All Comments on 'Recognition'

It's funny how, all of a sudden, after months or years of lying to him, she turns the truth on its head,

he's suddenly able to tell the truth from the lies. A real walking lie detector.

It's really too far-fetched, and doesn't do the story any good.

Where's the doubt, where's the loss of confidence, where's the internal questioning.......... is really what makes these stories so interesting.

Interesting, well developed and written story.

Outstanding story! You hero had all his ducks in a row.

5

Not a bad story. It kept me entertained, but in the end it seemed to be a bit much ado about nothing. Ultimately Gerald was the bad guy, something that was clear from the start, and apart from Cheryl being a bit naive and unaware nobody else did much wrong. Which brings me to a point: why was the company so afraid of this supposed lawsuit? As far as I could tell they had no knowledge of Gerald's behaviour, and I doubt they'd be worried about a small thing like one of their staff going through a messy divorce. Nor would I think it'd interest any newspaper, in fact I think any publication would steer clear of the risk of a consequent legal action against them.

So we had a happy ending, the bad guy got what he deserved and Cheryl finally woke up to her faults. But one thing occurred to me, which I doubt wasn't the authors intention, the further the story progressed the more sulky and entitled the main character appeared, despite the happy ending I eventually wanted somebody to slap him and and tell him to stop whining. But I guess even hero's have their faults. Otherwise not a bad effort.

Weak links here have a sort of domino effect. Gerald comes across as quite dim in this story, so Cheryl must be a dumbass herself to go along with his ideas (which marginalise her progress), and MC himself must be some glutton for punishment to let this shit go on at the hands of two idiots.

Never mind reconciliation, it's not clear that getting together in the first place was a good idea. Some of her explanations for the slights against him were pretty funny, though. But understandable if you take the characters to be generally stupid.

Good story! The only plot hole for me was that Cheryl at one point was saying what a help Gerald was to her and then to find out what a knob he was and was harassing her. People who's bosses steal their ideas generally resent that.

Okay I guess? Some of the plot points are tenuous at best. Gerald is a moron but she thanks him and carries on even though she knows he wants in her pants and to steal her ideas? The story is built upon a house of cards and that little statement blew it right over. At most I can give this a 4 but it's less. I just can't give it a 3 but at least there was effort

It's a good story, although the hubby comes off as an overly sensitive crybaby. I'm glad the wife finally opened her eyes to what was happening around her. As to the actions of her British employer, she is a talented person they wanted to keep, so maybe they were super motivated, but I can't see things playing out that way in Corporate America.

Enjoyed the story, thanks for sharing.

5 Big Blazing Stars I enjoyed your story. However, I am sorry for the coming critical thoughts, 1) Early in the story I couldn't tell "who was saying what". So often I am criticized for having the wife "purr" but you don't have to try to figure out who is talking either. 2) I won't complain about the plot progression as this is YOUR story. Just because I would have Beat Gerald's ass and kicked him in the nuts till he lost them is NOT a slam on you. I have always been quick to punch and quick to divorce and ready to start again. Regardless, Thank You for the excellent writing, this was an interesting read. Thanks for the effort. Buster2U

I forgot to mention that I sincerely appreciate the admiration for the "spousal support" at home. For a person to excel in their career, they typically need a stable home life and full support from their spouse. Without the full support from a spouse at home, the success of the business spouse is 'highly unlikely'. In this case, even tho there Never was any evidence of actual sex between the wife and her boss Gerald, the wife was cheating in an emotional affair. That alone was enough to send the wife packing. Lack of appreciation, lack of sex, lack of respect, and obvious disrespect are all more than enough reasons for divorce. Thanks for the effort. Buster2U

I believe thi already excellent story could be improved by adding tincture of editor.

The plot had some holes from my point of view. Chief among them was her reaction at the time of the conference she arrived at which she claimed she didn't know was open to spouses. Once she arrived and knew spouses were allowed she didn't call her husband, she danced with Gerald's hands on her backside and her head on his shoulder, she held his hand and walked with him arm in arm. She advanced a reason for not calling her husband which I consider tenuous at best, but no reason whatsoever for dancing with Gerald with her head on his shoulder, walking with him arm in arm or holding his hand while she had figured out he was trying to have sex with her. Her behaviour wasn't that of a faithful wife.

Her reason for praising Gerald when she got her award, while accepting Gerald's reason for not praising her husband after what she realized at the conference would only have made sense if she was a weak-willed moron, which is not the way the story tries to make her.

