All Comments on 'Seeing the Signs'

Intriguing little mess here. Would've been nice to have a final confrontation between Janet and Brad, but things are left hanging fairly well. As for the conclusion, Janet is right to decide upon a strict approach to relationships with men other than Brad. Relaxed setups can work for reliable people with strong moral convictions, which she's already demonstrated doesn't really fit her description. No telling whether she'll be able to stick to her guns in the future, but that's another story.

It's crap for a 12 page story, COMMUNICATION is the only thing they needed in the first place why make it so long and then not put an ending/epilogue about what happened to them after

I liked this story .........unfortunately even if it was true that the PI set her up ......I would still divorce her.

An affair is an affair , even an emotional one.

Who would want to be in a marriage where your spouse takes someone to your special place or thinks of another person when having sex or spends so much time together?. If you write a second chapter please don't let them reconcile.....its obvious that she will succumb the next time she meets the army captain. Way obvious.

Why did it take 12 pages to tell a three page story? Crap like this is why i avoid long drawn out submissions, these and sequel #32 of anything.

After 12 pages you find it OK to left the story hang in the air?

Are you nuts?... Don't answer that!

Instead of END you could wrote ... cumming in Ch. 2...

(I didn't misspell cumming) -1

Janet is still in a state of denial about her relationship with Steve. It was an emotional relationship filled with many episodes that would not pass the husband test. The sheer fact that she kept secret from Brad about all her extra activities with Steve outside of work is proof that subconsciously she knew that the relationship was inappropriate at best. Whether she actually had physical relations with Steve she still betrayed Brad's trust with her behavior and still refuses to accept responsibility for her actions. Not to mention her doctor Vic and her mother warned her she was on a slippery slope that she might not be able to come back from if Brad where to find out about all her interactions with Steve,

I still can't believe that we're still excusing women's bad behavior and blaming it "hormonal" problems instead of an entitled attitude. Its played like a "get out of jail free" card and skirts the idea that people (including women) are responsible for their choices and decisions even the shitty ones.

I notice that Janet didn't offer to take a polygraph test in an effort to prove her innocence. Perhaps she avoided that and feared it'd expose her more than prove her innocence since as far as it being an emotional affair Janet was guilty and knew it but kept denying it. It'd make more sense then the plot device that Brad's PI had a personal grudge against her and deceptively slanted the report to implicate her in an extra martial affair as revenge against her.

Hell of a story. I'm still on the fence about which way this should go with Brad having to decide whether to keep her or not. Janet did make some horrid decisions when she stopped communicating with Brad on exactly what she was doing with Steve. I would at least have her see a counselor about what let her have an emotional affair with Steve. I got a little bored with some stuff being covered twice even if it was from two different prospectives. I'm giving you a 5* just because Janet didn't physically cheat and you did write one hell of a story. Thanks.

I still think you write very well, but this was just too much writing that, in the end, said nothing. An emotional affair is in some ways worse than making it physical. You have the ability to write, but if the two stories today are an indication that all of your work will celebrate cheating wives I won’t waste time reading twelve pages to be disappointed.

Her having the dinners with him was enough to end marriage. I would.

But ending it like that dropped it to a 3. Wanted to see him get off the plane with a hottie so she could "feel the burn". Good story but spent too much time to be left hanging. Leave the bitch for the emotional affair. She'll be sorry then.

But needs to be finished. The assumption would be that since he cancelled the extension, they would work it out.

Idea for a follow-up flash story. At the end Janet was thinking "if Steve attends the conference next year, what will happen? Can I answer that truthfully?" I think writing a flash story about what happens the following year at the conference if Steve showed up would make interesting reading.

That's about 110-120 in Word.

I'm sorry too many secrets kept from her husband. Taking personal time with a work buddy and not with her family. Maybe she didn't physically cheat but her decisions showed too much disrespect towards her husband and family.

You really hade wondering about that PI and tied it together well.

On 1/20/21 Annony wrote he(or she whichever) stated he found 12 pages too long to sit through. My statement and question was it is a free story site to be read for off duty hours and no tests for memory required. Does he want a 1 page quick story?

