The Dating Detectives - The Case of the Missing Paychecks

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

After escaping a difficult first marriage, Emmy thought she knew exactly what red flags to look for, and when she met Noah, he seemed to be everything she had been missing: loving, dependable..., devoted to his family, and just as committed to building a healthy relationship as she was. But as marriage, a new baby, cross-country moves, mysterious jobs, missing paychecks, and increasingly frequent work trips begin to pile up, small inconsistencies start turning into questions Emmy can’t shake. Then, one seemingly ordinary conversation cracks open a secret she never could have imagined, and suddenly she’s forced to question just how much of the life she built with her husband was ever real. Click here to join our Patreon! For only $5 a month you will get 2 extra episodes a month, monthly virtual live events, and access to our community page. And now for $9 a month you can get all of that, plus ad free episodes!If you've been dogfished and want to share your story on the show, email investigate@thedatingdetectivespodcast.com or contact us through our website using this linkhis episode of The Dating Detectives is sponsored by Quince. Visit quince.com/datingdetectives for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.This episode of The Dating Detectives is sponsored by Velvet Caviar. Visit velvetcaviar.com and use code DATING at checkout to buy one phone case or matching accessory and get one free.This episode of The Dating Detectives is sponsored by Miracle Made. Visit trymiracle.com/tdd and use code TDD to save over 40%, get an additional 20% off, and receive a free three-piece towel set.This episode of The Dating Detectives is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off at betterhelp.com/tdd.***The following Program contains names, places and events that have been anonymized or fictionalized for the purposes of protection and safety. The following Program is provided for entertainment purposes only and any commentary from the hosts are strictly conjecture and should not be held as making any definitive statements about the truth or identity of any particular individuals or circumstances.If you or a loved one are involved in an abusive relationship, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for support.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The following program contains names, places, and events that have been anonymized or fictionalized for the purposes of protection and safety. The following program is provided for entertainment purposes only, and any commentary from the hosts are strictly conjecture and should not be held as making any definitive statements about the truth or identity of any particular individuals or circumstances. If you or a loved one are involved in an abusive relationship, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7-233 for support. Happy dating detectives Monday. Happy dating detectives Monday. Hi Hannah. Hi, McKenzie. We have quite a story today.
Starting point is 00:00:47 One of my favorite things about the story is how strong her friendships are throughout and made her like at every turn as hard as it gets. She was like, I can get through it. And shout out to whichever friend recommended us to her and helped her submit. This is still super fresh, you guys. So this is kind of a, we hear a lot of stories. Yeah, like this month. when it blew up. Yeah. And so we hear a lot of stories of people going through this and then how they've
Starting point is 00:01:13 dealt with it and how they've healed. And this is still ongoing as far as her deciding how she's going to move on and stuff like that. So any support is obviously great. So yeah, it's still really fresh. Yeah. So her name's Emmy and she is great. You will love her and be inspired by her. And also I'm sure joined the army of people supporting her as she processes everything going on right now. Like it's, I was wondering, like, as she was telling her story, I'm like, well, this is interesting and I just, I knew that obviously she's on our show. So something's going crazy. Something happened. I was like, I don't know. He sounded like a delight. I was a, like, I got to tell you, I was a little bit shocked at what he did. Like, I don't know. And I'm not.
Starting point is 00:02:00 If McKenzie shocked, then you know it was out of left field. I didn't. expect it. So I really think you guys are going to appreciate this because it just goes to show you that you never freaking know. I would love, we have a comment section. If you listen on Spotify, we also have Patreon. I would love you to, you know, if you write something about the ending, put spoiler first. But like, tell us what you think he was doing because I had suspicions and they were like partially correct but man i didn't like i didn't think everything that happens happened so if there's any point where you have a i like to say a w t f moment or a suspicion yeah yeah we'd love to get your comments and you can always discuss all the episodes further on our patreon it's five dollars a month you get
Starting point is 00:02:49 two bonus episodes and you get a whole community of sleuthies who want to gab with you and we post updates sometimes and just like do live stream sometimes so it's It's just a cool, cool community. We really appreciate and love you guys. Thank you for being so supportive of everyone. And thank you for being here. Should we get into it? Let's do it.
Starting point is 00:03:10 Let's do it. Hello, Emmy. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited. Thank you so much. If that's okay, we'd like to give you the floor so you can go ahead and take us away. Okay.
Starting point is 00:03:30 So I'm a mom and a hairdresser by trade. I've been married once before and we weren't married for very long. We were together longer and we had a son and then had a daughter. But before we had the daughter, we got married. So we were married in like a November and by March we were separated. You know, he struggled with addiction and he was just a big time narcissist, which I didn't notice, but my friends did during that time. And when I separated from him, I started learning about what a narcissist is.
