My guess is that he flirted in front of you to draw you back in. A Hoover.
His mum loathes me
Yep, don't get back together. Well done on calling the situation and putting an end to it.
I don’t really know why.
They're enmeshed and she sees him as her surrogate husband. It's a known dysfunctional family dynamic.
I have never been anything but nice and smiley with her but she says I’m “stuck up”. He did stick up for me (not enough)
No future in that.
...it didn’t really bother me so much but I ultimately felt that I can’t marry in to that.
Excellent choice.
He said he felt terrible but she was his mum and I guess he wasn’t prepared to fall out with her over it. She was a single parent and it was just the two of them for a long time.
Enmeshment. You would always be second best, she'll always call the shots and your life will be horrid if you have kids with him. There's also the risk that he totally falls apart when she dies. Total mid life crisis.
It actually helps to go back over this. She would be a nightmare if we ever had children 😳
Yeah, she'll see them as his and her kids with you as the usurper. As she already sees you.
Well done on taking the hard choice for a happy life. So many of us should have been braver! One mistaken night, it happens, run and keep running. 💐