Wife had affair with coworker; need advice - 08/23/13 04:27 AM
Where to begin? I'm obviously here for advice, so here goes...
At the first of July of this year I discovered that my wife was having an affair with a married coworker. I had come home for lunch and heard her iPad "ping" and investigated and saw an IM chat that indicated that she and this man were going to lunch together that day. It is someone that she has always had a close working relationship with, and I had told her a few times over the years that I found myself jealous of him because of the time they got to spend together, even if it was work. She had always told me not to worry, but worry I did, and seeing them going to lunch in what was seemingly a casual way bothered me.
That evening she got home before I did (I picked up the kids), and after dinner I investigated her iPad further and found another IM conversation where they were discussing their affair. The tone of the conversation suggested that she was, in a sense, pulling away from him, but it fully showed that she was having an affair.
I confronted her, and obviously I was angry, upset, shocked, you name it. I called him and told him I knew, that the affair was over, and that he was to never interfere with our marriage again. I told him how ashamed he should be of himself, and if he was worth *anything* he would tell his wife everything. His only words to me were "yes," twice, after I asked him twice if he understood.
After that I needed to just go for a drive, so I did. I knew she would call him (or he would call her), and that happened. She said that he didn't express any love for her, that he didn't try to convince her to leave me, that he only said that he was probably about to get kicked out of his house!
Over the next few days she expressed to me that yes, they had been having an affair; it had included sex since the first of this year; but their relationship had crossed from "platonic" to more than just "friends" many months before it got really physical.
We've met with our pastor for counseling, and throughout this process we have firmly identified the real problems in our marriage that led to her making the decision to have the affair. After the birth of our first child, she dealt with post-partem depression (which I never was fully cognizant of), and we struggled as new parents to defining our new roles. I fully admitted to her that I wasn't the father or husband I needed to be during those times. At the same time, when she went back to work, she was struggling mightily with the depression and her confidence in her abilities to work. In a sense, this man she had the affair with was her "mentor," and helped to restore her work confidence, and, as a result, her overall confidence. They were nothing more than work friends up until the first part of 2011; at that time, he confessed to her that he had feelings for her, and was falling in love with her. This came after she began to confide in him the problems we were having in our marriage. In essence, she gave him the "cheat codes" as to what she needed to him without fully talking to me about it. To be fair, she did bring up certain issues in the last few years, but I don't feel that I was fully responsive to her concerns. She said that at first he would offer advice on how to fix our problems, but over time it morphed into basically making himself seem like the better option.
At any rate, they decided to begin to go to lunch every so often to "talk" about it; shortly thereafter, she became pregnant by our second child, which effectively put the "affair" on hold. After the birth of our second child, she went back to work, and in her words, he "put the full court press" on her. They began to kiss at times, and they continued to go to lunch. It turned fully sexual one night when they were working late at the office at the first of this year.
After that point, she said they would have sex, on average, about once a week. Pretty much all of it took place at the office; some of it after-hours when everyone else had gone home, some of it during the lunch hour when most people were out of the office. They went to his house a couple of times when his wife was out of town. During this time, she and I also had sex about once per week, and there was *never* anything wrong with our sex life. As I've read on the Marriage Builders site regarding emotional needs, the sex with him wasn't due to any problems with our sex life, per se; it was the logical "next step" in their relationship, according to her. In fact, she claimed that the sex with him was awful, and that she rarely ever reached orgasm.
We've had a lot of soul-baring conversations and a lot of tears have been shed. I never left our household and I'm committed to fixing our marriage, and she says she is as well. She said that when I found out she felt terrified that I was going to leave her, while also feeling an overwhelming sense of relief, as she claims she had been searching for a way out (even coming to this site on occasion in the last few months) and the courage to end it with him. She said she told him on two different occasions that she would never leave me, and that all she wanted to be was happy with me. She said that the last two or three months of the affair consisted of her making up excuses as to why she couldn't go to lunch with him, or have sex, etc. She said that was when she was at her lowest, because she knew she wanted to be with me, but couldn't figure out how to end the affair.
In her words, she said that "it could have been anybody," and that she was basically trying to project onto him what she wanted me to be or how she wanted me to act. She is wrestling with extreme guilt, obviously. She feels terrible for what she's done to me and has said she wants to spend the rest of our lives together making it up to me.
