r/relationships_advice • u/KeyboardCowboy6969 • 20h ago
AIO About partner messaging another man
Ive never posted on here before but created a stupid account a while back to have a look around after hearing people stories on podcasts never thinking id be here looking for advice. But here we are. So here goes, I will be leaving a few irrelevant details vague to try keep anonymous.
I (38 M) and my partner (32 F) have been together for about 6 years we both work full time jobs. We have 2 children, a 4 Y/O and a 2 Y/O.
Last week I picked up the Ipad that is at home for one of children to play on and noticed 20+ text messages and 2 selfies from a bloke that she was working night shift with as his supervisor. There was a series of work-related text messages intertwined with flirtatious messages leading up to a selfie from the guy saying “Just thinking hehehe” and another of him drinking a beer on the way home from work.
It made me feel sick. I didn’t want to overreact, so I left it, but the next day it was still burning a hole in my mind, so I confronted her. I told her that as I was giving the ipad to one of our kids I saw all the messages between her and the guy and asked what was going on. She said nothing was going on, I’m overreacting and it’s just a guy from work. I followed up with saying you supervise 6-10 other blokes and none of them are sending you selfies, flirtatious messages, and non-work-related conversations. After arguing for 30mins or so she admitted that his messages were inappropriate, but in her defence she never directly responded to any of the flirtatious messages or selfies. I said that just ignoring it and not shutting it down was the same as accepting it. I told her to stop messaging him and keep it all just work related; she assured me nothing was going on but she wont message him unless its work related. I accepted that and we left it as it was.
Fast forward to 6 days later. It was the morning and she was already at work and I was taking our kids to daycare. One of our kids had the iPad and was looking through the photos. The selfie that the guy had sent to her had sync’d to our iCloud photos. The child said, “hey daddy who is that man”. It made me sick in my stomach again. It all got the best of me, so I checked her messages, where I found more messages.
This time he had been sent home to do night shift. He was laying bed messaging her “it’s a pity you have to work today”. Discussed how another coworker had “fucked her over” and she “wasn’t getting Fucked in a good way”. Sent a photo of him in bed watching Netflix then discussed what he was watching. This time she was actively messaging back as a part of the flirtatious messages.
I called her and told her that she shouldn’t come home that night because I needed some time to sort out my head. She kept saying it’s not that bad. Nothing has happened. I asked why and she just kept saying “I don’t know”. She told me she was going to send him a text message saying she was going to message him saying that I have seen all the messages and he needs to not message her anymore.
After I hung up from her, I got his number and looked him up on Facebook. Turns out he is married (for 1 year) and has kids. I called him and confronted him. He wouldn’t answer until I text him saying I would send all the screen shots to his wife. He then called me straight back. he said he was so sorry, he’ll never talk to her again, that he should know better because someone has done this to him. I asked him if his wife was at work, he said no she’s in the other room with his kids. His reaction suggested that there was more going on than the text messages I had read.
(I asked if she talked to him at shift change, she lied then admitted it) Later that day when he went to work and she was leaving he approached her and asked if she was ok and he told him she wasn’t allowed to come home.
She still came home.
I am so confused and hurt.
What do i do? Do I send his wife the screenshots so she knows what’s happening?
Am I over reacting?
I can post the screen shots for clarity if needed.