Subject: Sleeping in the next room
Dear Steve and Shirley, I got married 2 months ago and we are in the process of moving to our new home, which has been owned by my husband’s family for years. We get to stay there for free but the house needs new carpet and fresh paint. My father-in-law has offered to do the work himself, as our wedding gift. I didn’t want to burden him with extra work because we are staying with him while our house is being worked on. He said he’s doing it mostly for me, but I didn’t understand what that meant until recently. A week ago, I stopped by the house to see how the updates were looking. My father-in-law was there with another worker, painting. My hair was down, so my father-in-law walked up to me to put a paper bonnet over my hair. I could smell his cologne and his breath on my neck and at that very moment, I realized that it is only a matter of time before I give in to this man. Here’s the backstory… My father-in- law is handsome, well groomed, with wavy hair and a moisturized beard. He’s turning 50 soon but you can’t tell. He used to flirt with me all the time but he stopped right before my wedding. Now that my husband and I are living with him, I’m finding it harder to resist him. He knows I’m always up late so he texted me the other night, saying “go to bed, beautiful” while I was watching a movie. I told him to come watch the movie with me and he said he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the movie. That’s saying to me that I need to get my husband and I an apartment pronto, before he catches me sleeping in the next room with his daddy. Every part of me is longing for this older, distinguished man. How can I convince my husband that we should move, without telling him exactly why?