Starting point is 00:04:00 And so I was really hypersensitive to that, you know, like the verbiage and how when you talk to somebody else who dealt with a narcissist, you're like, did they go to the same university or something? Oh, yeah. Yeah, how do they learn the same stuff? I don't know. I have no idea. It's wild to think about how a narcissist, they don't know each other, but they behave and talk the same way and the same verbiage. So when I separated from him, I was in Colorado and started working in a local salon. and just trying to put my life back together with my two little kids.
Starting point is 00:04:34 And it took about two calendar years to just divorce the man. So it took a lot of my energy, all of my free time. It was exhausting on all levels. He never even showed up to the court hearings. So the judge said, well, he's had plenty of time to dispute anything further. So he signed my divorce degree and I left a divorce woman. And I had tears, but they weren't of sad. It was like a, you know, like it was just like a closure thing.
Starting point is 00:05:05 Relief kind of done and I was relieved. I was so excited in charge. Like finally this chapter is closed. But in the town I lived in, super small town, got to know a lot of people. And so I had all these friends and they were encouraging me. Now that your divorce is final, you need to start dating again. So they kind of nudged me. And I was very clear.
Starting point is 00:05:26 I was like, I'm not looking for hookups. This was 2019, 2018. 18 and how do you meet people? It's all online. You don't meet people organically anymore. And like, I don't go to the bars. I don't go to the clubs. I don't do that. So plus I was like in my 30s. So it's like raising two babies. Yeah, exactly. So I was on the Tinder and I was like, oh my God, you know, because those people are very specific. They want just hookups, you know. And so a friend of mine had told me, hey, I use this at Bumble. And it's very specific. It's very intense. It's very intense. intentional and it kind of filters out some of those people. So I created a profile in the Bumble,
Starting point is 00:06:06 but I was very intentional. I was very upfront about what my wants and desires were for the future. Because on Bumble, you can put have children want more children or have children don't want more children. And I had specified, I have children and I don't want more children because, you know, I was in my late 30s and starting over would be like a nightmare, you know, because my kids were also like both approaching. to be both in school. Right. So then I meet Noah and we were messaging on the bumble app.
Starting point is 00:06:39 Before we even exchanged numbers, we were talking about goals. And I told him I loved adventures and where in Colorado there's like you throw a rock in any direction. There's a mountain. There's a hiking trail. There's a biking trail. There's all sorts of outdoor things you can do. And he was like, I love nature.
Starting point is 00:06:55 I love this. I love working out. I work out all the time. And we should run together. I would love to run. run next to a beautiful lady. Yeah. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And he was, he matched the energy, right? We were connecting on these dots that I was like, okay, this is a check. This is a check. And so we had scheduled our first date. And it took us a little time with our schedules because
Starting point is 00:07:16 he worked some odd hours. And so we finally got to go on our first date. We went on a hike and it was so much fun. And we both kind of joked. A hike in a populated area? Because I worry about for state hikes. It wasn't a highly populated area. However, it wasn't so remote. And funny that you say that is that because I joked, I was like, can I put my purse in your trunk? And he was like, sure. And I said, is it right next to the duct tape and rope and stuff? And I was like, if you kill me out here, just make my body easy to find. And he had kind of laughed nervously. And later he had told me, I was afraid you were going to murder me in the woods. Like, you know, so we had a little funny moment because also before we met in person, we were talking about our past. He was talking about
Starting point is 00:08:02 his abusive marriage and I was talking about my abusive marriage and how we had learned a lot about narcissism and that he had said his ex-wife was physically abusive to him but also was verbally abusive. And so here we are these two little traumatized people trying to just put our lives back together, right? And so did he have kids? Yes, he has four children. And they were older than mine. When we met, they were all under 18, but they were close approaching to that. And so we had talked about our kids. We had a great time. We had really good banter. We got along. I was totally comfortable. And so about a couple weeks into us dating, doing certain things, fun adventure things. And after two weeks, he wanted to introduce me to his mom. And I was like,
Starting point is 00:08:54 okay. And so we go over to his mom and his stepdad's house and I met his mom. Beverly. Loved her off the bat. She loved me. And during the time that I met his mom and started to getting to know her, the ex-wife crazy thing was legit. The mom backed it up. Yes. Well, it's kind of comforting, I imagine, for you to hear the mom like, right? Right. Because she was like, oh, man, she is, you know, a piece of work. She's wild. Yeah. She's something. She is something. And that's the thing. It's like it's not that your ex can't be crazy.
Starting point is 00:09:29 There's just a way to talk about it. Correct. Relationship versus being. And he wasn't like how some people describe like, oh, man, she crazy as hell. And, you know, whatever. He just was saying, you know, she was really abusive to me. She would hit me and I would just let her hit me and I never put my hands on her. And it was better.