Girl meets guy, guy seduces girl, have good sex, girl returns home, husband kicks her to curb. There Annony you have a short loving wife story that won’t tax your reading skills or impatience.

You are welcome.😁

🤔🤦‍♂️😎

she lied to her husband plain and simple, kick the bitch ut the door and let her marry Steve!

but where in the story did she tell her husband she was seeing a doctor for menopausal problems or that she was taking pills to relieve her symptoms. She throws that out there and he doesn't call her on it. People everywhere are telling her that she is messing up by not going along with her husband's wishes about her personal Jody but she knows best and even talks to herself about it maybe being a bad thing to do. Kind of reeks of entitlement and disrespect. Most of what she did was actionable and none was defensible. I can't see a real life situation where this kind of behavior is condoned. She claims falsified information and conspiracy but some of the stuff she denies is what her husband recorded verbatim. Out of context maybe but she continually put herself in situations that led to her situation. Story wasn't badly done, especially if you continue it and have her face the consequences of her actions. At no time was she a faithful wife, in thought or deed.

Unless there is a squeal, a logical ending as needed.

This needed an editor. You don't have 12 pages of story here.

1 star

12 pages to go nowhere? Also the military isnt going to send the typef huy who will fuck another mans wife to scout ahead when that man can ship the plans for classified military hardware to foreign governemnts in revenge

This whole thing played out like an episode of Three's Company with all these "innocent" situations happening that "could" have lead to sex but then were explained. The Husband is Mr.s Roper and our young military man is Jack and of course, Janet is Chrissy. Then Janet becomes Perry Mason in The Case of the PI who wants to be arrested! It kind of fizzles with the wife dancing around the issue, the usual problems of hormones + empty next + men at work = possible infidelity. As a reader the thing that threw me off was seeing the same part of the story shown through the lens of the husband, then the wife, or vice versa and that made it drag out. I kept thinking that was overkill. And I get nuts when the children (Adult or young) get brought into the infidelity reveal. It's too over the top I think. I never got the full impression that Steve was truly a bad guy, he put out some half-hearted feelers there because Janet was giving off the vibe and he was reading her right but he really didn't push too hard until the end where he knew it was over. Anyway, a decent read, definitely one you might want to revise at some point down the road or let any sequel writers have a crack at it if you are done.

and then you end it hanging

Your husband gets home... maybe, because he has a fiancee in waiting coming back with him?

I had to skip the equivalence of 9 pages to get to the end. This was REALLY 'too long in the tooth'/ Try to get the shit together in a more condensed version and repost it, maybe? you have the 'gift of gab' down pat, you just need to learn the 'gift of brevity' is a plus in story telling.

"Anonymous about 5 hours ago

12 pages of repetitious crap

and then you end it hanging"....... You said it quite well, Anon.

I enjoyed your story, couldn't wait to finish reading it until I got to the end to see what happened and at that point it failed. I would personally like to see you work on a better ending for it. Not just "here is your sign". Do they get back together, show the raw intimacy of reconciliation.

Feeding each other dessert is so very inappropriate. She was being silly the whole time and deserves a long time to prove herself to Brad, her kids and to herself before she achieves any forgiveness. As to Brad bringing a woman home with him, that doesn't happen in Saudi Arabia.

An interesting take on the cheating wives scene, with a little temptation, a little hormone confusion, a lot of suspicion and just poor decision making by everyone involved. Scary to think that someone with so little judgement had any kind of security clearance. Finally, I have to comment on the length, something I don't normally complain about. In this case, the length served to drag out the premise for what felt like a painfully long time, only to end in what feels like a rushed manner.

I can see some decent potential here, it just needs to find some direction.

A little long, but a pretty goo

But she was guilty of having an affair! The excuse was immaterial as it was always a lie - she did have have an affair!

Not sure he should stay with her. She only came clean when confronted. She even wondered what she would do if Steve was at the convention next year.

