15. STAKE OUT FOR AN UNFAITHFUL NURSE
Had a suspicion that the wife was seeing someone else. She had been acting “off” for about a week. We would be sitting on the couch and she would get text messages claiming to be from a female friend, yet she would always set the phone face down.
A few nights later she tells me that she is going to go cover a shift for a nurse co-worker who just had a miscarriage and that she would be working late.
That night I woke up out of a dead sleep with my heart racing, with just a feeling that something was wrong. I snuck over to her side of the bed, took her phone, and went out into the living room to go through her text messages.
Sure enough, she had detailed plans to meet up with some guy at a hotel to have sex. I took photos of the texts with my phone as future evidence.
I went back to bed, returned her phone, and just laid there contemplating my next steps. I finally just laid awake for about four hours until it was time for me to get up for work. I knew they were planning on meeting in the afternoon at the hotel, so when I arrived at work I told my boss that I needed a half-day and possibly a few days off afterward.
About an hour before their planned meetup time, I drove to my brother-in-law’s house. I let him know what was going on and asked to borrow his truck so that I could witness their arrival with my own eyes. He made me promise not to confront them. I showed up at the hotel parking lot and about 30 minutes later, they both arrive in his truck.
She was dressed in her work outfit. After they went in, I snuck around to his truck and deflated all his tires (not slashed because that’s a bigger crime). She had carefully planned to cover her tracks. She took our two kids to the babysitter dressed in her scrubs to appear like she is going to work.
Then drove her car to the parking garage to have him pick her up there, knowing I might drive by her work to see if her car was there. I left the hotel, went back home, piled every picture we had ever taken together along with photos of our kids on the kitchen table.
I packed a bag for myself and the girls and drove down to my hometown to stay with some friends. On the way there, I called the hotel and asked to be connected to the room under her name.
She answered and I don’t remember exactly what I said, but something to the effect of “I know where you are and I know what you’re doing…” She wasn’t really phased until she heard our girls in the backseat laughing and signing.
Then she broke down and begged me to come back. I told her we needed a few days away and that they deserve a better mother than her and hung up. She called me constantly and I just sent it straight to voicemail for the next few days.