Starting point is 00:09:50 It was me instead of my kids. And so we were kind of learning things. together at this time, right? We're dating seriously and we had both come to a realization that maybe we were trauma bonding, but I was okay with that because I said, who else would better understand each other, right? Someone else has been through it. Correct. Yeah. So like we were learning things, we were learning more things about narcissism. We were learning more about how to grow. I was being vulnerable with him and I was sharing these things and he was sharing things with me and he was being super vulnerable and super transparent about rebuilding his life and having to start over.
Starting point is 00:10:27 And he sounds like he's everything you wished your ex-husband had been like more dependable in terms of child support. Absolutely. And like and and wanting to be involved with his kids like on a level that I wish that my kids' dad would have been involved with their lives. And you know, I did. I know, Noah moved in fairly quickly. And I didn't have reservations because I, we had this connection and we had this bond. and we were growing this relationship. And I would talk to some of my friends and they're like, well, when you know, you know, you know kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Like if it seems right, it's not. Yeah, they thought he was super fun. He was super engaged with them. And I just felt happy. I felt like I felt satisfied with where I was at in life. And so I had told you he was in law enforcement. And so he was working at some, I don't even know what to describe it as, but it was like for troubled youth. So it wasn't in law enforcement.
Starting point is 00:11:21 per se, but it was kind of related to that in a way. And it wasn't a good paying job. And he had also told me that he had a bachelor's degree in software engineering. And I was like, oh my gosh, why don't you work in the tech world? You can make so much more money doing that. And he was like, I did. I worked in that world for a couple years, but the people were too nerdy. They didn't get my jokes. I didn't get my humor. And I just didn't feel satisfied with that. And I was like, okay, fair enough. And I didn't push. I just was like, whatever makes you happy, that's what I want. want you to do. And so I had encouraged him and asked him, what is it that you want to do? And he had said he was, he wanted to try and be in law enforcement again. And so he had applied for some of the
Starting point is 00:12:02 local law enforcement there in Colorado. And it just didn't work out. But he ended up getting a job for a state juvenile detention center. And so he seemed really happy when he got that job. You know, I was thinking, great. So I have a lot of friends. I'm very social. My friends love me. obviously, you know, obviously. But I... Hey, that's the best defense against these dogfish. You just got to have your community. My one friend, Hannah,
Starting point is 00:12:31 she's the one that was really... I know, I know. She was the one that was encouraging me to do the dating thing again anyway. When I was living my single mom life, my kids and I would go over to her house all the time. And so she invited Noah and I to have dinner over at her house.
Starting point is 00:12:46 And we were probably like a month in. And we go over there and we're having dinner. And she brings up, you guys are done having kids, right? And I was like, hell no, you know, fuck them kids. We're not kidding. You know, we're done. You know, he's got four and I've got two. And mine are about to be in school.
Starting point is 00:13:09 It's plenty of kids, you know. And he was not saying a peep. He was being quiet. And I was kind of like side eyeing him. Your Bogo said. Like hello. Because he was so. Right. Well, he was very vocal prior to that instance. He was like, no more kids. That's it. And he had had a
Starting point is 00:13:24 vasectomy. So there was no kids on the table. And I was fine with that. And so we get home. I asked him, I was like, hey, you were very, very quiet during that conversation about having another kid. And what's that all about? And he said, well, maybe I'm changing my mind. And maybe I would like to have a child with someone who's not crazy, you know, and I was like, okay. So is this a deal breaker? Because I'm not into it. Well, I feel like he's using, like he's saying, I didn't want kids, but now I love using
Starting point is 00:14:06 his mind. His mind is changing. And that's what the discussion was. And I was like, okay, mind you, I'm an open minded person. So I said, we can try. And if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. And I said, well, you have a vasectomy. and there would be a medical intervention that it would require to try for a baby.
Starting point is 00:14:25 Right. Because I started doing some research on it. And with a reversal, there's no guarantees. And how did it feel when you switched that decision in your mind? Like when you would talk about having a baby, what was the feeling in your stomach? Like, were you just so excited? I was reserved at first, but I backed what I said. I'm open-minded.
Starting point is 00:14:47 You know, we can try this. It was kind of like a pinned conversation, if you will, because we met in summer of 2020. By March of 2021, we were engaged. So the vasectomy reversal conversation had kind of been pinned. And then the month before we were getting married is when he had the reversal. So we were going to try after we had gotten married. So we get married in 2021. By early 2022, I did find out I was pregnant.
Starting point is 00:15:18 and we were still very much happy. We had come home for my honeymoon. Things were great. He was great with my kids. He was involved. And along the way, too, he was like, I just want to make, I want to make good money because he was used to making a ton of money in Montana. He had made like six figures he had told me.
Starting point is 00:15:33 Wow. And I was like, you know, money's not important. Like, I don't, I don't find. It's not important, but it's not like. It's not the most important thing that I revolve my world around. I had told him, I want to be. financially in a place where we can pay our bills and not have to juggle shit. But he was driven, right?