Given all of that I thought the husband's uncertainty about how to go forward overly weak on his part.

If she's such a good businesswoman, skilled in interpersonal relations, why was she blind to the situation at home? Not saying it's impossible, but??? Good story. D

Much of what I want to comment on is generally covered by others, so I'll throw out some "tips" that would have tied things together better. (Not that it would fend off all the haters - LOL!) You did a great job giving us the background on Cheryl's action, too good. You checked off one too many points from the "Cheater's Guide" for us to believe she didn't cross the line. I know you know that or you wouldn't have put the sentence at the end claiming the contrary. What you should have done is go back into the story and edit her actions and interaction with Harold so there was more doubt. There were other areas where you tried clever too often rather than a natural flow/progression of where you wanted to go. In general, the prose was well done. Just don't try to do too much with multiple plot lines so the story doesn't get away from you like this one did. 3.7*

Superb.

5/5

What a loving wives story should be.

A genuine issue, a dash of infidelity, and love.

The last is sadly ignored in so many stories of late.

I look forward to reading the other one

Great story, I really liked it. Smart business woman who devoted too much time to her career and not her family. Lucky for her it worked out well in the end, it doesn't always end like that.

5 ***** stars from me.

Very nicely done. An innovative twist.

TC Ireland

Innocent until proven guilty?, holding hands with a man not your husband at a function where you lie to your husband that spouses are not allowed to attend and let another guy hold your butt may not be cheating sexually but it is cheating emotionally which is just as bad. Should have divorced her but well written story 4 stars

Interesting change of events. But still a story similar to others from the UK.

Too much talking about a bitch wife following the slut and betrayal way, well knowing it and hiding it from her husband. So she was not so innocent as this tale concluded. The potential lover, the bad guy, unbelievably admitted his bad intentions, and doing so destroyed his carrier: not credible at all. The MC husband go to war against his wife and her firm, without having the minimum proof: totally unbelievable. Highly incoherent tale that appears more like an unbelievable fairytale.

Well, though this one seemed a bit disjointed regarding details about custody, restraining orders and house selling, I really enjoyed it.

I bought the close and valuable relationship that Cheryl had with Harold and I was experiencing real feelings of loss and sadness over her neglect, disrespect and apparent infidelity toward her husband.

The details about the legal meeting with Gerald seem off as well but I loved how this one was spun and turned out.

Good story. A bit stayed but since he is an engineer it fit well 4/5

Act of forgiving is a virtue.

Even though I just can't get rhough the kind of disrespect Cheryl did to her husband,

but if hubby can forgive her, so be it.

It is what it is It's nice to know they reconciled.

Thanks LJA644.

What BrentJW said.

The setup doesn't quite fit.

I know it's your story and you said she didn't cheat, but with all her moon-eyes at Gerald, the constant praise and the general disrespect... (the only word she spoke to him all night was "pass the pepper'???) then she stands on the stage and thanks the man who she works closely with, but didn't bring anything to the project himself? If she's as brilliant and as intelligent as the narrative makes her out to be, she would know the score. And she wouldn't be withdrawing from hubby.

Two years of giving him the cold treatment, except when she hits him with an extraordinary romp? That's the sort of thing a conflicted woman would be doing.

As a reader, it doesn't wash. Especially when the MC is convinced so easily.

It would be just as likely the company burned Gerald so they could keep her on the job. And more realistic.

4 stars - and that is probably just the differences between North American culture and the English.

An emotional affair can be just as damaging to a marriage as a physical one. She treated him like a second class citizen for years so I don't see the motivation for him to reconcile with her. Maybe the laws are different, but as the primary caregiver, he would have gotten custody. I just didn't like the RAAC aspect of this story.

She may not have cheated in the sense of having sex, just in every other way. She used him quite callously to achieve her ends without regard for anything or anyone else. Your story, so your call, but in my view there are too many stories here in which the poor stupid mc is simply a prop to the wonderful uberfemale. Blech.

Thanks for a good read, LJA.