So many comments about this being long and it was long 12 fucking pages of dribble. But Janet was one dumb bitch, could have avoided so much if she told the truth and heeded her husbands words. NO LUNCH DATES. And then you leave us hanging WTF man??

this is a terrible ending finish the story please... its long but its good come on.

lOW,

I hung in there and finished it. I'm glad I did. Well done and very detailed set of errors and misconceptions. I could imagine being in Brad's shoes. I really felt for Janet but it was hard when she started making obvious mistakes. It was clear something was amiss and that Jan might salvage things when the tapioca test came back as semen.

I didn't think the story really needed more completion until Jan rambled on about the two-week sword stuff. Now I'd appreciate seeing a complete redolution.

Tapioca tested positive for semen what the hell was she into, kinky bitch. Lol.

A very profound and wise story told excellently. Under this premise many should re-evaluate D.Trump and his team of corrupt helpers! Only trust what you have seen yourself or what absolutely loyal people show you!

Brad and Janet? Was there a Frank n Furter? Glad I read some comments 1st, not read, no score.

I agree with commenters who would like to see some outcome of this woman's selfish stupidity.

Janet made a very big early error and I quote" I know him so well, perhaps better than I know myself! She neither knew nor respected her husband. A reconcilliation is not the way to go.... this bitch is a divorce waiting...and deserving to happen. Brad is on a hiding to nothing here. Loved the story, well written and entertaining. Thank You. All these stories about selfish, disrespctful women can't ALL be wrong and/or misleading.I'm sure there is a preponderance of this vile breed somewhere!

There is an old saying that applies here: "Believe none of what your hear, and half of what you see".

Well DAMN.is that it????

There has to be an ending to this tale of suspicion and emotional cheating. She LIED to her husband, Brad, many times. She didn't stop seeing her Captain 'friend ' especially when Brad asked her not to. She even disrespected her husband by not telling him about inviting Steve to the bar-b-que. Also about her alone time with Steve, going out of town to see about a car - twice. She even said " If I were to have an affair, it would be with you, right here right now" and " I think we were less than an item, but more than work buddies". There were a lot of things she did she shouldn't have done. She WANTED to cheat, bottom line. She didn't think she was doing anything wrong, even when her mom TOLD her to come clean and tell Brad what she was doing with Steve. We need to 'finish the damn story'. Does Brad accept her lying ass excuses, even though some were false. Does he chose to forgive and remain married or are her lies enough for divorce. This was a well thought out story. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions.

I enjoyed reading the first eleven pages and most of page twelve. After committing to the storyline to have it end the way it did ruined the entire premise. It needed to have some closure between Janet and Brad. Does the family emerge from the battle victorious? If not, why did Janet's evidence fail to convince Brad or the children? Way too many questions and a weak ending to what had been a fantastic story of temptation and the ability to overcome it all the while appearing guilty of impropriety. Please write a sequel and in the spirit of another Literotica author, FTDS, Finish The Damn Story!

12 pages gives of over the top ridiculous contrived nonsense. And there still Is not a complete ending.

The biggest flaw in this ridiculous stupid long winded poorly gone story is the fact that the wife of never told her husband about men a pause and the doctor's appointment. Because of that lack of information events which can be easily explained such as a lubricant Is misinterpreted in meaning something else.

Just crap

Great story but you did not end it.

WHICH I DO MOST OF THE TIME, THINK i'LL PASS ON THIS ONE!

While this is a long story without a proper ending it does pose an interesting idea. In that things you o can easily be mis-interpreted given the right conditions.

Maybe she did not have intercourse but to say she did not cheat would be an out and out lie. Even with her supposed proof, it would be difficult for the husband to stay. If it were me, it would probably take a few years before I would ever trust her again.

Oh, if I had just told him about . . . Oh, If I hadn't tried to hide my innocent lunch meetings. Maybe I should have said this, or shouldn't have said that, or should have been more open and honest instead of deceitful and ambiguous. Is that all you've got?