In a lot of respects, his influence had a tremendous negative influence on our marriage. It was hard for her to separate fiction from reality at times because, having the "cheat codes," he knew what to say to her. In some ways, I think he "guilt tripped" her into continuing the affair. That certainly doesn't excuse what she did, but it offers context.
Following the concepts on this website, I feel like we've come a long way in a short period of time. I believe, with the help of this site and our preacher, we've fully identified what the problems were in our marriage and are working mightily to fix them. We make time for each other now. We began going to lunch together every day; I think that since this came out, there have only been two or three workdays where we haven't had lunch together. Our sex life has exploded to a point not seen since we were first married.
The major stumbling block I have, that I struggle with almost every day, is that they still work together. Our situation at this time is not conducive to her leaving her job. She is a partner in her firm (as is he), and her job has the potential for us to reach our financial goals and take care of our family in a way that we don't feel we can walk away from right now. She has expressed to me that she will leave that job and find another, because "that job isn't more important to me as you are."
I don't want her to leave her job, but her continued contact with him is something that bothers me every single day. Some days are better than others. She tells me every day about any interaction she has with him, and has made her phone and email accounts fully available to me. At first, I told her I didn't want her to have any contact with him whatsoever that wasn't work-related. After a time, she expressed that he would "act weird" around her, and that it was awkward. So, I told her that I was OK with her "clearing the air" with him if the opportunity presented itself, and that happened this week. She said she told him that there was absolutely zero chance that anything would ever happen with him again, that she was 100% committed to me, and that, basically, he needed to move on. He was, as I suspected (and I told her this), still pining for her, biding his time to see if we would fall apart or I would leave her. She said she made it crystal clear that there was no "them" anymore, there never would be a "them" in the future, and that he needed to get over it so that they could work together amicably.
His wife's response to the affair was, basically, "I don't want to talk about it, and the affair has to end." I do not have high hopes that their marriage will survive, obviously.
I'm looking for advice on how to get past this feeling I have about them working together. I've noticed such a change in my wife and how she acts towards me, for the positive. She doesn't seem addled by work, or, more accurately, a third party, and seems fully focused on me. I do not believe anything else has happened, but I am having such a hard time dealing with the fact that they still work together.
Any advice?
At the first of July of this year I discovered that my wife was having an affair with a married coworker. I had come home for lunch and heard her iPad "ping" and investigated and saw an IM chat that indicated that she and this man were going to lunch together that day. It is someone that she has always had a close working relationship with, and I had told her a few times over the years that I found myself jealous of him because of the time they got to spend together, even if it was work. She had always told me not to worry, but worry I did, and seeing them going to lunch in what was seemingly a casual way bothered me.
That evening she got home before I did (I picked up the kids), and after dinner I investigated her iPad further and found another IM conversation where they were discussing their affair. The tone of the conversation suggested that she was, in a sense, pulling away from him, but it fully showed that she was having an affair.
I confronted her, and obviously I was angry, upset, shocked, you name it. I called him and told him I knew, that the affair was over, and that he was to never interfere with our marriage again. I told him how ashamed he should be of himself, and if he was worth *anything* he would tell his wife everything. His only words to me were "yes," twice, after I asked him twice if he understood.
After that I needed to just go for a drive, so I did. I knew she would call him (or he would call her), and that happened. She said that he didn't express any love for her, that he didn't try to convince her to leave me, that he only said that he was probably about to get kicked out of his house!
Over the next few days she expressed to me that yes, they had been having an affair; it had included sex since the first of this year; but their relationship had crossed from "platonic" to more than just "friends" many months before it got really physical.
We've met with our pastor for counseling, and throughout this process we have firmly identified the real problems in our marriage that led to her making the decision to have the affair. After the birth of our first child, she dealt with post-partem depression (which I never was fully cognizant of), and we struggled as new parents to defining our new roles. I fully admitted to her that I wasn't the father or husband I needed to be during those times. At the same time, when she went back to work, she was struggling mightily with the depression and her confidence in her abilities to work. In a sense, this man she had the affair with was her "mentor," and helped to restore her work confidence, and, as a result, her overall confidence. They were nothing more than work friends up until the first part of 2011; at that time, he confessed to her that he had feelings for her, and was falling in love with her. This came after she began to confide in him the problems we were having in our marriage. In essence, she gave him the "cheat codes" as to what she needed to him without fully talking to me about it. To be fair, she did bring up certain issues in the last few years, but I don't feel that I was fully responsive to her concerns. She said that at first he would offer advice on how to fix our problems, but over time it morphed into basically making himself seem like the better option.