Starting point is 00:16:00 I want to make more money to provide for our family and I want us to do well. And he said that he wanted me to be a stay-at-home mom. And I said, you know, I would love to not feel the pressure to have to work. That's where I was at. I said I could probably scale back on my hours. I don't have to work full-time. He was looking out of state to find better paying jobs. So I was probably my seventh month of pregnancy.
Starting point is 00:16:26 And we get notification that his oldest daughter had ran away. She had ran away, disappeared. She was 17 at the time. Yeah, that's good. And her name is Sophie. And so Sophie got in touch with Noah. And she said, I'm hiding. from mom. She was trying to put me in the mental institution and I didn't want to go, but because she
Starting point is 00:16:54 was a minor still, the only solution she could come up with was just disappearing and running away. So she was high. So then I'm like, okay, are you, you know, we were on speakerphone and I was like, are you safe? And she said, yes. So Beverly bought her one-way ticket to Colorado. And we both said, come out here, come live with us. You're going to be an adult soon. You can live with us. So she came to live with us. And it was great because throughout our, relationship and now marriage at this point. I wasn't super close with his kids and I was really, they're older, yeah. They're older. I'm not trying to mom them, but I'd always encourage like, you know, talk to your kids, call them, even if they don't answer. Don't be afraid, make the effort.
Starting point is 00:17:31 And so he was, he was doing that. He was rebuilding the relationship with his kids. And so when when Sophie came to live with us, he was super excited and super happy. And mind you, we're so happy. We're happily married. We're having a baby. Like, nothing still, no red flags for me. outside of these very big drama things with his ex. But that was like, that was all validated. And Sophie was there when I had the baby. And Sophie was a great help around the house. We were creating a bond.
Starting point is 00:17:59 And my kids loved her. They played around. And even though there was a big age difference there, she was really kind and really loving to them, you know. And still, life was still good. Like we had all these things happening. He was working at his job. He seemed he had his complaints about that job.
Starting point is 00:18:15 There were people he didn't like at the job. but, you know, it was a job. So Noah has a bachelor's degree in my mind. He's worked in the tech world before. And as we were approaching the end of my pregnancy, he really was adamant, knowing that I wouldn't be able to work for some time. And so he's like, I'm going to get a second job. So he gets this remote online job where he's writing code. So he's working two full-time jobs. But we never saw a paycheck from the one job. And I kept asking him, where is this check? And he goes, I don't know, I'm supposed to get a check. They said I have a check. And he told me he started getting messages from his ex-wife that there's, you have all
Starting point is 00:18:56 these medical bills that are coming to my address. And he's like, what medical bills? I don't have any medical bills. Come to find out there was this huge bill of medical bills for all four of his kids of going to the hospitals. And she was putting him as the sole financial responsible person. Yes, yes. But she was putting it to her address.
Starting point is 00:19:19 And so it had reached like $150,000. Oh, my God. What's going on with these children? Well, she's the type of mom to take her children to the emergency room instead of to a doctor's office because you don't have to pay a co-pay when you go to a hospital. Yep. They just take your information. They don't ask you for any money. So then he had gotten to the bottom of it and he said that every single person,
Starting point is 00:19:46 penny he was making with the second job was being garnished by Montana, that they were taking 100% of his money because now these medical bills had not just been past due or in collections. They were in judgment zone. So the hospitals are trying to get their money back. Yeah. And so now they are making judgments and they're taking money. And so we were only getting one check, which was his job at the juvenile detention center. And I was like, there's no way they can take 100%. But then like, you know, the rational side of me, I'm like, maybe they're. can because when there's a judgment and it's a medical bill maybe they can take you know i've i've heard people have these financial situations where they've taken an entire paycheck to pay for some debt like
Starting point is 00:20:26 if you owe the government or you owe state agencies or whatever like you they can yeah yeah they can come after you and so it wasn't unreasonable and i'm you know like okay i'm still being a supportive wife and so i was like okay well it's not ideal but we can we can make it work right so positive energy i'm like, okay, we can do this. It's going to be rough, but we can make it through it. And even more reinforcement of like, he's this really hardworking dad and husband and like he's really doing his best. And he was working 40 hours at his regular job and 40 hours of this other job. And I was less his heart. Yeah. And at the time, my brother Ryan was in the Navy. And he got close to Noah because he was also close in proximity. So he would come and visit us frequently. And then
Starting point is 00:21:15 he actually had to have a surgery. And when you're in the military, they put you on convalescent leave or whatever. So when he had that surgery, he came to our house and he was there. So during that time, he was getting close to Noah as well. And Noah was really still adamant. I want to make more money. I want to make more money. So my brother was kind of giving him some ideas and stuff.
