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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Woman from America staying at my boyfriends place

649 replies

Whenthepartysover · 17/08/2023 10:01

Me and my boyfriend have been together two years. I am 23 and he is 27. I am currently at uni in Leeds but I go to his at the weekends in Manchester.

He is a bit of an artsy type, he is a graphic designer and a freelance photographer. He writes poetry and has an Instagram account where he uploads all of his poems and short videos of spoken word. It's a bit of a community and he speaks to lots of people on the platform. He has been speaking to this woman now for a while. I didn't really have a problem with it because she lives in America and is married with 5 children. Plus I trust my boyfriend and try to be rational about things.

She told him she was taking a trip to the UK alone and he asked me if I would mind if she stayed with him so that she could save on accommodation and also have someone there who she knows and trusts. I said it was ok. I don't know why I said this.. I honestly felt ok about it at the time.

All the plans were made and he picked her up from the airport on a Sunday evening and I went back to uni. On Monday I was sat in my uni room alone studying and I text him to ask what he was up to. He said he had taken 'Claire' to the park and they were lay around on the grass. I immediately felt a rush of emotion imagining him strolling through the park with this woman. I couldn't control it I got very upset. I think it was because I was just sat there alone and he was with another woman. I trusted that he wouldn't do anything bad or disrespectful but I suddenly just felt very uncomfortable and like I was a bit of a mug. I tried not to tell him how I felt because what's done is done, she's here now. Nothing I can do. I just didn't realise that he would be out doing things with her. I thought he was just providing her a spare room to stay.

I did end up telling him how upset I was and he said "I did worry that this would happen". We ended up having an argument and I know that I am the one being unreasonable here. I said something was ok and then changed my mind once it happened. That's not his fault. I said I'd prefer it if he let her get on with things on her own. He was saying that it's unfair as she is in an unfamiliar country on her own and doesn't want to abandon her, and his mum agrees. Anyway she ended up staying in a hotel the next night.

It came to the weekend and I went to his. At this point she was in a hotel. I said I wanted to spend the weekend doing nice things together after our argument and just try to sort it out. I got to his to find an ovulation stick in his bathroom bin. Is it just me or is that weird? I don't know what is happening in her life. She may be struggling with conceiving and is being very strict with tracking. She already has 5 children though but that's none of my business. I just find it a bit rude to take an ovulation test and put it in the bin that's wide open. I would've wrapped it up and chucked it in the outside bin if I was in someone else's house. The bin doesn't have a lid. It's one of those bins you'd have in your bedroom but in the bathroom (he's a guy so never really had anything to put in it). I was a bit annoyed about it because I felt like she was taking the piss. But I tried to move past it and have a nice weekend. However he was just on his phone constantly replying to her texts while we were out. We had another argument and I have gone home to my mum's and we haven't spoken since.

I don't know where to go from here. I know this is my fault. But I really need some outside perspective on this. How would you feel? Do I even have a right to be upset? Do we just wait for her to go back home and then try and move past it or is it the end of the relationship? I'm trying to think logically and rationally without heightened feelings of jealousy in the way. But it's hard.

OP posts:
LizzieBananas · 17/08/2023 12:42

If she’s left for a hotel, did she even know you existed ?

PS, as a Mancunian(-ish), Americans come to the north west to see Beatles stuff in Liverpool, maybe Chatsworth (for Jane Austen) and possibly a “soccer” game… not your boyfriend’s bathroom.

Nagado · 17/08/2023 12:44

Those of use who are choosing to do the internship have come in a few weeks earlier as we are going through a bit of training. It's not full days and technically I can leave, but I really want the extra training and don't see why I should drop this to run back to him to sort it

Absolutely do not do this! Do not disadvantage yourself in your future career for some guitar playing, man bun wearing dick with a God complex! You’re not going to marry him. You will outgrow him even if this whole thing is entirely innocent. And you will be forever cross with yourself for giving up extra training to pander to him and his knob knot!

NeedToKnow101 · 17/08/2023 12:46

It's easy for me to say, but id dump him, he sounds like a bellend.

Whenthepartysover · 17/08/2023 12:47

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to respond to me. I feel quite emotional at the minute and I feel quite touched by some responses being so nice. I expected everyone to come for my throat for some reason 😂

OP posts:
Lentilweaver · 17/08/2023 12:48

Do not give up the internship. Find someone slightly more down to earth in Leeds who spends less time on the internet.

