour is normal

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