Starting point is 00:21:37 And he started looking into higher paying tech jobs. And he had said, I think that's the route I need to go. I don't think law enforcement's for me because it just doesn't pay enough. So he found a major aerospace company, went through the whole thing. He had to fly out to Georgia to take a test because they want to test your skill on certain things that the job requires. And so he went out there. They paid for it under my impression. And he had passed all the tests.
Starting point is 00:22:08 And they said, we'll pay for your move. We'll reimburse you. So whatever it costs you to move will reimburse you for this move. And you have family in Georgia. I do have family in Georgia, yeah. And so that was kind of an ideal thing because Ryan, my brother, was saying that he wanted to move back to Georgia once he had finished his time in the service. And so it was like this seems to be all falling into place here.
Starting point is 00:22:31 And Noah had kind of got his spark back because he was kind of, you know, he was stressed through all this time. And so I was just, again, supporting whatever you want to do. If it makes you happy, I'm not in it. for the money, but if that's what will make you peace of mind as a husband and a father, I'm backing you 100%. So we had to borrow money from my brother to make the move because it's expensive. When you hire a moving company, it's a big, it's a big ordeal. And the company was not paying for all of it? They were going to reimburse. They were going to reimburse. So you have to
Starting point is 00:23:06 pay for it, which is how most companies work. So we borrowed money. to relocate. And I had seen an employment letter. So I had proof of this job, totally legit. And so we were able to secure a rental place and we move. And once we get to Georgia, not a single paycheck materialized from this aerospace company. So now we don't have the job that we were getting that income he had at the juvenile detention center. And I forgot to mention that after I had the baby, my friend's brother was looking for someone to work from home remote. So I was then employed before we moved to Georgia. But it was remote. And because I had the baby, it was convenient for me to do. And where our financial status was, I was like, I got to work. I got to hustle, you know,
Starting point is 00:24:01 to help support our family. And were you keeping that when you moved? Yes. Because it was completely remote. I could do that job. So I was working. But what I was making was not, I had known, right, because we were moving to Georgia, but I was also under the impression he's going to make six figures. It was supposed to be supplemental bonus. And I was thinking, like, my income can just be disposable income. If we're making six figures, we can have all these adventures. Again, we're dreaming again. We want to do these adventures. We want to do these things. So what's his excuse this time? He is saying that it's those debts still. They're taking 100% of his check because of that debt in Montana. And he was,
Starting point is 00:24:39 Completely devastated, overwhelmed by the situation. But they can't garnish reimbursement wages. Yeah, I mean, this is when Spidey Senses started going off. Now we have three kids and life is expensive. But I was a mom, I was working. I had a baby. You just moved them. Oh, totally.
Starting point is 00:24:55 You're just trusting him to take care of that side of them. Absolutely, 100%. But eventually he tells me, I lost this job with this aerospace company because they have very high standard of efficiency. and so if you don't produce at what they want you to produce that, you lose your job. And it's just like that. Most places, if you don't produce what they want you to do. Well, that's good because they weren't paying you anyways or.
Starting point is 00:25:19 I know. I was like, well, and when there was no skin off my nose, right? Like you said, hadn't received a paycheck. So when he shared that information, was he like upset or embarrassed? All of it. He was embarrassed. He was upset. He was panicking because here he is like, I've always been a good provider is what he
Starting point is 00:25:37 kept saying consistently through this whole time. Like, I've always been a provider. And now I'm, I can't even be like, he felt he was expressing to me that he had been robbed of that feeling because the ex-wife was just wreaking havoc on our lives in a financial way, in a very large way. And so I said, okay, well, let's get you another job. What do you want to do? So then he started revisiting, you know, uh, if he says go back to Colorado. He was still looking. I, I told him no. Absolutely not. I'm not going to go to just do what we got. You know, so then he looked into another tech company. They were out of Phoenix. Again, they required testing. So he had to fly out. I believe my brother, Ryan, had helped him with
Starting point is 00:26:18 plane ticket to get out there so that he could do these interviews. Because again, my brother's involved in this cheerleader team here. So then Ryan helped him get out there. Noah stayed with Ryan. And then Ryan drove him around and took him to the place. It was like I had a hotel where they facilitate meetings and stuff like that to take these tests. So he takes the test. He stays with my brother. He comes home and he says, well, they didn't hire me. I was just like, want, want, you know. And throughout this, we had started doing the Uber and door dashing thing because it's kind of like fast cash and they can't garnish it because it's not an actual paycheck, you know. So like we were, I mean, like, when I tell you, we were outside of the box, we were outside of the box,
Starting point is 00:27:01 I'm straight hustling, right? And then Noah had to go back to Colorado. He had this friend, his name was Luke. And I had known about Luke when we were out there in Colorado, but I never actually met him in person. And what I had known about Luke from the get-go was that he had cancer. And he had survived a different type of cancer, but then he had new cancer and it would come on worse, you know, whatever. And he was still working. And he was working at the juvenile detention center as well.