Buster2U said — "...I won't complain about the plot progression as this is YOUR story. Just because I would have Beat Gerald's ass and kicked him in the nuts till he lost them is NOT a slam on you. I have always been quick to punch and quick to divorce and ready to start again. ...Buster2U"

Really buster? Plenty of your stories based on cuckolded husbands whose wives are hell bent on screwing every black cock on the planet. The wives run off for months leaving the husbands to raise the mixed race kids from their slut wives and bulls. The husbands only see their wives when they return barefoot and pregnant by another black man. The husbands aren't having sex with their own wives anymore as the bulls have cut them off. The husband characters in your stories put up with bullsh!t that statistically no man would ever put up with. I can't recall reading about a husband character of yours who ever went mad dog and rained righteous retribution down on the slut wife and the hosts of lovers she gangbanged in so many of your tales.

Only a stupid moron would publicize one's marital issues and blow up marriage without any real investigation. Wife should have agreed to the divorce because she could no longer trust husband to not hurt her and the family. He also proved that he would humiliate her and divorce without even the most basic communication with her or giving her any chance to explain or make amends Fuck him-- he should have been dropped as a self-centered little twerp that he is.

The story again brings up lawsuits against the employer, when no such action exists in American or English law Sometimes such a lawsuit is just little add on, but unfortunately the litigation stupidity become central in too many stories.

I can accept that Cheryl didn't cheat.

I can see reconciling but, it seemed like it happened too quickly and easily. She treated him like crap for 2 years. Regardless of her claim that she didn't disrespect him, she did. That kind of behavior over that long of a period doesn't get forgiven in a couple of days.

He was just stupid. She did screw him and he taught her about butt plugs and the vibrator scenario.

Good story. The Bear approves. Sometimes, life is just as it seems. We're all human. We all make mistakes, sometimes the wrong decisions. But It would have been higher rated if the fucker had gotten his ass kicked. Still, I love happy endings. Thanks, bud. From the colonies.

The BEAR

It’s a good story. Can’t say he mishandled anything except not holding out or a settlement, but there was plenty to be suspicious of. Her apology didn’t admit much beyond working late. Not defending him when others condescend and disrespected him, was disrespectful. Other than her resignation, her speech was coached. Coming home with the same work proposal as her CEO didn’t seem like a coincidence. A woman doesn’t advance to her level without recognizing sexual intent.

As written, it is difficult to believe she could be that successful, that foolish, and faithful. Sorry. It really was not believable and her attitude even at the confrontation stank.

Yes she did screw Gerald. Harold even commented how easily the butt plug went in. It’s obvious she had been doing that for awhile.

As with many of this typist's texts, the female character is brilliant and in charge, but not so much as to be responsible for her actions. The male characters are invariably held responsible for any negative actions the female character conceived and executed on their own volition. The final piece of the puzzle is the commenters who call that a great story.

I gave you 4*. It's a good story but I hate your British English. Even with that said, the story still needed some editing. Many, many errors.

Nice story, though some of the criticisms about how bad her behavior was and how that makes her non-cheating insistence seem dubious. (And even if she didn’t how could she treat so badly the husband she supposedly loved?) But still a 5, even if shaky.

Good story, well written. Not sure why it took so long to get Gerald fired. Cheryl for being so good at her job, was really stupid not seeing Gerald for what he was.

Thanks for writing 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh yay, we're all subjected to the unfettered idiocy of someoneother again...

"Whilst she was off on paternity leave" - MATERNITY leave.

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"Pretty much all empty threats" - Maintenance isn't an empty threat. If he was the top earner, he's have to pay, even if she cheated.

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"I wanted to come with you to that conference and make a weekend of it, but you told me spouses were not allowed. I have seen all those other pictures, there are lots of spouses." - That's a big one ALMOST as big as recognizing Gerald rather than him at the awards dinner. That's especially bad since she knew her husband was there, and STILL disregarded him.

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How is "not showing him the respect he deserved" different fro showing him disrespect?

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"You told me I had to praise you, and that would look good for both of us if I acknowledged the help you gave me." - And she bought that? Maybe she's not so bright after all!

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They don't need to worry about the restraining order if he doesn't intend to enforce it.

\

Why do these wives ignore their husbands when they warn them about the pussy hound. I know we wouldn't have the story otherwise, but why not have the PH be cooler, show the husband more respect, be less obvious in his flirting?

Eh felt like a was reading a rerun this type of theme doesn't seem to have all that much leeway it was easy to read though flowed well for me thanks for that

Starting to wonder how that company is still in business. The CEO and the lawyer sound too dumb

"I never disrespected you"

Once she led with such a blatant lie, why would anybody believe anything she said?

-

The premise was pretty good, but the story itself failed to live up to it. Rather than making the wife out to be worth a reconciliation, you made the husband out to be so pathetic that he deserved her.

