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?

Stepping Back

My therapy appointment the following week focuses on whether I’m ready to reduce the frequency of our sessions. We’ve been meeting weekly since the confrontation working through the divorce and the grief and the rebuilding but my therapist thinks I’m doing well enough to try monthly check-ins instead.

Part of me panics at the idea of less support but another part recognizes that I’m not in crisis anymore and I’ve built good coping skills and support systems. She reminds me that healing isn’t linear and I’ll still have hard days or setbacks but I’ve proven I can handle them without falling apart. We agree to try monthly sessions and see how it goes with the understanding that I can always schedule extra appointments if I need them.

Walking out of her office I feel both proud and scared like a kid learning to ride a bike without training wheels. The support is still there if I need it but I’m ready to try managing more on my own. That evening I update my calendar with the new therapy schedule and look at all the other things filling my time now: pottery class, dinner with friends, school events, a weekend trip Laya and I are planning.

My life is full in ways it wasn’t during my marriage, busy with activities and people that make me feel like myself instead of just Craig’s wife.

Support Group

I find a flyer at the community center two weeks later advertising a divorce support group that meets Thursday evenings. The meeting room smells like old coffee and has those uncomfortable plastic chairs arranged in a circle and I almost turn around and leave before a woman about my age smiles and waves me over. Her name tag says “Facilitator” and she introduces herself as someone who’s been divorced for 3 years and started this group to help others through the same process.

There are six other people in the circle all looking as nervous as I feel and we go around sharing our stories. When it’s my turn I tell them about Craig and Jessica and the confrontation dinner and several people nod like they recognize parts of their own experiences and mine. A man in his 40s talks about his wife leaving him for someone she met at the gym. A younger woman describes discovering her husband’s affair through credit card statements and an older woman shares how her marriage fell apart after her kids left for college.

After the meeting three people ask me specific questions about how I handled the legal process and documentation and I realized that sharing what I learned might actually help someone else avoid mistakes or feel less alone. I sign up to come back next week and leave feeling lighter than I expected, like talking about it with people who understand made it feel less heavy.

Happiness

I’m arranging flowers in a vase on my kitchen counter the following Tuesday, cheap grocery store daisies that I bought just because they looked cheerful, when the realization hits me: I’m happy. Not the forced kind of happy where you’re trying to convince yourself everything is fine, but genuinely content with my life right now.

The apartment is small but it’s decorated exactly how I want without anyone telling me the colors are too bright or the furniture is impractical. I have pottery class tomorrow night and lunch plans with Laya on Saturday and a stack of books I’m actually excited to read. The divorce forced me to figure out who I am when I’m not trying to be what someone else needs and what I found is someone I actually like.

I learned to speak up when something bothers me instead of swallowing it down, to set boundaries without feeling guilty, to build a life based on what matters to me instead of what’s expected. The woman arranging flowers in this apartment is stronger and more honest than the woman who lived in that house with Craig and I wouldn’t go back even if I could.

I take a photo of the flowers and text it to Laya with a message about how good things are and she responds with a heart emoji and “so proud of you.”