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Relationships

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

DH not having an affair - for now

117 replies

LaChatte · 06/07/2015 17:45

So as not to drip feed or leave vital info until the end:

DH and I have been together 11 years, married 7, 2DCs.
I cheated on him 2 years ago with a colleague, we kissed a few times, I realised how stupid I was being, and put an end to it. DH found out a couple of months later, we worked through it, I have barely spoken to collegue since (we teach the same classes so there has been some communication, but alway in public and restricted to purely professional topics), and have avoided him like the plague.
DH and I talk a lot, including sharing our fantasies with each other.

Here is the current predicament:

DH and I are both teachers in the same school. We get on really well together, he's my best friend as well as being my husband.

This year, he's been working on a project with another teacher, so they've been spending a fair amount of time together. Frequently texting and emailing each other as well as working together at school. I have tried not be jealous, but walking into the staff room to find them huddled together giggling has been difficult for me.

I've told him I don't really want him to develop their friendship but he has told me not to worry and that she's not into him at all as she's offered to babysit for us and often says to say hi to me.

I know he finds her physically very attractive, most men who've met her do, she is always quite provocative in her way of doing things - think stripper heels, side-boobs under dungarees etc. and she's always leaning over something with her back arched and bum out (other colleagues joke about it in the staff room).

Recently a couple of colleagues have lightheartedly made comments about how much time they spend together and how close they are. I told DH and said I really really don't want him to spend time alone with her or to persue the friendship.

On Thursday evening there was an end of year do at work, I was feeling pretty awful after a long day, so didn't feel like socialising, and I ended up hiding out inside while everyone else was outside eating and drinking. DH came to find me at one point to see what I was up to, he saw that I wasn't feeling well and said we should have brought two cars, and then returned to the party. I was pretty pissed off, and decided to walk home after leaving him a note. He got home at about 21h30 as 5yoDD (who was at the party) was tired. He said he would have liked to have stayed longer and that I should have said I was leaving so he could bring DD and me home then. I was still pissed off, and said he should go back to the party as I wasn't going to be great company, so he did. He crept in at 1am (school parties generally end at 22h30/23h.

The next morning I asked how come he came home so late, so he told me some colleagues went back to one of their's "for coffee" which ended up becoming coffee and lots of booze. DH had gone to the after party in someone else's car, so couldn't leave earlier than when that driver was ready. Fair enough. He didn't drink, but said that everyone else got pretty wasted (not the person driving him though).

I then asked who was at the after party, he reeled off a couple of names, and then of course I'm sure you've guessed it, the colleague. I was annoyed, as she was there, on her own, with him on his own. She has a reputation for being outrageously flirty when she's drunk, but DH said he had never noticed. Anyway, I tried to move on and be mature about it.

Later on that day, back in the staff room, she walks in, sees DH but not me, and says "so, you see. I talk too much, even at night don't I?" Flirty giggling followed by "I hope I didn't get you into too much trouble". DH replied very quietly "you did" while furiously making gestures for her to be quiet as I was just the other side of the cupboard.

He came over to me saying it wasn't what I thought it was, so I asked what was I supposed to think, he just said that she had car pooled with him and the colleague driving to the after party, and that when they got back to the school car park, the driver dropped them off and left. He said they stayed and chatted just the two of them for a while in a dark secluded car park (he was incapable of telling me for how long).

He swears nothing has or ever will happen. I have said he either cuts contact with her or ... He is now sad because he thinks she's really nice and just wants to make friends, but he admits that the only way she seems to know how to do that is by seducing people. He doesn't want to hurt her, and thinks she won't know why he won't be his usual self around her, which he feels bad about.

It's the summer holidays here now, so I don't have to worry much until September, I have asked him to tell me if she gets in touch with him, which he's agreed to, but he's suddenly got quite cagey with his mobile which is very unusual. I don't know what to do, maybe I'm totally overreacting, he thinks I am.

Part of me thinks it's karma, and I totally deserve it (well, I probably do), but I don't want DH to have an affair to balance things out! What really annoys me is that he gets on so well with her as well as wanting to fuck her.

I need to get a grip and move on don't I? I am bloody lucky he was willing to give our relationship a chance after I fucked up.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 06/07/2015 20:07

why are we even talking about strippers, slappers and sideboobs ?

the issue here is your husband's behaviour

have a word with yourself

Hissy · 06/07/2015 20:08

I can't see why you think you have a right to dictate a thing as far as fidelity goes?

