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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

Is he cheating/ am I over reacting?

47 replies

nickname7890 · 24/08/2019 08:04

Hey

I could do with help.
Please let me know your thoughts:
We have two small children, I'm still on maternity leave. My OH works in central London and goes out a lot with work for lunches and dinners/ drinks so he is out 2 nights a week on average . I'm slightly on the loop with his clients and colleagues when he tells me who he is with but I don't bother with too much detail. I work full time when back at work, up at 5 to be home for bath at 5 pm with the kids so they can se a parent every day, so no scope for me to go out etc as he has to with work I have to be home.

Yesterday he came back from drinks with a client at 7 pm and was upstairs wth my LO and his phone flashed "Emma" sent messages. I looked and it said "OMG I just woke up he is calling you later call me tell me what he says I'm getting pizza later so call me I'm around"
I looked above and all previous messages he sent/she sent had been deleted. I searched her name in his messages and clients had sent photos of sexual references and saying "Does this remind you of Emma?"(he is in a v male industry)

I went and asked him. I remember this girl from 2 years ago when we dated she text him when we were on holiday and I thought it inappropriate his responses to her messages at the time considering they have a past. More her than him in the messages but hey she isn't in a relationship he is. Anyway he hit the roof demanded to have his phone back. I said i can find deleted messages through back up. He refused to let me do this. He said she works at a competitor and I was over reacting and she was talking about her, she was in touch because her boss wanted to call my OH about a job and he deleted messages above bc he didn't want work to see them (they have WhatsApp on screens at work)
He then later admitted he didn't want me to retract from deleted messages above because it showed he had gone to meet a friend for drinks not colleague and he had not told me that he had left client drinks to see an old friend bc he thought I would protest and ask him to come home and she text him saying "heard you are meeting x for a drink I may join if ok" (and hen presumably she didn't go bc she went home?!)

Anyway, he did have a missed call from a random number presumably her boss. So maybe there is truth there. But he does have messages from tons of competitors that he doesn't delete so why hers ? (He said bc hers was about a job offer).
I asked him if he felt if appropriate for her to text and he said he did find it a bit uncomfortable

I love this man I love our family and dedicate my life to giving us best quality of life working round the clock to ensure kids have parent contact and I earn as much as possible. The sacrifice is my social life etc. Am I an idiot? Where do we go from here? My understanding is guilty people are defensive and angry? That's how he was. He still won't feel compassion or understanding for how I feel. He has said that he understand he shouldn't have lied about meeting his mate but he didn't want me to say no which makes me sad and mad bc actually I give him a lot of leeway and I can't just say go out every night and not complain when I'm doing 24/7 care without a walk around the block to myself ... surely it's only normal to ask he helps out a bit ?

Where do u go from here? Should I push to see the deleted messages? Or just leave it . I wish I hadn't said anything and had waited to see how their conversation played out . See if he deleted it when not at work..
Please help

OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 24/08/2019 08:09

Well, he lied to you, he said he did, you know he did, and his reason for doing so was really weak "I didn't want to upste you, talk about it, I wanted to get my won way" So you know he doesn't consider the two of you as equals, he chooses to bypass you, to do as he wants rather than anything a family man might consider his responsibility.

So whether he is cheating or not, he is being a shit! You may dedicate your life to your family, he patently, admittedly, does not!

Is that what you want forever?

CloudyWithAChance2 · 24/08/2019 08:13

his phone flashed "Emma" sent messages.

How is this possible I.e. a phone flashing with sent messages?
Sounds like you’ve just gone through his phone because you were suspicious which it completely out of order.

I think it’s totally unacceptable doing that shit.

Treacletoots · 24/08/2019 08:15

Sorry. If he'd done nothing wrong he would have shown you those messages. That's it really.

Dont let him convince you because he's hidden the evidence that nothings actually happened.

Sorry OP. You're not over reacting and what you do from here is up to you.

