After their children were born, Lisa’s husband, James, left his job and became a stay-at-home dad. But when Lisa notices significant changes in James’ appearance, she wonders if something else is happening.

I’m Lisa, and I’m a workaholic. But I’m also a mom and a wife. My husband, James, is a stay-at-home dad, the backbone of our family.

After our second child, Ezra, was born, James made the selfless decision to leave his job and take care of our children. It made sense because my career had begun to soar. And James was going through burnout.

“I just need some time to reevaluate my career,” he said when he mentioned quitting his job and taking over the childcare.

Lately, life has been a whirlwind, and the last few weeks have been especially tough for me — I’ve been made partner at the legal firm I’ve been at for years.

And as much as I love my job, it has taken me away from my family.

James, on the other hand, has thrived at being a stay-at-home dad. He does all the cooking and cleaning and has recently taken to baking fresh bread weekly.

When my husband worked a regular 9-5 job, he spent his lunch hour at the gym where we met. But since he began staying home, James has given in to his lazy side, barely exercising, and gaining weight.

Due to work, I barely have the energy to play with the kids at the end of the day.

Unfortunately, this has also started to spread to my relationship. James and I always talk, especially at night when we’re having dinner, but I haven’t been paying attention recently.

So, yesterday evening, I got home exhausted. I just wanted to have a glass of wine and crawl into bed.

“What’s wrong?” James asked as I kicked off my shoes when I walked through the door.

“I’m just so tired,” I said, tears threatening to escape.

“Come here,” James said, wrapping me up in his arms.

That’s when I felt the change — in that fleeting moment, I was shocked to see that he had lost weight. Beneath his oversized and faded t-shirt were the muscles I once knew.

Surprised, I asked him about it.

“Didn’t I tell you?” he asked, walking me to the kitchen, where dinner was waiting. “I’ve been going to the gym just before fetching the kids from school. I just needed something new. Something different to focus on other than cutting fruit into stars.”

“Well, it’s definitely paying off,” I smiled at him.

He smiled back and I noticed that his teeth were different too.

“Sorry, love,” he said. “I think I forgot to tell you I went to the dentist. Remember when Ezra had that sore tooth, and I took him to the dentist? While waiting for him, I read through a pamphlet and decided to get in the chair myself.”

I was glad that James was taking time off for himself. But that quickly changed when loading laundry into the washing machine before bed.

There was an unfamiliar perfume clinging to his clothes. I ignored it for a moment, not wanting to confront the possibility that my husband may be seeing someone else.

But curiosity got the better of me when I picked up James’ discarded jeans lying on the floor — there was a date and time written behind a business card.

I got into bed, wondering what James was doing when I was at work.

Unable to bear the uncertainty, I decided to follow him earlier today. I knew the time, thanks to the note. I followed my husband after he dropped the kids off at school, and found that he was going to a jewelry store.

I watched him from my car, looking at his fitted shirt and jeans. He looked so much younger and as handsome as the day I’d met him.

James walked into the store, and a brunette appeared. She reached out and held onto his arm.

A conclusion already formed in my mind — my husband was cheating on me with this woman.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and I couldn’t wait to get home and confront him. A part of me blamed myself. Surely, I had a small part to play — I was always absent, so maybe James had found solace in someone else.

But when I walked into the house, nothing unfolded as planned. The kids were at James’ sister’s house. And the husband I was suspecting of infidelity was sitting on the couch with a massive bouquet of flowers. He jumped up when I walked into the living room and knelt before me.

“Lisa Mary Green, will you marry me again?” he asked, his eyes shining.

Teary-eyed and confused, I confessed everything. James laughed, unable to fathom that I thought he was cheating.

“That woman is Maxine. She works at the store and gets a commission whenever someone buys something. So, best believe, she was trying to get me to buy everything,” he laughed.

He admitted feeling that he wasn’t the man I had fallen in love with — and he thought I had thrown myself into work because I wasn’t attracted to him anymore.

“I never stopped loving you, James,” I said. “Of course, I’ll marry you again!”

I’m in bed now, lying next to my husband, who has put so much effort into himself, for me, and I’m scrolling through Pinterest for wedding vow renewal ideas.

I couldn’t be happier.

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