You didn't even come clean to your h. He found out.

Think very carefully about your relationship, what you did to wreck it and understand what consequences of your choices could look like.

Why shouldn't he have a few snogs here and there? It was ok for you...

Ok, ok so 2 wrongs don't make a right, but you do need to have a really open and frank conversation with your h.

Hissy · 06/07/2015 20:08

And by that I mean for you to again be contrite and honest about what you did to him.

Hissy · 06/07/2015 20:12

That said... He needs to understand that she is no friend to your marriage.

Just as your om wasnt.

There is a god book. Shirley glass wrote it I think, Not Just Friends, this helps people understand the dynamic of infidelity and how to repair relationships.

Hissy · 06/07/2015 20:12

Good, not God. Smile

WhoNickedMyName · 06/07/2015 20:13

fucking hell, what kind of school is this?

you cheated with a colleague and now your husband is on the verge of cheating with a colleague, who has previously cheated with another married colleague.

the headteacher needs to sack the lot of you and start again.

and you and your DH need to grow up spend the holidays working out why you actually bother being together.

Fearless91 · 06/07/2015 20:14

Personally I would be pretty pissed off! I don't think you're being unreasonable.

I'm not saying he's having an affair, but I do think he either enjoys her attention, likes her more than he should, or that he's going along with it knowing its pissing you off (payback for your affair).

I think this summer break has come at the right time. Use it to improve your relationship and speak to him. He will either realise how silly he's been OR if he does have feelings for her he will realise it during time spent away from her. Keep an eye on his behaviour.

About her choice of clothing. I don't think anybody is judging her for what she wears but I wouldn't want my kids being taught by someone with her boobs practically out.

If he does have an affair yes it's through his own choice and we shouldn't blame the woman for a married mans actions - but I am entitled to judge women who purposely go for men knowing full well they are married! Not her fault they cheat, but it's her fault she behaves so inappropriately. It's her fault she flirts so much knowing full they have a wife and child.

Anerak · 06/07/2015 20:20

You defintely need to find out what's happening with the phone and get to the bottom of what really happened that night after the party. If he is your best friend then he should treat you like that and tell you everything, even if that would be painful

LaChatte · 06/07/2015 20:33

I asked about the phone, he said he didn't realise he was being cagey and said I could look at it anytime.

I want him to be telling the truth.

OP posts:
MotherFluffer · 06/07/2015 20:38

I am of the mind that the other woman cannot be blamed for flirting with someone they know has a wife and kids, it brings us back to the idea that people can only control themselves up to a point with so much flirting going on. exceed the flirt level, and ANYone will cheat. I dont want to believe that personally :( I want to believe that anyone could flirt their head off around my husband and he'd still keep it in his pants.

it's a tricky one for you OP. it's hard to lay down rules when you yourself have broken them. my instinct would be to say fine, go enjoy yourself with this woman, but know that if anything you wouldn't do with a male friend happens this relationship is over, no ifs, no buts. but that rule didnt apply to you did it? I guess one of the consequences of your actions is that your husband can play by the new rules you set?

Beaverfeaver2 · 06/07/2015 20:41

You can't force them to go non contact as they work at the same school.
And they are friends and colleagues.

Trust him and allow him to have his friends.
Doesn't matter what type of person she appears to be on the surface.
People have affairs with the quote ones that don't flirt or dress like that.

Best him being her friend in the open so you can be a part of it rather that forcing him to take it underground which will just end up causing resentment and fuel to push things

MotherFluffer · 06/07/2015 20:47

will forcing no contact even solve anything in your mind? you'll just know forever that he only didnt because YOU stopped it happening, not him.

TRexingInAsda · 06/07/2015 21:13

So he fancies someone but reassures you she's nothing to worry about as she doesn't fancy him (NICE)?!! He went back to the party after dropping dd off at home, even though there'd only be an hour of it left? And then there are 2 or 3 missing hours between when 'do's normally finish and the time he got home? And he says nothing happened in those few hours, even though he was alone in a car in an empty car park with his crush? And now he's being cagey with his phone?

Either you both want to make this work or you don't. If he won't drop her completely, immediately and without any whingeing, you have a serious problem. You can't make this marriage work on your own, he has to want it too - more than he wants another cheap shag.

