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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Don't know what to make of this. Can someone help organise my thoughts/paranoia?

9 replies

WalletInspector · 11/04/2014 15:01

My youngest dc was just sitting at our breakfast bar fiddling with one of his toys when he threw something on the floor. I picked it up and it was a tablet which could only have come from DH's wallet which was left on the side. I have looked up the tablet online and it's Viagra. To start with I was furious that he had left something like that just lying around, even accidentally but now my brain is starting to tick over that he might be / was planning to use it with someone else.

We used Viagra once or twice in the early days of our relationship but it hasn't been a very regular thing. We are not having Viagra-type sex at the moment. Our sex life was always fantastic but has dwindled recently as we are both exhausted from work, dc etc. We still have sex and when we do it's still good, just not at the intensity it was before. Perhaps he was planning to use it with me and feels a bit embarrassed to say out of the blue, I don't know. But I've read too many of these threads and my brain is in overdrive.

We have been together almost six years, married last year with two dc. He doesn't need Viagra to my knowledge, he is almost 30 and very fit. He says his brother gave it to him to give to a colleague as they were recently joking about it and this older guy mentioned that he wanted to try it (presumably) with his wife. He then put it in his wallet and forgot about it. Very apologetic about leaving it in dc's way.

He works constantly. I mean seven days a week although lately he has been much better about not working late in the week. I often don't really know where he is or when he will be home but this is generally just because I haven't asked, he will always tell me when I do. He is on a job at weekends at the moment where he does not have a signal and I can't easily reach him. I know this is true because friends of ours live nearby and are similarly affected but now I'm wondering if situations like this this afford him the opportunity to cheat.

He has a bit of history but way back when we were first getting together and I wasn't 100% committed either before alarm bells ring (I suppose we weren't officially a couple yet) and then a few online messages shortly afterwards. This took quite a bit of getting over on my part because I was quite young and a bit of a drama queen some of the women he was messaging were in his social circle so I had a lot of interactions with them and felt humiliated when it all came out. He lied and lied about it but was contrite in the end and has worked really hard to make me trust him and I do. I thought.

Since then I have caught him out watching porn a few times (which I wouldn't have minded really if he hadn't previously told me it didn't interest him and he never watched it - why lie?!) but nothing else. He allows me full access to his phone, social accounts, everything (as do I him). I trust him about as fully as is possible to trust another person and he has been my rock through two babies, post natal anxiety, family problems, everything. He supports us all financially (I work but earn a lot less than him and pay a lot of childcare), he is supportive, kind, fun, good with the dc, everything I need. We still get on, we laugh, we love each other. I still take care of myself, I still get male attention, we are only in our twenties.

His reaction was firstly to laugh and tell me the story about his brother and then to tell me I was getting irate for nothing (I was very calm on the phone, not at all irate) and then to tell me he didn't want to talk about it as the whole thing was ridiculous. I'm possibly being ridiculous but his reaction seemed off and going on past history I don't think he would be honest about it if even if I had caught him out. Is any of his ringing alarm bells? Would anyone else be concerned?

OP posts:
QuiteSo · 11/04/2014 15:23

Sorry to be the voice of doom, but I found Cialis (similar to Viagra) among my husband's things and later it turned out he'd used them to shag OW but hadn't been able to get it up the first time.

QuiteSo · 11/04/2014 15:27

In other words, there's a 99.9% chance he's shagging someone else, but I remember in my situation I clung to the 0.01% chance that there was another explanation. Unfortunately there wasn't. So sorry for you if that's the case here.

WalletInspector · 11/04/2014 15:30

No, thanks for being honest. I know that the few times he got hold of it for our use in the past , he at least mentioned it. So would make sense that this was for someone else (like his pretty lame story) or isn't for me.

He has been working out a lot lately too. That's a sign isn't it. I've got a feeling this is going to turn into a massive cliche but I just feel like laughing at the moment. I don't know what to do. He's not going to admit it.

OP posts:
tribpot · 11/04/2014 15:31

His story doesn't sound remotely believable, and the fact he's trying to minimise and dismiss the incident suggests he knows it doesn't.

The weekend job in the no-signal area sounds suspicious to me. Just because there actually is an area of no signal doesn't mean he's in it, after all! Do you know the address? Could you manufacture a reason for your friends who live in the same area to go round with a message or something?

You've caught him out in lies on a number of occasions in the past. It seems likely that you have done so now as well. This certainly doesn't prove anything except he is a liar who can't change, but that in itself with the risk to your dc sounds unacceptable to me.

WalletInspector · 11/04/2014 15:35

He is doing work for someone I work with which is how I know that he is being honest about the phone signal and I know that at least that is where he is some of the time. Of course that doesn't stop him from turning his phone off and disappearing before or after work though and I would be none the wiser.

The story is rubbish isn't it! And when I first rang him he told me he was busy (he's a builder so often on roofs, scaffolds etc) and would call me back. Subconsciously I was thinking it was giving him a chance to come up with some kind of excuse.

I know his brother can get hold of things like this and he has actually picked some up for a friend of ours a long time ago but he told me all about that and was joking about it.this doesn't feel the same.

OP posts:
Jan45 · 11/04/2014 15:36

I would've believed his story, until I read more, he lies, has lied, I assume he's done some sort of cheating in the past, you can't get him on the mob, yeah bad signal but surely if you kept trying you would get an answer, he works a lot etc......it's not looking that great.

WalletInspector · 11/04/2014 15:38

No texts or phone calls this afternoon since either. I think if I was being accused of something I would be desperately trying to convince him of my innocence. He isn't doing that. It feels like he's avoiding me. How do I handle this?

OP posts:
tribpot · 11/04/2014 15:42

He may think bombarding you with texts would make him look more guilty, rather than less. I think he's using the stonewalling technique to make you doubt yourself and put yourself on the back foot before he gets home. Not responding is allowing you to stew and buying him time to get his story straight.

Equally he could simply feel you have overreacted and the incident is dealt with, but the fact he was telling you not to be irate when you weren't being irate smacks of trying to manipulate your reaction.

Lweji · 11/04/2014 15:56

Firstly, take your time. You don't have to decide anything now.
Also, you don't have to have evidence to finish a relationship. If you don't trust him, or you don't want to be with him, it's fine.

Then, think carefully about what you said about finances.
Presumably, the children are his. So, why are your wages spent on childcare and he supports you? It shouldn't matter who pays for what, particularly when children are involved.

Get legal and financial advice regarding what would happen if you separate, so that you don't find yourself paralysed and staying with a man you don't trust because you think you need him financially.

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