Godwindar · 17/08/2023 12:48

Just no on every level. Trust your gut. She's made a massive emotional connection with your boyfriend, she wants out of her marriage and she now come on holiday to visit him. If she was a very old friend and/or you knew her too, then maybe this would be fine. But this is odd. I've got a lifelong best friend and lots of long standing friendships (longer than your age!), I don't constantly text them or talk on the phone all night to them. I don't do this with new friends either. I'd also not spend weeks with any of them away from my main relationship. I have done it all the times I have met or wanted to be with a new partner.

sparkleshin · 17/08/2023 12:50

she could have visited anywhere but she visited manchester and the same place your boyfriend lives its clear this trip was to see him she didnt plan anything else did she? if you share a wifi router go through the wifi history better yet if you can get hold of his phone read all the messages well you know where you stand now

Lentilweaver · 17/08/2023 12:52

sparkleshin · 17/08/2023 12:50

she could have visited anywhere but she visited manchester and the same place your boyfriend lives its clear this trip was to see him she didnt plan anything else did she? if you share a wifi router go through the wifi history better yet if you can get hold of his phone read all the messages well you know where you stand now

No don't go through Wifi messages. Just move on.

emizay · 17/08/2023 12:52

Lmao. She came to visit Manchester? I'm from Manchester and I hate visiting. There is fuck all to do.

This has red flags written all over it.

End the relationship before he does it first.

ExD1938 · 17/08/2023 12:54

I'm assuming you don't use the spare room when you stay with your boyfriend, so why did she need to move to a hotel? I would hop on a train and surprise them. Are you at Uni in London - its an easy train journey.

StartupRepair · 17/08/2023 12:54

Will no one think of the 5 children?

dooneyousmugelf · 17/08/2023 12:54

She's not a mate, she's some woman he's met online and she's dropped her (5 supposed kids) life to come and stay with him. You don't need to wise up cos you already have deep down. Let go of the last bit of wishful thinking you have in believing this could possibly be innocent and then plan accordingly.

Nagado · 17/08/2023 12:54

Having a friend you text regularly who shares interests with you that your partner doesn't isn't having an "emotional affair" just because they are the same sex as you 😂 Completely agree. But what’s your point? Because regular texting is not at all what is happening here, is it? OP says they’ve been chatting every single day. This woman has a partner and five children and she’s on the internet chatting to some stranger about poetry every single day. She’s prioritising the OP’s boyfriend in her own life and the OP’s boyfriend is prioritising her above the OP.

the concept of an emotional affair is a stretch unless the partner is fully investing in the friendship and just not showing up to the relationship when their partner is emotionally available like spending limited time with your girlfriend texting your friend? That sort of thing?

PaminaMozart · 17/08/2023 12:59

It is a truth universality acknowledged that a long haired poet with a guitar must be in want of a weird American lover.

Reader - I left him! I made the most of my life as a student at the university of life....... and I never looked back....

EnjoythemoneyJane · 17/08/2023 13:07

Godwindar · 17/08/2023 12:48

Just no on every level. Trust your gut. She's made a massive emotional connection with your boyfriend, she wants out of her marriage and she now come on holiday to visit him. If she was a very old friend and/or you knew her too, then maybe this would be fine. But this is odd. I've got a lifelong best friend and lots of long standing friendships (longer than your age!), I don't constantly text them or talk on the phone all night to them. I don't do this with new friends either. I'd also not spend weeks with any of them away from my main relationship. I have done it all the times I have met or wanted to be with a new partner.

This. Sorry, OP, but he is for sure a man bun dick 😂. He’s trying to have his cake and eat it by pretending this is just platonic and suggesting you meet her etc; he may even be pretending to himself it’s all above board - and it’s true they not have has sex - but he knows fine well why she’s here. Why else would an unhappily married woman park her 5 kids and fly halfway across the world to stay with a bloke she’s met online? I’m pretty certain it’s not the bright lights of Manchester that she couldn’t resist!

And then when you said he’s stubborn and will never make a move to reconcile after an argument, it kind of begs the question why you’re going along with that shit? If he’d literally never call you again, (and I say this gently) he’s clearly not that bothered about you period. Probably time to quit the Prince of Poetry and move on to better things.