TendonQueen · 06/07/2015 21:20

I think it's high time you both looked for jobs in another school, if you want the marriage to continue.

TheDowagerCuntess · 06/07/2015 21:26

This is what happens when one half of a couple in a relationship goes off piste for some fun.

It's almost always the beginning of the end, because the trust, and the sense of the two of you as a team and as friends, is gone. Over.

You can't expect anything from him now, without looking like a hypocrite.

MotherFluffer · 06/07/2015 21:28

"So he fancies someone but reassures you she's nothing to worry about as she doesn't fancy him (NICE)?!!"

haha yes that's a classic!!

LuluJakey1 · 06/07/2015 21:35

Ah France!

LaChatte · 07/07/2015 08:23

TR he left the school at about eleven, then went to another colleague's house for an after party (he told me this the morning after), I don't know how long he stayed there, but he thinks it was a couple of hours. He then went back to school to pick up the car, that's when he ended up alone with her, it may have been five minutes, it may have been half an hour, he says he has no idea.

We can't just change schools (you don't just "look for jobs" in schools here, and the Head can't "just sack" the lot of us, he's lead many schools and has said that it's the same everywhere with regards to indiscretions), and to be honest I don't want to change schools as the work side of things is great, as is the rest of the social side.

He's said that he likes to think that even if she did make a pass at him (which he strongly doubts she will), he would be able to refuse her advances, but he has admitted that he's not sure he could.

I'm going to do as some of you have said and make he most of the summer to talk things through, and try and get my head round the fact that in September things will probably pick up as they left off, and that I just have to suck it up. In theory he won't have any projects in common with her this time, so that means less time working together.

OP posts:
LaChatte · 07/07/2015 08:25

Reading back, I think Finloa has nailed it:

^The whole thing just sounds very, very messy.

To put it blunt, you don't trust your dh because you cheated yourself.^

OP posts:
Duckdeamon · 07/07/2015 09:00

You don't have to "suck it up": he should certainly end his "friendship" with this person and act more appropriately given he is unsure he could resist her! You having an affair doesn't give him the right to do so.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 07/07/2015 09:01

So your marriage teeters while you both wait to see if she makes a pass at him :(

That's not good.

Thymeout · 07/07/2015 09:38

I've taught in schools like that here. You just need a tipping point in the age demographic and the staffroom is a totally different place. Lots of young singles, where else are they going to meet anyone, working the hours they do? Romance is in the air and then the ones in relationships begin to get a bit wistful, remembering their young, free and single days, and it's like an epidemic. The Head is probably at it, too.

OP - how do you get on with her? Does she realise how you feel? As with you and the OM, I don't think there should be any half-measures here. Civil professional relationship, but no contact out of school and avoid being part of her friendship group in the staffroom.

LaChatte · 07/07/2015 09:50

I don't have much to do with her, will say hi and I ask her how she is, but that's about it. I doubt she realises how I feel, but she was very nervous/on edge once she realised I was there, and suddenly tried to be overly chatty and cheerful with me (not a habit of hers).

I'm going to insist he treats her as I treat OM, it's the only way I think we can move forward, I'm just hoping he'll not sulk about it, as that will be really hurtful.

She doesn't really have a friendship group at school apart from DH and the other colleague she slept with, but I'm sure she has plenty of non-school friends.

OP posts:
BathtimeFunkster · 07/07/2015 10:07

I think you have every right to insist his affair has the same consequences as yours.

He went to quite some lengths that night to contrive some alone time late at night with her.

I wouldn't believe that nothing happened between them.

Your work environment is already affected by having her and your husband acting so inappropriately in the staff room that your undisclosed presence causes such embarrassment.

You should be furious to be out in such a humiliating situation at your workplace and to find out so publicly that your husband is having an affair.

Because that's what it is when they have secrets between them that you are not party to, when they are spending time together and he is lying to you about it, when he fancies her and is only planning not to shag her if she doesn't make a move.

You had a few snogs. I'd bet good money he's had similar.

Now you're even.

She is not his friend any more than the OM was yours.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 07/07/2015 10:09

but she was very nervous/on edge once she realised I was there, and suddenly tried to be overly chatty and cheerful with me (not a habit of hers).

Agree with pp. Sorry. Something has already happened/is happening. He is lying to you already.