At any rate, they decided to begin to go to lunch every so often to "talk" about it; shortly thereafter, she became pregnant by our second child, which effectively put the "affair" on hold. After the birth of our second child, she went back to work, and in her words, he "put the full court press" on her. They began to kiss at times, and they continued to go to lunch. It turned fully sexual one night when they were working late at the office at the first of this year.
After that point, she said they would have sex, on average, about once a week. Pretty much all of it took place at the office; some of it after-hours when everyone else had gone home, some of it during the lunch hour when most people were out of the office. They went to his house a couple of times when his wife was out of town. During this time, she and I also had sex about once per week, and there was *never* anything wrong with our sex life. As I've read on the Marriage Builders site regarding emotional needs, the sex with him wasn't due to any problems with our sex life, per se; it was the logical "next step" in their relationship, according to her. In fact, she claimed that the sex with him was awful, and that she rarely ever reached orgasm.
We've had a lot of soul-baring conversations and a lot of tears have been shed. I never left our household and I'm committed to fixing our marriage, and she says she is as well. She said that when I found out she felt terrified that I was going to leave her, while also feeling an overwhelming sense of relief, as she claims she had been searching for a way out (even coming to this site on occasion in the last few months) and the courage to end it with him. She said she told him on two different occasions that she would never leave me, and that all she wanted to be was happy with me. She said that the last two or three months of the affair consisted of her making up excuses as to why she couldn't go to lunch with him, or have sex, etc. She said that was when she was at her lowest, because she knew she wanted to be with me, but couldn't figure out how to end the affair.
In her words, she said that "it could have been anybody," and that she was basically trying to project onto him what she wanted me to be or how she wanted me to act. She is wrestling with extreme guilt, obviously. She feels terrible for what she's done to me and has said she wants to spend the rest of our lives together making it up to me.
In a lot of respects, his influence had a tremendous negative influence on our marriage. It was hard for her to separate fiction from reality at times because, having the "cheat codes," he knew what to say to her. In some ways, I think he "guilt tripped" her into continuing the affair. That certainly doesn't excuse what she did, but it offers context.
Following the concepts on this website, I feel like we've come a long way in a short period of time. I believe, with the help of this site and our preacher, we've fully identified what the problems were in our marriage and are working mightily to fix them. We make time for each other now. We began going to lunch together every day; I think that since this came out, there have only been two or three workdays where we haven't had lunch together. Our sex life has exploded to a point not seen since we were first married.
The major stumbling block I have, that I struggle with almost every day, is that they still work together. Our situation at this time is not conducive to her leaving her job. She is a partner in her firm (as is he), and her job has the potential for us to reach our financial goals and take care of our family in a way that we don't feel we can walk away from right now. She has expressed to me that she will leave that job and find another, because "that job isn't more important to me as you are."
I don't want her to leave her job, but her continued contact with him is something that bothers me every single day. Some days are better than others. She tells me every day about any interaction she has with him, and has made her phone and email accounts fully available to me. At first, I told her I didn't want her to have any contact with him whatsoever that wasn't work-related. After a time, she expressed that he would "act weird" around her, and that it was awkward. So, I told her that I was OK with her "clearing the air" with him if the opportunity presented itself, and that happened this week. She said she told him that there was absolutely zero chance that anything would ever happen with him again, that she was 100% committed to me, and that, basically, he needed to move on. He was, as I suspected (and I told her this), still pining for her, biding his time to see if we would fall apart or I would leave her. She said she made it crystal clear that there was no "them" anymore, there never would be a "them" in the future, and that he needed to get over it so that they could work together amicably.
His wife's response to the affair was, basically, "I don't want to talk about it, and the affair has to end." I do not have high hopes that their marriage will survive, obviously.
I'm looking for advice on how to get past this feeling I have about them working together. I've noticed such a change in my wife and how she acts towards me, for the positive. She doesn't seem addled by work, or, more accurately, a third party, and seems fully focused on me. I do not believe anything else has happened, but I am having such a hard time dealing with the fact that they still work together.
Any advice?