Starting point is 00:27:30 And so he was just this warrior person, right? Like, but I had never met him. But I never pushed it because, you know, that was one thing that Noah had, he had kept his co-workers separate from me and like his professional life because in his previous marriage it had made him distrustful because he had told me that after he was divorced, he had found out that his wife had actually messed around with a couple of his coworkers. And so for him, that was like a hard line.
Starting point is 00:28:02 And I didn't, I respected that boundary. I had no interest. You're like, I don't care. Fine. Whatever. I don't care. Right. It's fine.
Starting point is 00:28:10 If that makes you comfortable, it's not that important. Sure. Exactly. And so he was making all these trips back there. Mind you, we have a joint account at this point. So he's not using our money to buy these tickets. He's claiming that Luke is buying these tickets to send him out there because apparently Luke is super loaded.
Starting point is 00:28:27 He had come into some inheritance money. years ago and he had been really financially responsible. And so like, you know, he was like he just, his daughter wasn't there. That's, that was why Noah had to go because, you know, he needed someone to help take care of him while she was gone. And so I was like, okay, you know, things are, they're starting to get a little bit more suspicious for me as far as like these jobs aren't panning out. Why? And he's going to visit his friend to make money or just, no, just to be a friend. Because he has cancer. Because he has cancer. And it wasn't never about monetary gain, but he kept, he would say certain things that was implying that maybe he would have added him into his like will or something.
Starting point is 00:29:10 I'm like, well, you can't expect that because like, you're not family. Hoping to get in the will. Right. Yeah, I'm just, I'm just thinking like our family. Like I'm sorry this guy has cancer, but like, hey, we got to take care of our family. Like. Right, right, right. But because he was in between jobs, it was like, well, he needs my help.
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Starting point is 00:33:01 You broke as hell. Yeah. Yep. Super broke. And we were not in the same town as my mom, but fairly close within a couple of hours. And my mom offered for us to move into her vacant house. And because I was a remote job and no one didn't have a solid job. This is our solution.
Starting point is 00:33:22 Yes. So we move our belongings into storage. We relocate to her house. And how far was she? Not far, a couple hours. And so I'm like, this is going to be great. Everything's starting to look up. You know, okay, he still doesn't have any money, but the financial pressure has kind of come down.
Starting point is 00:33:37 We don't have rent and we can focus on paying off debt and paying off the vehicle. You know, like all these things that I have like these goals that I've been very communicative with, Nola about I just, I want to be financially free. I don't want to be bogged down with debt and all this stuff. So initially when he came here, he was looking to get on the local like sheriff's department. So he was revisiting that again as well. as tech jobs and stuff because I was just like I don't care again maintaining I don't care what you do just find a job something I don't care if it's $10 an hour find a job take a job I need financial
Starting point is 00:34:09 contribution at this point because it had been a year and a half since we had left Colorado that any of his money that he was making was contributing to our household and so he had applied he went through the process for this one particular department and then he He said they didn't hire him because something he had said to them was not consistent or something. And so they ended up not hiring him for it. I was like, okay, that's weird, but whatever. So then he goes to another one in the local area, another sheriff's department. They're like two different counties.
Starting point is 00:34:45 And so he does that. And he says he gets hired. Okay. He starts the training or whatever. The academy training. Yes. And I talk to my brother on a very regular basis. We are thick as thieves at this stage of our lives.
Starting point is 00:35:00 And so he's also cheerleader number one and he's cheerleader number two. And he's like, you know, hey, Noah, I want to pin you when you finish your academy. And Noah was expressing, I want you to pin me. This would be such an honor. But every time we would ask for a date, because my brother's like, I need to take time off work so that I can travel because he's not living in Georgia. So, you know, he's out of state. I don't want to hear. And so then he's like, I'll get you the information.
Starting point is 00:35:26 I'll get it. I'll get it. I will let you know. I'll let you know. Never produced it. And he's waking up every day putting on his clothes for work and going to this training. Well, he wasn't wearing his uniform. Oh. Hindsight's 2020. We both know where this is going and I don't like it. I know. If I was, if I was listening to the story, I'd be like, bitch, please, you know, right? But because he said he had a locker at work and he would, he didn't want to bring his uniform home. So he would just, he would wear his street clothes. He would take his boots with him and he would get dressed in his uniform there and he would do the academy and then he'd come home. So he was leaving every day. And you're a mom of a new kid and everybody like, yeah,
Starting point is 00:36:07 I think this audience we don't have to worry about. But people know how much is going on in your life. You don't have time to track every single move, especially if you don't have explicit reason to doubt. Right. Yeah. Especially at that time. Yeah. So then he expresses to me he's about to turn 40. he's like, I don't know that I want to be an officer. Law enforcement's a young man's game. I don't want to be out there chasing criminals. I'm getting too old for this. But beggars can't be choosers at some point.