(But ffs don’t take up the suggestion of insisting on going through his phone or any of that mad psycho girlfriend bollocks - just exit gracefully with your dignity still intact.)

winelove · 17/08/2023 13:07

Personally I think she is planning no.6 with your BF. Probably without the knowledge/consent of your BF. You have messed her plans up.
You do not use an ovulation stick for contraception. You use condoms.

ZorbaTheHoarder · 17/08/2023 13:11

Hi OP,
I think that the basic problem is that he is not treating you with any respect at all.
How did he even become "friends" with her on Insta?
The only realistic scenario is that she has flown over to be with him - otherwise she would have been out and about on her own, seeing the sights.
You deserve better, so please dump him!
Good luck!

Woman from America staying at my boyfriends place
Winnipeggy · 17/08/2023 13:13

I know it's probably not want you want to hear but if I found an ovulation test in this situation I would assume that she had either had sex or was planning to and wanted to check her status. Why would you need to check ovulation if sex wasn't on the table? I don't know, maybe she does have another reason for needing to know, is there any way of you finding out? It's a really tricky one but if he makes you feel insecure then I'd say long term it's definitely not worth it.

Zonder · 17/08/2023 13:14

Winnipeggy · 17/08/2023 13:13

I know it's probably not want you want to hear but if I found an ovulation test in this situation I would assume that she had either had sex or was planning to and wanted to check her status. Why would you need to check ovulation if sex wasn't on the table? I don't know, maybe she does have another reason for needing to know, is there any way of you finding out? It's a really tricky one but if he makes you feel insecure then I'd say long term it's definitely not worth it.

This.

ThanksItHasPockets · 17/08/2023 13:17

You have repeatedly said that you trust him and this, I think, is the problem. You want to be someone who is totally cool with this whole weird situation but you are not, and there is nothing wrong with that.

You don’t trust him, and why would you? His behaviour is not trustworthy. He is involved in an emotional infatuation at the very least with a woman who has a seriously messy personal life and few boundaries. Your job is to get to the point where you can admit to yourself that you do not trust either of them because you deserve better than someone who has their head turned by a bit of praise for his pound-shop poetry.

Once you resolve the cognitive dissonance of how you think you should feel and how you actually feel I suspect you will find clarity on how to proceed. Good luck Flowers

CandyLeBonBon · 17/08/2023 13:18

PaminaMozart · 17/08/2023 11:40

A sensitive poet with a guitar and a man bun hooks up with a kooky American who has Manchester as top of her bucket list?

There's a film script in there somewhere...

Hah! I was going to say the same!

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 17/08/2023 13:18

Definitely very fishy and bin him off! You just wouldn’t leave 5 kids to holiday here.

When I was younger I had a good looking Canadian army boyfriend who was on leave in London. You wouldn’t believe how many British women were interested in him from the Canadian side (accent, lifestyle etc) so I can see the appeal from your BF and her friend’s side. Same with an American guy from Georgia (USA) working in London, he had a girlfriend here but was flirty and yes lots of British (and other nationalities!) women went crazy for his accent.

Adding something else into the mix. My Canadian ex a few years later early retired met a woman with 2 kids in her late 30s. Apparently (so he say) she was looking for a father for her next baby, told him she was on the pill but wasn’t, she got pregnant. He now has a daughter with her but they’re not together, share custody and he pays correct maintenance.

applesandmares · 17/08/2023 13:19

winelove · 17/08/2023 13:07

Personally I think she is planning no.6 with your BF. Probably without the knowledge/consent of your BF. You have messed her plans up.
You do not use an ovulation stick for contraception. You use condoms.

Plenty of people track their cycles as a way of avoiding pregnancy 🤔

Mumof4plusbonus · 17/08/2023 13:22

I would jump on that train if you are done for the day. As long as it won’t affect your internship. Wouldn’t mess up it for him. But if it doesn’t affect it then for my own peace of mind I would be going to confirm my gut feelings.

Otterock · 17/08/2023 13:23

Do you think she deliberately left it there for you to find? I can’t think of a reason she’d be tracking her cycle whilst away from her (supposed) husband unless she’s trying to plan or avoid pregnancy or leaving it for you to find so you potentially break up?

also leaving her husband and 5 kids to visit a stranger from the internet on the other side of the Atlantic doesn’t really add up. She’s obviously come to see him in particular. What her intentions

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