Quite honestly, this all does not sit well with me today, which is why I can't sleep. So, what's my next move?
I guess this is a pretty interesting situation. What would this old man here do? I'd take my Colt Combat Commander and shove it in Steve's mouth. I'd probably break out all of his teeth in the process. I'd ask him several questions. I'd make the rules simple. One blink means yes. Two blinks means no. Three blinks means he wants me to pull the trigger. And Old Man Gekko is lousy at math. But you won't do that, because unlike me, and probably for the better, you aren't a sociopath. Something I've learned over time is hesitation will always mean no. We learn that real fast in life. You ask someone a question, they pause, get confused, don't know what to say, but no matter what is said, the real answer is always no. "Bob, I'm short this month and I've got nowhere else to go, can I borrow 500 bucks?"Bob thinks about it, pauses, doesn't know what to say. Deep down, no matter if Bob coughs up that money or not, the pure act of his discomfort and silence means he said no. Someone can say no to you and still give you exactly what you want in this life. Lots of married guys here. Some of those women didn't say Yes right away I imagine, some took a week or two weeks in some cases to answer. They might have still married the guy, but the hesitation said the real answer was No. What do you do?Pretty simple here. DO YOU TRUST YOUR WIFE? If you answer is not an immediate yes, then you hesitated and the real answer is no. Doesn't matter if she slept with the guy or not. Doesn't matter what stories you hear or believe or make up for yourself. Doesn't matter the rationalizations you make for someone you probably love more than they love you. All that crap goes out the window. I personally believe that all marriages are based on a series of lies and truth has nothing to do with it, but I realize most people don't feel that way. I understand most people fundamentally believe that this mythical trust is even possible in a relationship. If you hesitate, then your marriage isn't worth saving. If you hesitate, then you will alway have to live in doubt and pain. If you hesitate, in your heart you've already cut bait. You just don't want to face it. And at that point, the only option left is to just get a divorce. You could get a "confession" if you really wanted it, but the cost would be too great to bear. People only confess with the truth when they realize the truth is less dangerous than the consequences of the lie. Based on that alone, no one involved in your mess will ever tell you what you want or need to hear. Life isn't just about finding the answers. It's also about how much time we take to give them.