Starting point is 00:36:34 Exactly. You do have to pay for things. And I was saying all those things too. You know, just this is ludicrous. It's a means to end. Let's go. Right. So then the narrative was I'm experiencing this midlife crisis.
Starting point is 00:36:46 Yeah, no shit. My spidey senses are starting to like ring a ding ding ding ding. Yeah. We've not had a consistent job. There's not been a paycheck. Like things are starting to add up. Did they get paid for training? in the academy? Yes, and we had never received a check for that. But remember, the narrative is that, like, you know, a hundred percent of everything he makes that is attached to his social is going straight to Montana. That is like his thing. And so when I start really pressing him, this is when our interaction starts to change, right? Remember I told you super laid back, validated all my feelings. Anytime there was like a, we never fought. Up until this point, there was no fighting. If we had a disagreement, we were to talk it through.
Starting point is 00:37:25 validate each other's feelings, really be proactive and be the healthier versions of ourselves. Because remember, we were learning all of these things and we were healing ourselves of our past traumas. And so there wasn't any drama. But when I started to press him about this employment thing, that's when he started changing how he interacted with me. Because now he's getting offensive. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And one of my main stressors during this time, finances, right? So I'm having these discussions with him impressing about the employment. He's like, all you care about is the money. What, no, yeah. I'm just shocked. My jaw just dropped. And I was like, I'm not asking for luxury. I'm not asking for a million. I don't want to be a millionaire. I just want to pay to bills.
Starting point is 00:38:08 Right. I want to relaxingly pay our bills without being stressed about it. Also, how dare he with that accusation after years of you being not that way? Correct. No, you knew he was just being defensive. And And now it's a matter of why. Right. Right. So it's coming together, right? And I'm a patient person and I'm patient until I'm not patient. Patient as a saint.
Starting point is 00:38:32 At this point. I'm like, we're in debt. We've borrowed money to move across the country. We were struggling to buy food. And I skipped a lot of meals to make sure that my children would eat. And I was offended because I was like, you are reframing this that my, basic financial survival that need to just, you know, like, I was only asking, we're like barely surviving. We're barely treading water. And it's like as if I was being greedy. So I kept
Starting point is 00:39:03 maintaining life costs money. We have children. We need food. We need gas for the car. We need to pay insurance on the car. We need to pay the car payment. Like we have life costs something. Yeah. His defensiveness is his insecurity. Right. By this year, like February, March, I lost my remote job. So we're living in a rent-free home, but we're barely making ends meet as it is because we had gotten behind on some things. So we were trying to get caught up. And right as we're getting caught up, I lose my remote job. The company ended up not going under per se, but like they just didn't have- Couldn't afford you anymore, probably. Yeah. Yeah. And so now I'm really panicked. My spidey senses are going off and I'm like, I am panicked. And again, I'm a hairdresser,
Starting point is 00:39:54 but I don't have my hair license in Georgia. So when I lost my job, I then I dug deep, what is Georgia require for me to get my license? Because now I'm like, I got to, I got to get a job. I got to, you know, this guy. He's something fucking weird. Whatever he's up to. And I'm just like, my main priority was my kids. At this point, I'm like, I'm starting to check out. I'm starting to like, you have to shift your focus and it can't be him right now because he ain't doing it. Right. So we had all of his kids on our phone plan and made it quite a large bill. And so at some point, you know, you don't pay for a couple months.
Starting point is 00:40:34 They cut you off. So we have no job. And we have no phones. And so if I'm not on Wi-Fi, I'm like out in 1992 on the streets, you know, like, which. Oh, my God. awful, right? Because I'm like, at least there's not people calling me when I'm driving because it's like, I'm so present. Right? You're so positive. But when you're trying to find a job too, like when you're trying to keep your eyes and ears. Absolutely. And in this time frame, he started becoming really
Starting point is 00:41:02 protective of his phone. It was something that was small, but I noticed it. And if I even got close, like, let's say he had his phone on the counter and I was walking into the kitchen to make dinner. he would come like sprint over to that phone and grab it so quick and this is when my intuition is just screaming something is wrong and this was at the beginning of 2026 and he was still plain that i'm doing the sheriff's department thing he was having to go to south georgia for training which i thought was weird he said well now i have to i have to go to boston for convention training and i said are you what and so why is he going to going to a convention if he hasn't even passed training. That's, I was, I was asking all those
Starting point is 00:41:48 questions. I, not only was asking myself those questions, I was asking him. And he just was reassuring me, like, this is just something they do. It's a thing. I know. And still no pin date. Like, he hasn't given you or your brother. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. And I knew he was going to Boston because he was showing me itineries. He was saying that the, the department was covering everything. And when he came home one of the times, the story changed a bit. He said that he was no longer working for the sheriff's office. He had instead, while he was away in Boston, he had interviewed and accepted a remote job. And so I was like, uh, okay, but my suspicion is still growing. I'm still like, why? You know, but I was upset at that time because now I'm like actually getting upset.