Why not just base the plot on real human frailties and emotions? But then you couldn't have the suspense of all the missed and crossed communications. Steve wanted to fuck her, married or not. She admired and connected with Steve on an emotional and intellectual level, and wanted to connect on a physical level. She did not cheat. She definitely strayed.

Appreciate the effort. Hope next time you can find a more imaginative plot device than failure to communicate.

There's no denying she had an emotional affair.

Until she admits that to herself, she cannot move forward. Nor can her husband.

All of the LW stories you have written here on Lit suffer from the same issue. No Closure. We are left to imagine how it ends every time.

That's lazy! Put on your "grownup pants" and pick an ending....even an ending I or someone else hates is better than no ending at all.

Grant

You can’t trust her she lies. If you lied once you will again. I would kick her to the curb.

....fairly easy to folliw. Interesting ideas.

The problem I have is the ending. I get the poetic touch of the plaque and so forth. Its a good concept. You wish to push forward a moral point. But it seems to be a common theme with your stories. Most who read the cheating spouses section of Literotica desire to have closure....whether good or bad there needs to be an ending.

I think this is mostly because of the fact that in real life most folks never get to have closure...especially the men with how badly they get screwed in court. Generally speaking.

I think you will get higher scores and possibly better feedback if you try it sometime. Just end a story. Have the characters find closure. Just an opinion and take it for what it is worth.

Thank you I enjoyed your story. My initial comments were to blast the laziness of the PI but that of course was part of your plotline, but that was me preparing to write a comment at the end. I was disappointed that Brad was ignorant about the seriousness of the annual conventions that his wife was involved with. It is a shame that the ending was pulled up short.

Compelling story and worth the time spent seeing the writing on the wall and understanding the pit of hell being dug.

Thanks

Good story. I agree that it stopped short. Throughout, the perspective alternated between Jan and Brad. It would have been better if Jan’s last segment was broken into 3 parts, by inserting 2 Brad segments: first, his thoughts during the fist weeks in SA; then as he reviewed the packet against Ray.

One of the best things I've ever read on Literotica! Worthy of a film!!!

While most seem to have accepted the authors ending...I find it difficult to digest!

If it was above board...why not tell her husband, why lie even when he cornered her about Christmas leave? So no I don’t think she was a mislead woman...she crossed her wedding vows...emotionally fantasising about Steve is adultery!!! No second chances! And the ending was pretty lame ...we needed a closing dialogue between her and Brad after he comes back! Symbolisms do not work

Harsh ending. leaving the reader. out. 3 is all i can give for it. I know you want to leave mystery and all that bullshit, But it is like ripping out the last 4 pages of a novel.

Decent story about a terrible and disrespectful wife. The evidence she gathered about the P.I would allow me to remain friends with her, but a divorce is still the road ahead.

And not finishing the ending seriously detracted from the story. I'd rather read an ending I hate than none at all.

You have to remember that most of these stories have nothing to do with marriage, relationships or sex, they are fantasies that real bottom of the barrel pieces of shit have and tell each other about being treated as if they didn't continue to act like the bottom 1% of humanity they are. In these fantasies, the normal worthwhile people who's respect they are fantasizing about, suddenly have a personality or memory evacuation, which results in them ignoring the reality around them which they were previously reacting to.

Lies of and from the heart! If she was so pure, as she tried to make herself sounf, then let him do the same deceit against her and see if she gets her panties in a wad.

1 star - WAAAAY too many holes in this plot except one - AVOID EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY.

Janet had too many examples of impropriety and that started right from the very first moment she saw Steve.

Page 1 bored. Last page bored. Won’t rate it

Since I didn’t read it

Way too long. Should have posted a condensed version. Lost interest follow page 5. ~ 2 ~

Wayy to friggin long and then to stop with an assumed ending. Bery disappointing

So let’s blame it on a lying PI or let’s look at the facts - this wife lied continuously to her husband. She new she did and did it knowingly over and over. She disrespected her husband by engaging in a way that was going inappropriate and against her husbands wishes.

She withdrew emotionally from her marriage and stopped talking to him. She was constantly later than she needed to be while spending time with this guy.

