My Husband Told Me His “Work Wife” Was An Upgrade. Then I Found Out He Was Paying Her Rent While Telling Me To Budget. How Should I Handle This Dinner Invite?

HR Outcomes

3 weeks passed with me staying at Laya’s apartment and trying to focus on teaching while the HR investigation continued. My phone rang one afternoon during my lunch break and I saw it was Fisel calling with the investigation results. I stepped into the hallway outside my classroom and answered with my heart beating fast.

Fisel’s voice was professional and measured as he explained that the investigation found multiple policy violations including inappropriate financial arrangements between employees at different seniority levels. Craig was placed on administrative leave pending final review by upper management and Jessica was transferred to a different department with a formal warning in her file.

I’d expected them both to be fired based on what Fisel had said about company policy so this outcome surprised me. He explained that since Craig wasn’t Jessica’s direct supervisor and the financial arrangements happened outside work hours they couldn’t justify immediate termination but the violations were serious enough to warrant significant consequences.

I thanked him for the update and hung up feeling strange about the whole thing. Part of me felt vindicated that the investigation confirmed what I’d reported but another part felt guilty that Craig’s career was damaged even if he’d brought it on himself.

I drove to Laya’s apartment after work and found her making dinner in the kitchen. She took one look at my face and asked what happened so I told her about the HR decision while helping her chop vegetables. Laya reminded me that I didn’t make Craig cosign Jessica’s lease or cover her lunch expenses or share intimate details about our marriage and miscarriage.

All I did was document what they chose to do and report it to the appropriate people at his company. She pointed out that if Craig and Jessica had followed basic professional boundaries none of this would have happened. I knew she was right but it still felt heavy knowing my actions contributed to real consequences that would affect both their careers for years.

Fallout and Messages

That evening my phone buzzed with a text from Craig saying I’d gotten what I wanted and destroyed his reputation at work. I stared at the message feeling angry that he still didn’t understand this wasn’t about revenge. I typed back that he destroyed his own reputation by prioritizing his work wife over his actual wife and violating company policy. He didn’t reply and I realized this was probably the end of any civil communication between us.

The next morning I woke up to a Facebook message request from someone named Adriana who I didn’t recognize. I opened it and saw she was Jessica’s roommate based on her profile picture showing both of them at their apartment. Her message was angry and direct, saying she was stuck with a lease she couldn’t afford because Craig stopped helping Jessica with rent. She blamed me for ruining Jessica’s financial situation and demanded to know how I plan to fix the mess I’d created.

I read the message twice feeling bad for Adriana who got dragged into this situation through no fault of her own but I also recognized that Jessica created this dependency on Craig’s financial support and now had to figure out how to be independent. I wrote back a short response saying I was sorry she was dealing with this but Jessica’s financial choices weren’t my responsibility and I wouldn’t be offering help or apology.

Adriana sent back several angry messages calling me selfish and heartless but I deleted the conversation and blocked her profile.

Therapy

A month had passed since the confrontation dinner and I was having trouble sleeping most nights. I’d wake up at 3:00 in the morning thinking about Craig’s drunken words or Jessica’s face when she realized the financial reality or Adriana stuck with a lease she couldn’t afford. During the day I functioned fine teaching my kindergarten class but at night the emotional toll caught up with me.

Laya suggested I talk to someone professional instead of just processing everything with her over wine. I made an appointment with a therapist named Dr. Miller who had availability the following week.

Sitting in her office that first session I felt nervous about opening up to a stranger but she made it easy by asking simple questions about what brought me in. I explained the whole situation starting with Craig’s Christmas party confession and ending with the HR investigation results.

Dr. Miller listened without judgment and then helped me identify the complicated feelings I’d been avoiding: anger at Craig’s betrayal, guilt about the consequences my actions caused, grief for the marriage I thought I had. She pointed out that I’d been so focused on strategic responses and documentation that I hadn’t let myself actually feel the hurt underneath.

Over the next few sessions we worked on processing those emotions instead of just pushing them aside. During one appointment I admitted something I’d barely let myself think, which was that part of me still loved Craig. Or at least loved who I thought he was before all this happened. Dr. Miller helped me see that I could grieve the relationship while still knowing divorce was the right choice.