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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Trying to move on from boyfriend ‘cheating’ while working

39 replies

ThisNewCyanBiscuit · 27/12/2025 23:17

My boyfriend and I have been together for 1.5 years. We live together, I thought we have both been happy this time. He’s always treated me amazingly and has always been lovely to me.

He is a builder and roofer and very good at his job. He has work booked up 6 months in advance from word of mouth is always very busy and works long hours.

I realised in September he was spending more time on his phone in the evenings and when I questioned it he got angry and tried to turn it round on me saying maybe I was speaking to someone else and that’s why I was questioning him, I hadn’t even thought he was cheating until he said that I just thought he was spending a lot of time on his phone. Wrongly I looked at his phone while he was in the shower and he had been messaging another woman, very flirty, very sexual stuff and very overly friendly. The woman was someone he had been doing work for on her house (she has a boyfriend!)

When I asked him he denied it at first but then said yes he had been messaging her a lot and they chat a lot when he’s working there (the boyfriend has been at work) but he absolutely promised me nothing had happened just flirty banter. After a week he then admitted he had actually kissed her too but nothing else, he swore on his kids lives (from previous relationship) nothing else happened. As far as I’m aware that’s it and he promises me that’s all that happened a kiss.

He told me he loves me, it was a stupid mistake, and he wants to be with me and he has told the woman he has a girlfriend he is happy with and nothing can happen with her (he showed me the messages saying this to her)

Im trying to get past this but I’m really struggling. It hits me like a tonne of bricks at some points. I can be out shopping and then just start crying 🙈 I’m not sure I’ve fully processed it all. I want to trust him but everything now feels different. I don’t want to chuck away what we have but maybe I’m holding on to what I thought we were rather than what it actually has been. I never ever wanted or looked at anyone else while we’ve been together. It saddens me I wasn’t enough.

He hasn’t finished the job there at her house, it was a big job and he had to wait for a delivery. So in January he is going back to finish this job there for her. It’s on my mind at all times….what if something happens with her while he’s there. I’ve spoken to him about it but he told me I really don’t have anything to worry about and to trust him. I am so anxious about it. I actually don’t know what to do. Would I be unreasonable to tell him not to finish the job? He hires other people that could finish it but he says because he started it he wants to finish it and see it through, he is a perfectionist which is why he’s so good at his job but Im uncomfortable with this!

OP posts:
Highlighta · 28/12/2025 06:14

You don't truly know someone until about 18 months in OP.
And that is because that is roughly how long someone can mask their behaviour. Act how they think you want them to act. Then things start to slip.

I think you should seriously consider ending this relationship. You are meant to be in the honeymoon phase, not this. It was good while it lasted, but now it's time to move on. You do not have to live like this. Can you really ever trust him again?

And for going forward. Please do not consider moving in with someone who have you have just met. Things do not always work out and then you have the added stress of having to change living arrangements. Can you see how it's easier to just sweep things under the rug, as it's easier to turn a blind eye than deal with things head on and have to move.

Witchyvibes · 28/12/2025 06:22

He’s telling you to trust him, but he’s showing you that you can’t. Run now, you’re worth so much more.

B1anche · 28/12/2025 06:35

You will never be able to trust him again. Is that the life you want? Always wondering whose house he is working at and if he will shag them?

Clearly they didnt 'just' kiss. He also lied to you when you first questioned him and turned it round to accuse you of messaging another man!

Raise your bar and get rid of him. You can do a lot better for yourself.

nopiesleftinthisvehicle · 28/12/2025 06:46

He would have lost me at the gaslighting.
Sure his ex would be impressed at his swearing on her children's lives.
Why did they break up by the way? Does he say she was jealous and suspicious by any chance?

HelmholtzWatson · 28/12/2025 07:04

JHound · 27/12/2025 23:38

So you think the average man is a cheater?

The vast majority of men and women do not cheat, so the average man or woman is not a cheater.

On average, men are more likely to cheat, but there is not a big difference and among young people women are almost as likely as men to cheat.

Who Cheats More?

MaryBeardsShoes · 28/12/2025 07:07

PashaMinaMio · 27/12/2025 23:20

Dont waste too too much of your life with him.
Theres not many men who will turn down a sh@g if they get the opportunity.

Stupid comment. There are plenty of men out there who are faithful. But you should bin him off. This is 18 months in! Imagine how he’ll behave at 18 years.

YodasHairyButt · 28/12/2025 07:07

A cheat will only ever admit to the bare minimum that they think they can get away with and will drip feed a tiny bit more each time they are pressed. You have not been told the truth. This man is a liar and a cheat and he will keep doing this to you every opportunity he gets. You are worth more than that.

MaryBeardsShoes · 28/12/2025 07:11

Oh, hang on, I missed that he swears on his kids life. What a prince! You know that means jack shit right? It’s the sort of rubbish brain dead idiots say.

Pricelessadvice · 28/12/2025 07:12

Have some self respect. 1.5 years in and he’s already behaving this way?
Plus, anyone who “swears on their kids lives” is an immature waste of oxygen.

Don’t be one of those pathetic women who stays with a complete arsehole because they “promise it won’t happen again”.

nomas · 28/12/2025 07:14

Once a cheater, always a cheater

He is abusive too, by making you out to be the cheater when confronted.

Dump him before you do something like having kids with him.

OnlyMabelInTheBuilding · 28/12/2025 07:15

Liar, cheater, kids from a previous relationship.

As MN says, chuck this one back.

JHound · 28/12/2025 12:14

HelmholtzWatson · 28/12/2025 07:04

The vast majority of men and women do not cheat, so the average man or woman is not a cheater.

On average, men are more likely to cheat, but there is not a big difference and among young people women are almost as likely as men to cheat.

Who Cheats More?

You tagged the wrong PP.

Iaeve · 28/12/2025 12:22

Who you thought he was - was a lie. Unless you want to be cheated on again and again and never have peace of mind then leave him. I was in a similar situation and stayed and it destroyed me. Wish I’d left at the first ‘incident’. He’s disgusting.

Theslummymummy · 28/12/2025 12:46

It wasn't just a kiss. Don't be so naive .

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