She withheld important things from her husband, her best friend etc etc, her menopause most importantly. Had she talked to him about this it would have explained so many things. The low mood, the birth control pills, the lubrication. (All key points that led him to assume they were having a physical affair.

The night before the farewell breakfast she was almost convinced to go to his room and only changed her mind at the last minute.

Even her mother told her how she was messing up but she carried on lying.

So, being that husband, she would be very wrong in presuming I’d realise she was innocent and go back to the life that had.

Then to end it, what if she meets Steve a year later at a conference?

There wasn’t a physical affair by a touch of luck but certainly in every other way it was an affair.

At the very least the wife should accept she was wrong about how she lied and disrespected her family. Yes technically she didn't physically cheat but emotionally she certainly did somehow she has to win her husbands and Childrens trust. Also I am a firm believer in the would be seducer should feel some pain and misfortune. But you seemed to indicate they lived happily ever after, well it's your story.

The he thought and she thought writing concept was interesting. I enjoyed the story.

12 pages. Good grief

you need to look at how long your stories are. If they need to be long that's fine, but this was 12 pages long and we didn't even get an ending!

It was very good but you left us hanging with a proper ending!!!

Excellent story about temptation and dishonest PI's, but in the end your story left the reader hanging, I guess the answers to this story and others is contained in your story "Closer Cop". So, I am off to read that story to see if there is the closure for some of your stories.

A good one. Thank you.

Ed

12 pages and THAT'S where you end the story?! Are you freaking kidding me?

I look forward to reading the ending

Too long and not and ending! You left it open ended! Wow 3*

To be honest..I read the first 3 pages, then skipped to the last. I feel that I didn't miss anything.

You stretched the story out so much... then chopped off the end. Why?

Clever concept, comedy of errors and all. Good writing. But man ........ NO REASON WHATSOEVER for dragging this to 12 pages. I skimmed paragraph after paragraph after paragraph and didn't miss anything. We saw the plot right away.

You have a talent, the character development was good, but if you learn how to write with more precision you could be a great writer.

One never knows of delays in a +12 hours flight, or the troubles a spot of bad airport food, might cause before reaching the destination.

But an interesting twist on a standard trope, none-the less. And mechanically well written.

4-stars

Where the H is the ending????????

Is this or was this a joke??????

You drag your supposed valued reader fan club through page after page with a pretty well written story - then!!!!!!!!

We have a fear of heights and falling, and you went out of your way to just drop us over the edge after an incredibly long dragged out build up??????

Did they or didn’t they?

Did he or didn’t he?

WTFinish…..

This story and us are crying out for a beautiful forever and ever renewed vows ending!!!

How dare you……..

SW

I read the whole thing. I like the plot and the character developement BUT it was to indepth once the plot was established. By page 3 I already knew how it was heading toward its end. I give it a 4 stars. It should have had an ending not left open and just dropped off like you did. I am not sure if you were leaving it open for others to finish or you are writing an ending for this story. That was the disappointing thing I think was how it ended. Anyway it was enjoyable reading and hope your other stories are also well writen

Zeb

Well done.

Would have been 5 but for the lack of a real ending. Would have liked a final close where the two resolved their marital status.

I was always squeaky clean at work. When we were at a hotel training I would not even go into a females bedroom in the day (lunch) or later even if there was multiple persons in there. My wife, the one time wife, was not squeaky clean and got involved with persons that she should not have. Yes, they came to the house and she let them in. I told her when we were going out, engaged and when married do not get too close to persons. She did and she divorced me for getting on her back about it and leaving me with trust issues. After she informed me of seeing someone after work in their classrooms and after she divorced me I found out a year later in the finance papers (she divorced me in a late August) and shacked up with someone in the early September. She had me up for unreasonable behaviour. All I was trying to do was get her to understand her actions would break us apart. She still blames me 3.5 years it took the divorce to go through.

One of the very best stories on this site!

Way too long. Making a mountain out of molehill. The plot idea is cute but this is waaaaaaaay too much stretching.