Treacletoots · 24/08/2019 08:17

Sounds like OPs DH is on this thread...

Winterlife · 24/08/2019 08:19

In your shoes I would just leave it for now. Stay quiet. Monitor his texts in the future. You’ll have your answer soon enough.

something2say · 24/08/2019 08:19

I think he needs a weekend with the kids while you go away. Let him see what the reality is like. And then make him share the responsibility.

Morgan12 · 24/08/2019 08:21

I would be demanding to recall the deleted messages. He doth protest too much.

fortheloveofnotthisagain · 24/08/2019 08:24

Emma had sent the messages if you'd actually bothered to read it properly.

The OP has come here asking for support not to be lectured. Many affairs have been discovered by a message flashing up on the wayward spouses phone.

Affairs which have led to devastation of families, and exposure to STDs.

What a nasty thing to say to someone who feels they can't talk to anyone else in real life.

Anyway hugs to you Op Thanks

MashedSpud · 24/08/2019 08:27

I’ve heard people talking about WhatsApp on your pc/laptop to see messages that come through. If he refuses to back up the phone maybe look into it.

Winterlife · 24/08/2019 08:37

OP, the message seems ambiguous. If you confront him, he will find a plausible excuse. So you won’t be further ahead. That’s why I suggest you bide your time and monitor him surreptitiously. You need more information. That particular text reads fairly innocent to me.

DBML · 24/08/2019 09:14

PP - My phone flashes up with the name of who’s texted me too. You don’t need to search through a phone to see that. ‘Ping - followed by name of sender and partial message’.

Anyway.

Op, this doesn’t look good, mainly because of his refusal to let you see previous messages. Also the message ‘does this remind you of Emma’...what’s that supposed to mean. Clearly they are very close, closer than they should be.

It’s natural to want to find the least heartbreaking explanation I.e. Emma’s boss is trying to poach him; but again, why would he see messages reminding him of Emma. He’s either had or having an affair of some type.

I’m so sorry you are having to go through this.

nickname7890 · 24/08/2019 09:19

Firstly thank you so much for your support. I don't want to talk to people in real life as once you know this you can't not know it ...

I didn't look at his phone to check I genuinely saw it flash with new WhatsApp, looked, saw Emma thought it strange and then looked. Then I saw he had deleted all above messages and I freaked out

Issue is I've played my card and told him. I should have waited and seen if any more texts and responses and if he deleted them or not but I didn't. Did I ask to see the deleted messages? Or leave it and "trust" him?
We have people over today and I feel sick thinking about their past and how he has drinks with her even through work and the imbalance of it when I literally sit at a desk and come home for bath time to put him to bed and cook for him in the evenings ... I feel angry with her for being one of those women making themselves so available (they seemingly had a lot of Sex experiences from the messages from his clients) and while it was most likely in his past before us, I guess I'm so saddened that he lied about meeting his mate as that starts a whole rollercoaster of doubt as he is out all the time so will I always question it?
He also tried to argue that he didn't actually lie about meeting his mate but just didn't tell me he left client drinks to meet his mate which is infuriating as where does that leave me ? Permanently asking if he changed location/ drinking companion??

I just feel so sad. I'm sat in my car outside the house in tears because I've been cheated on before in the worst possible ways. My father had affairs. He knows this is a raw nerve for me and yet he is treating me like I'm over reacting and saying it's unfair for him to be treated like a cheater. The thought of him and that girl and his office talking about what they did makes me feel sick and never want to have sex with him again(we rarely have sex as he never initiates it).

OP posts:
nickname7890 · 24/08/2019 09:22

He has been in the job 10 years and said he messages from his German client saying "oh look it's Emma related to his relations with her before we met (I know that they did see each other as she was texting him when we were dating before kids and even then I thought her texts were inappropriate
For what it's worth, the texts from his German client that were "Emma related" were photos " of a girl licking a frankfurter surreptitiously and another of a girl pretending to put a sausage up her bottom- I'm so ashamed to be writing that he even received such junk on his phone

OP posts:
something2say · 24/08/2019 09:38

No wonder you're so sad. Its hurtful because it's just not good enough and all of his denial and refusal to have a proper conversation about that leaves you high and dry and alone.