"There was nothing to hide. Sorry sweetheart, if I'd told you he lied, you would have asked why and I would have had to tell you that I thought he wanted to have sex with me. "

.

Nothing to hide, yet she hid it. Can nothing be hidden? No, nothing can be hidden: the truth will out. She hid the fact that she did not go straight home to tell her husband that there is a guy at work that is telling lies in order to have sex with her. It is my belief that most husbands want to know about such situations. Not doing so is a deliberate and intentional act of furthering the probability of adultery, of lying to your spouse by omission, and of putting your spouse at risk. A person that does this is fatally flawed.

.

All bossfucking stories depend upon fundamental character flaws such as the one above and all the other ones mentioned in these comments. Many of the actions stemming from these flaws are simply not believable. And yet they are necessary for the furtherance of the plot. We have all at least heard of bossfucking situations in our rl so there can be no argument that the situation itself is unrealistic. Can it be that each rl instance depends upon the factors presented in LW stories? Then real life contains unreal situations. I have no problem with that.

Engaging story. Thank you

@Anonymous complaining about Buster2U. I never realized until reading your posting that the comments section exists so that readers can take up personal grievances with members who have offered an opinion on a story. Instead of evaluating the story you have just read you have chosen to take issue with another commenter. By the tone of your comment it seems that the real issue is that Buster2U has in the past made your head explode with some of his story arcs. Get a grip. There is a difference between a story told and the storyteller. If you have a beef with a writer's offering air it in a comment on something he has authored or pm the author instead of babbling about it in the commentaries on someone else's story. I do not know Buster2U other than as a welcomed author and frequent commentator in Literotica, but I must say my guess is that he is not overly disturbed by your personal attack. Indeed, if it were me, I would find it highly amusing that having wound you up, to find you repeatedly coming back for more instead of just not reading any more of my stories, but then again I'm not Buster2U. Remember that with personal attacks it is not the individual being attacked that looks the fool. BTW I gave this story 5 stars. It was well written even though I am not a big reconciliation fan. To nuke or not to nuke? That is the question. I can't wait to see what you do with the next incarnation of this story! Thank you for contributing!

1. I am not an author.

2, Starting with the award ceremony I found much of the detail repetitve, excessive

and poorly structured.

3. Plausibility suffered.

4. 4 stars relative to the stories on this site.

Not one of your better stories, but thanks for sharing.

I'll go with The Bear on this one but have no problems in awarding 5 stars

Harold was a bit of a twit. He probably needs to have DNA done on at least the first child

One common theme that runs through stories of this type is one spouse, usually the wife here in LW failing to listen to her husband's concerns regarding the health of their marriage or playing down or even dismissing them altogether. I realise that without this personality trait there would be no story but unless the marriage is already a train wreck the communication surely has to be better?

/

"I hate your British English".

Ummm, how do I break this gently? The English language originates from Britain, or more specifically from England. Therefore every English speaking country in the world speaks it's own dialect of this language that was first spoken in little ol' England. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Not a bad story, but it didn’t stir any emotions for me sorry.

Cheryl didn't betray her husband Dennis with her boss or disrespect him, but she's guilty on both counts. None moreso than thanking Gerald for her success without mentioning her husband once. While the betrayal wasn't sexual, & I've questions on that, it sure as shit smells was emotional. Her explanations was good & solid, probably coached from the CEO & his lawyer. Betrayal's betrayal, just a matter of degree.

As the story's written, I'm glad that there was reconciliation. But Dennis should've demanded some money from the company-- not enough to hurt as he worried about the other employees, which shows his character, but enough for the company to feel at least a little pain. Moreso, his reconciliation with his wife went much too fast. One doesn't go from divorce proceedings to lovey dovey in a manner of what seemed to be hours.

4 stars on an overall well written & told story. Bob

I liked it.

Good plot and fine writing.

It's good for LW to have both cheating stories

and noncheating stories.

A woman can be a bad wife without cheating.

I found it funny when wife said she hadn't disrespected her husband.

Yet she admitted having listened to him without hearing.

If than isn't disrespect, what is?

I have no problem with reconciliation when cheating isn't involved.

You can fix disrespect. But you can't unfuck someone.

So ... nice job LJA644.

Top ratings from me.

An excellent read.

Well plotted. Well written. No unanswered questions. And no holes.

Well done.

Great story. Enjoyed it.