10 pages too long and nothing after, 10 pages of suspicion. i wanted a divorce from both of them after that. wow u dragged that out

1 star for NO ending - no matter how well it was written.

I love this story until the ending. I would have given it a 5 but I ended up giving it a 4. It's terrible stop the story before everything comes to conclusion.

I finished page 5 and was convinced that this was going to be one of those awful stories where two people mess up a marriage because they don't talk to each other. Considering that they have been very happily married for 21 years this makes no sense at all. I don't know how they're going to screw it up and whether they'll figure it out before she hops into bed with Steve, but I realize that I don't care. I'm just not going to make it to (unbelievable) page 12! It's a dumb premise and I don't want to go through the crap with the author and his unlikely pair of idiots. 2* and no more of this author!

I like the idea of a PI making false information, but I only read page 1 and 12. After just 1 page of nonsense, rambling words, I skipped to the "non ending" and I am happy I missed the boring 10 pages.

I liked the story, but I needed the emotional payoff of their reconciliation. After all the words, that needed to be included. By the way, it pisses me off when commenters leave a comment when they don't even finish the story and they don't know what they are talking about. Move on, and tell the world what you ate for lunch via social media, we don't need your trivial thoughts when you don't show a minimum of respect for the effort that went into writing the story.

Just way too long. Repetitive and in spots very boring. Get a good editor.

Way too long for the payoff at the end which is extremely contrived. By the way, our girl Jan never mentions the stern advice from her mother to tell the husband about everything that has been going on and the same stern advice from her Doctor friend to stop being in close proximity to Steve.. And at the very end she's contemplating what she would do if Steve attended the next years conference? WTF? He came onto her at the final meeting explicitly asking her to cheat. If she's still thinking about the guy, there is a real issue.

An observation: Janet and Steve had an emotional affair and of that there is no doubt. Another observation, Janet ignored the requests of her husband not to be alone with Steve and totally ignored it. One thing that never came up in the analysis of her behavior. Flirting and holding hands between Steve and Janet. A question: how many readers hold hands with someone of the opposit sex in a restaurant who they have just met, much less expect their spouse to not believe an affair was happening.

Still all in all a good 4* story.

anon.1

So much disrespect is was an emotional betrayal.

It was a great story with a few holes IMHO. It would have been nice to see how their meeting went even if the final outcome didn't reveal if they stayed together or not. I wanted io give it 4 1/2 stars, but since I couldn't I gave it a 5 since I believe it was closer to 5 than 4. Thanks for spending the time to write and share this story.

Good story. Enjoyed reading it. Interesting all the signs (well, actually Janet's poor decisions, unwise actions, deliberate actions, lack of respect for her husband, giving off the impression of evil whether it was or not, asking her husband who had a vasectomy to use a condom? etc.) that made it obvious to Brad that Janet was having some type of affair whether it was emotional &/or sexual versus Janet's supposedly innocent growing fondness with Steve when she knew that she thought constantly throughout the whole story wanting it be more (dreaming about Steve while having sex with her husband, really wanting Steve to take her to his hotel room, etc.) She can try to deny it all she wants but she was having an emotional affair Steve. On top of that she was forcefully warned by her long-time friend & doctor and even her mother to stop what she was doing but she didn't. I guess that she thought she could blame her hormones for her foolish decisions and actions to Brad for her foolish, willful decisions and actions...I don't think that would work with Brad.

Finally, at the very end of the story she gets saved from her poor decisions, foolish actions and emotional affair b/c the private investigator was out to get her???? Wish the author had left that out. That was so ridiculous! What is the probability that out of all the PI's Brad would pick the one that wanted to destroy Janet??? Plus, if he wanted to destroy Janet the PI could have done it in a variety of ways and certainly not have to wait, hoping her husband would work in his office. Great story just leave that out.

A little long and many parts were repetitive due to the way the story was told. The ending was also somewhat vague. Overall though, it was a nice story.

As enjoyable as your story was you end it with what was obvious early. So very disappointing. Brads response to his wife picking him up, if you will, would have made for a great lesson in the proverbial emotional affair. Just saying!