My thinking is - consider ending it? I'm so sorry.
Get through the day.
Get space from him after that.
Then look at how you might leave.

He is not your partner and he lies to you, to get out of having to do his share. (Wife work is your responsibility basically.) And on top of that, he mucks about calling young girls sex names and having sleazy chat with colleagues about other colleagues. Its not a sign of a good man or a man who loves his wife, let alone his children. He sounds immature and a let down and you are breaking your heart over that. Better to accept it if you can, get plenty of support and build a different life, without these emotional pitfalls.

nickname7890 · 24/08/2019 09:49

You say get space but how?

OP posts:
rainbowstardrops · 24/08/2019 09:51

Bloody hell, he's being totally disrespectful. If he's as innocent as he's claiming to be then I can't fathom why he wouldn't allow you to see the deleted messages, especially as he said he'd only deleted them because they referenced a job offer.
I'd be giving him an ultimatum personally. Either be totally upfront or sling your hook.
Sorry Thanks

cinders15 · 24/08/2019 09:54

Is there anywhere you can go for a couple of days without the kids? Stay with a friend for the weekend?
I think it is time for him to step up and be a dad - on his own
Tell him you need time to think - even if it means booking into a hotel for a night - I think you need/deserve it Thanks

Takemebacktolondon · 24/08/2019 09:55

How do his clients/mates know so much about his sex life? Makes me wonder if it is still going on and common knowledge.

I wouldn’t be impressed with any of it tbh.

JustMe9 · 24/08/2019 10:06

Omg where does your husband work?? How on earth clients can send such nasty pictures to him and also reference somone he used to have sex with...??? Is your husband a pimp or soemthing? Sorry but this is totally unprofessional. I couldnt put up with all this

something2say · 24/08/2019 10:07

Talk to other ppl all day long.
Get on with jobs when they've gone.
Then long bath and bed.
Avoid him while you think.

It is very hard work living like this and I get you about the dream thing. But reality is where we live and you cant build your life on quicksand as you are finding. Appearances mean nothing when the reality is not there xxxxx

HappyintheHills · 24/08/2019 10:19

He's not showing you the respect you deserve.
Then focussing on your reaction?
Please don't put up with that.

Fizzysours · 24/08/2019 10:23

What cosy complicated text conversations he is having...with a past conquest....while you slave away all day and then act like a single parent, bathing babies while he's out flirting. Fucks sake... I would go mental. You are not overreacting.

Byorderofthepeakyblinders · 24/08/2019 10:30

It doesn't make sense to me, it just didn't sit right.

I'm really sorry, nobody on mumsent can tell you if he is having an affair or not, and it may well be innocent.

But I would be demanding to see the deleted messages

Musti · 24/08/2019 10:38

You're busting a gut, getting up at 5am, working all day and then coming home and looking after the kids whilst he swans in and out, going for drinks with work and friends, wasting time messaging an ex girlfriend and even meeting up with her and accepting crude messages from competitors whilst his wife is at home?? This is making my blood boil. Regardless of what happens, make sure that from now on he takes 50% responsibility for children and home and see how much time he has to flirt or whatever with people.

thehouseinhousesitter · 24/08/2019 10:46

First of all I think it's complete bullshit that you're arriving home at 5pm so he can go out twice a week. And as you've now found out, he doesn't even hang around with clients if he doesn't feel like it - he just has a good time when he likes. They are his kids and his responsibility too. Your career and social life are just as important.

The stuff with Emma is indeed disrespectful and I think deleted messages and having crude discussions about her with others paints a very clear message about how much respect he has for you.