Unrealistic fem-pov fairytale forgiving as always the bitch wife, whatever she did. These sluttish behaviour would lead almost certainly to a dovorce, to say the least. Unrealistic RAAC.

You wrote a very good story. I enjoyed it enough to give you 5 stars from Xluckylee

Hmmm British English is in fact English... It comes from the language the English speak. Quick recap: American English is still English but done badly

That was difficult to read, with MC being a pathetic whiner and everybody falling in line with his whining. Cringe all around.

While he was right, he could have acted a tad more manly.

I love reading the comments section to these stories. It is amazing how people that read these stories almost seem to take theme crazy seriously. I mean assume this is fiction. Even if your spouse and there company ignore you. It is not to supportive to have your point or tantrum made at the company event. You do not crap on da money. You can bust your spouse chops later for being a deceitful ass.

Good story but what jumps out at me is that she is written that in business she is so brilliant yet she did not see what he was doing? She was not "smart" enough to know she was hurting her marriage and so dumb as to never mention a word at all about her family support? When Gerald tells her that mentioning her husband would harm him (Gerald) wouldn't she know that is crap and wouldn't she have told Gerald "I don't care, I am doing it!"?

Those cause me to not score higher. The keeping her bugs me (He should divorce to get the point across even more) but I can see why he would keep her.

So she tells the husband that he has no evidence that she physically cheated and he would have to prove otherwise. No, actually it is her that needs to prove she didn't cheat and proving a negative is damn near impossible. For anyone who believes that she didn't physically cheat I have some awesome beach front property in Arizona that I will sell you cheap.

Well told story.

Bang on story !!

enjoyed it heaps

Very good story!!!

Although I gave good reasons for liking BTB stories I am usually really happy for honest reconciliation. I have read some of the other comments and disagree with some of their conclusions. The author wrote the story as he intended.

I can't decide if you love writing extremely guillible hubbies or extremely guillible wives more. It's a pattern in your stories. Hubby notices textbook cheating behaviour and evidence. Confronts with the intention to divorce. Wife explains away all that shit as a combination of bad luck and manipulation from the douche she was frolicking with. Hubby takes her word and reconciles. So it's either a dumbass taking back a lying slut or a live wire of a marriage with a wife not seeing the most basic pussy hound behaviour. Behavior most teen girls are smart enough to recognize. In either case, the happily ever after you often end your stories with, is very unlikely.

Enjoyed it, but Derek is not a name for a child.

Dereks are recently retired men that drink real ale in the pub out of a glass with a handle, and enjoy a game of lawn bowls. They may play golf at the weekend and still talk about their trip to Spa to see the Grand Prix twenty years ago. They drive a Honda Accord and subscribe the Caravanning Monthly.

They are born this way.

Corporate America stuff like this goes on all the time. Especially the cheating with the traveling and long hours. Also, these type of CEOs feel entitled and think that people that work on them obligated to them. oh well done story.

I enjoyed, and gave it a 4.5, but there's no half a point, so it got rounded up to a 5. I too thought the husband was a little whiny, but after being ignored for the last 8 years, and in particular the last 2 years I suppose he's earned that whine.

I do have to ask this though and maybe you can answer it; I noticed that the writers from the UK, Aus , NZ too(?) spell the word Jail as gaol. Is that correct? Just asking as the first time I saw it in a story on here I thought it was goal, but sounding it out in a sentence didn't make any sense. I do understand that the UK, Aus, NZ and the USA are common people divided by the language. ;-) I only ask that, as I see others like Vandy, Other2other1, and others write out jail like that, and it threw me off when I come across it in a story. I also realize that not all of the writers are from the USA. I was just wondering if that's something ingrained from school, or if it's in the software that you're using to write with? Don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot about the differences between British English and American English over the last 20 or so years.

Like I said, I did enjoy the story, and thought you did a good job working it into a reconciliation story. The way you laid it out would work in real life too, although her "lover" was her job that she was cheating on him with. And there's no fighting that.

I've read and rated many of your stories. I think you are undervalued and underrated by the readers. All 4s and 5s from me.

Author: "I know some of you folk like to make up your own ideas, and that's fine by me, but this is as exactly written. Cheryl never did cheat on Harold, with Gerald or anyone else."

=======> I think author makes it clear she never cheated. The photos though hurtful without context were not cheating. Maybe failed the spouse test, like dancing when away or walking arm in arm down the hallway.

