It’s hard to know even where to begin in the timeline. Essentially, Jean and I were daycare friends. Our kids were besties. We liked each other. She had been to our house for play dates, and Brendan and I had even gone out to dinner (just pre we’re-getting-divorced) with Jean and her husband. We were certainly friendly, if not totally friends.

I remember that dinner as being slightly odd. In recap of the evening, Brendan was full of compliments for Jean and didn’t have much to say about her husband. His comments struck me as odd at the time. I knew where we were headed given our lack of success in couples counseling, and my shackles were up.

But this time, as it turns out, I was spot on.

Brendan asked for the divorce, quickly worked his way through Match, and less than a month or so later, I saw Jean in drop off for daycare. She wouldn’t meet my eye—in fact, she actually jogged away from me. And then I knew. This reeked of Brendan.

As Brendan and I navigated our separation and ultimately our divorce, Brendan and Jean launched into a full on daycare affair. It was fucking glorious. They were absolute entertainment for the daycare staff, and were known to be very demonstrative in the parking lot post drop off. Um, yep.

It was mortifying for me on so many levels. It was hard enough to be going through a divorce under the daycare umbrella where everyone knows your business, but to then have it known that this woman, with whom I was friendly, was now groping Brendan in the parking lot. Ugh. So I just made like steel, held my head up high and plugged away. What else could I do? I had two small darlings that needed me, and a daycare relationship that I needed. I didn’t want the kids to have to endure another change at that point in their lives. They had been through enough.

Sadly, that was just the beginning. As Brendan and Jean’ s relationship progressed, they decided to take it to the next level and move in together.