But ... any photographer at an event can catch independent snapshots with no context that might be misconstrued. She had a ready answer and women getting their ass grabbed while dancing and having to move the asshole"s hands is not uncommon, especially if they are attractive. Not to mention the husband traveled to spy on her many times, even a couple of times to conferences leaving his cell phone at home. He saw nothing. This last conference was recent. And she felt conflicted becasuse she didn't want to hurt thr comoany or have her husband landed in jail. Even the husband agreed with that line of reasoning.

Gerald was a thief and a predator, living like a vampire off her ideas and wanted more to cash in even further. He tried to seduce her and she rebuffed him. We never see the CCTV camera footage from the hotel bht it woukd be procurable in a court motion. And the guilt sex wasn't over cheating but her not being plugged into their marriage and working so much and away so often. Remember that last was Gerald's supposed policy. Hence she felt guilty.

And her saying he has no proof of sexual infidelity and saying that adultery not be a reason for a divorce is factual and reasonable. He can of course divorce her for no fault / irreconcilable differences. That is his call.

This story (as the author makes clear) is not about cheating. It is about disrespect, entitlement, and putting a career first. Many of us guys are guilty of that. I was for some years way too career oriented which harmed out marriage. Fortunately, I woke up and we became much happier together. But I have multiple male colleagues who do not respect a wife who is the "house" wife for all they do. Heck my dad wad like that with my mom. It pissed me off. I never disrespected my wife taking care of the kids and the house. If anything I was amazed at her sacrifice and supported her in all her endeavors once the kids left for college.

Her biggest sin was not giving recognition to her husband at the awards dinner, followed by her not sticking up for him when other colleagues including Gerald bashed him. Those were not cool.

Good story. Inverts the gender to recast the story in a LW story. But there was no cheating here. Just a lot of poor communication, disrespect, and guilt. They got over it. See if there had been adultery, they would NOT have gotten over it. But if as a reader you choose to believe that she cheated and is untrustworthy, well that is your circus...

Reading the comments, jeez, I feel like an idiot, not realising the underlying currents in this submission.

YOU are the one wielding the stick,.... What now? Ever heard about some idiot scratching under a Lion's tail with a short stick?

YOU Sir, are talented, I am not going to vote, my conscience just know that this one was a whopper!

Thank you

Ok

She was repentant.

Enough?

She disrespected him lot of years.

Intelligent yet let him play her?

Left the dance floor as soon as ass touched and slapped him even better.

I liked the story you wanted to write better than what you managed to write. I'm still making my way through your other stories; and would probably say the same for all that I've read thus far. Keep posting; I'll continue to read them.

I believe Cheryl. All of it, she removed his hand, she didn't cheat. I take the author's word for what happened in his story. Unlike some stupid people will comment: No, that's not what really happened! I think that's the point you're making at the end.

Very good story, and it looks like you worked everything out in a believable fashion. Always good to see the heel get what he deserves.

Great story, I enjoyed the read. Thanks for your writing.

What GuyfromShades said - plus 5 stars!

This story made me and I came up with this take away from your story. It’s is a strong man who would sink to the bottom while holding his loved ones heads above water.

I think this was at best, average. It appears you had a decent idea for a story but never quite put it together. Another LW story with a restraining order with no grounds for a restraining order. Another LW story with suing the company, or threatening to sue the company, when that isn't realistic. Another LW story with zero communication between spouses. The brief BDSM scene was at least moderately interesting. The MC was the one that kept the most secrets. You never addressed that either. Then there's the lack of any semblance of editing. I think the 3* I gave may have been more than this effort deserved.

If you don't show your husband respect and in fact you are disrespecting him, So the narcissistic bitch wife was totally incorrect. This is the main reason why dumped my first wife. Because her job became her. Be all end all of her existence and myself. And the promise of children early in our marriage was something that I wasn't going to stake my life on. It doesn't matter what gender you are but if you put your business first before your spouse and having kids or taking curve kids that you're a very selfish individual.

The problem isn't just that she may have cheated (OK, the author says she didn't, so have to accept that, and in all honesty there was at least somewhat reasonablyish explanation for the photos and the rest of circumstantial evidence). The problem was that she simply didn't love him enough.

Another RAAC. But what really caught my attention, was the purchase of a Fiat. A Toyota would have been a much more reliable choice. Maybe the MC liked his women and cars, to be unreliable!

The ending was as flat as Kansas. There was hardly any dialog between him and her. And they are BOTH hiding money from tne other? Oh yeah….that’s real trust and communication!

.

3 ***

The wife is too disrespectful to reconcile with, but you seem to love this kind of scenario.

I thought it was a pretty decent story with some of the same things that have happened in other stories. The big difference was that she didn't actually cheat (according to the author as he wrote it). Did she disrespect him? Oh yeah, did she lie to him? Yes again. Did he lie to her? Yes, he hid some stock trading, and the money from it. Most of it was believable, but then the UK laws are different than the US laws on some things, so I don't know. I did enjoy it though.

""""Nothing, I saw nothing. I left my phone at home for that trip. I never found anything. I just had this sense of unease the way she kept on about Gerald, how good he was, how helpful he was.""" SO WHAT does leaving the phone at home have to do with this???

3 stars. So, she has an emotional affair and is married to her job. Says, sorry and he just accepts it. Everything is then rainbows and unicorns. He really needs to grow a backbone. He also needs a loyal and respectful wife. The present one is not it.

A pretty good tale, well told. Four stars from me. The end was rushed, though.

JPB

You seem to have knack of writing husbands who are the equivalent of a teacher actually believing the "dog ate my homework". It's always a series of improbable coincidences and naivety to the point of mental impairment that give the image of adultery. And as long as no cock entered any vaginas no harm is done. It's a pity because that story list has some gems in there, just have to weed through these "wives misunderstood by the universe" types.

Neither story was my cup of tea. The husband was a "house husband" so what did he expect. He whined about a lack of respect which to me is the epitome of action that does not deserve respect. Her twisting of the evidence and him eventually falling in line was again the pinnacle of weakness. Also, one of the stories talks about her lack of being a good mother to the kids. The whole incident was a bit pathetic.

I preferred the second story. Came off as more realistic. Here the first part seems more nefarious, but in reality Cheryl is more "innocent" of the accusations. No she did not cheat (as author stated) and no there was no emotional affair (unlike some of the commenters below who see cheating everywhere). Cheryl was guilty of poor judgment, putting the job first, and listening to Gerald. Hubby only got snapshots at the conference that did not provide full context. Her guilt, and times of low affection or libido, was her guilt over putting the job first. As a husband I have been guilty of that at times in my career, especially when taking my company public. So I can empathize. In this story the marital.ambush by Gerald was at the conference from two months ago. In second story, it was a trickle effect over time and Ralph was more brazen. Here Gerald is stealing Cheryl's ideas and openly confesses in anger to trying to f$ck her. But nothing untoward happened before the conference. Again there was no emotional affair with Gerald. If anything, she had an emotional affair with her job. Lot of the stuff with the comoany got tedious imo. The deus ex machina in the conference room handled all issues in one go. Bit trite, though to be fair Cheryl was more innocent than the wife is the second story. But one sore point is that after she knew Gerald lied to her and he tried to get her into bed, why the heck (ignoring he is her boss) did she cave on not mentioning her husband in her awards speech or give credit to Gerald? That makes zero sense. She should have been more upset. Only thing I can think of the is that she was afraid of blowing up the project and having the company suffer. But even then not telling your husband is a bad and gutless decision and almost cost her marriage. So yeah Cheryl is almost certainly more blameless with all the sudden epiphanies, but the second story came off as more realistic and that wife's song was more heartfelt as a reason to reconcile.

AA82ndAA, are you disrespecting men who step up and be stay-at-home dads? Are you insinuating they aren't men?

Men like that are 10 times the man you'll ever be, you sniveling little piss ant.

Nice plot, had a twist that most don’t.

The story was vastly superior to the pathetic comments from AA82ndAA who is clearly a chauvinistic Neanderthal who furthermore cannot read. Clearly the husband in this story had a career he could accomplish from working at home. Furthermore the fact that he was not threatened by his wife’s success is indicative of a husband with good self esteem who values his wife. Still, in the final analysis, the story did come off a bit too contrived and Cheryl, who is made out to be brilliant, does treat her husband with utter disrespect at that final banquet, for which there is no explanation other than that the author decided to get cute with flimsy misdirection.

I had to read the comments to understand what so irritated me about this story: the husband's non-stop whining was so annoying. -------- On a side note, there are a lot of people who say that people shouldn't get invested here because these are just fictional stories after all, which misses the point of good fiction. And here the author says, "Please just enjoy the stories, they are fiction just like Macbeth." -- Of course, Macbeth was a very real Scottish king.