Starting point is 00:42:30 Because I'm like, why would you make this decision without even talking to me about it? When I've been, you know, like, talk to me, so supportive. And then his response was unlike, the man I'd known and the man I'd married. And he said that he wanted to be able to make decisions as a man without being questioned by his wife. And I said, no, he just only wants to do things that you support and agree with. He just doesn't want to be accountable. Right. And I said, I'm not asking for control over you. We're married. Your employment directly affects our family, whether you have your income or not having anything. Yeah, like I got a horse in this race, fella. Yeah, and as a married couple, like it's standard to have a discussion on major decisions.
Starting point is 00:43:17 Anytime you ask for basic needs, he turns it on you. Right. And then he would backtrack. When I would challenge him on it, he'd backtrack and be like, I'm sorry. He'd validate my feelings. You're right. I'm just super stressed because he's going through this midlife crisis. And I was really trying to engage in conversation, like, you know, get to the bottom of it. What is going on? Are you depressed? What is wrong? And he's like, I don't know. I feel like I'm going through a midlife crisis and I don't know that I know who I am anymore. Maybe I made a mistake and I was like, what do you mean mistake? You mean marrying me? Do you mean having a child? And he would be vague and respond like, I don't know, maybe. I'm sorry, what? And I challenged along the way. Like,
Starting point is 00:44:06 you're an adult. You chose to marry me. Not only did you propose you, we got married. You chose to marry me. You wanted to have this baby. That was the decision we made together. No one forced you. And I started telling him, I have started over before and I can do it again. Like, I am not. I am not. That's not what I want. I chose you to be married to you. Right. But I had also encouraged therapy. Maybe you need to go to therapy. Maybe we need to go to couple therapy. He seemed open to it. And then I started asking him, because I had. had this really strong feeling that he wasn't telling me something. And I would say, is there something you're not telling me? I feel like you're not being honest with me about something. And he'd say like, what? And I said, well, if I knew, I'd be more specific. I'd be really, really specific. Why don't you give me a little hint? Right, right. So that was between the midlife crisis and these conversations, multiple times I'd had that. And I was also reiterating
Starting point is 00:45:07 that I'm not going to beg you to say, if this is not. not what you want. I'm not forcing you here and I'm not begging you to say. But I am your wife and I'm willing to help walk you through this, you know, like that we can walk this path together. And you knew it wasn't always going to be easy. Right. And I knew, yes, maintained all of that. So he had this most recent job. It's remote. It's in Boston. But he had to go for training. So he'd been a couple times back and forth. And by this point, we don't have phone service. So I had to be on Wi-Fi and he had to be on Wi-Fi to for us to communicate. And it was on Snapchat too because our phones were turned off and I have an iPhone but he doesn't. And on iPhones I can I message anyone on
Starting point is 00:45:50 Wi-Fi but I couldn't have that. Oh my God. Yes. So June, he's gone for weeks at a time. And every time he'd be gone for a week, I'm like, it's been two weeks since you've been gone. And he'd say, oh, what? So communication is becoming worse. He's not as responsive. He's just attributing it to that he's working. He's trying to come home because I'd say, when are you coming home? When are you coming? You know, it's summertime. Making money, right? No money's coming from him. Nothing's coming to our account. By this time, by June, I was working in another salon. And I got my Georgia hair license. I start working in a salon. And so he'd be gone. He was still saying, I love you's and these things, you know, like reassuring I'm trying to come home. I'm working on it. They want me to stay another week.
Starting point is 00:46:34 I have these projects. La, la, la, la. And I was expressing how upset I was about, you know, this is a remote job. But at this point, you're spending more time away for a remote job than you are at home. And that was really upsetting me. It's not like you're in the military. It's not like you're in... You're not deployed. Right. You're supposed to be working from home. So then I... This is not a remote job. Right. And I, and I'm starting to feel ghosted by my husband because I'm not hearing from him. And I was also being really honest and saying, my mind's going to dark places. Because now I'm thinking, what are the scenarios? Like, there is something off. Like, is he changed? And he? what is he doing in Boston? What is happening here? And I kept communicating like, I need
Starting point is 00:47:14 reassurance and I need communication. It was just becoming harder for me because now, now I'm starting to feel like a single mom again, even though I'm married, even though he's, you know, he's telling me he's trying to get home. It's all on me. When he was here, he was not engaged. He was distracted. He's stressed and all that kind of stuff. And then one of the times he was home. I was like, I had a vivid dream that you cheated on me. And he just was like, I would never do that. You know, whatever. Do you ever wake up sweaty, freezing, or just so uncomfortable?
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Starting point is 00:49:11 And with a 30-day money-back guarantee, there's no risk. That's try miracle.com slash TDD code TDD at checkout. Thanks to Miracle Made for sponsoring this episode. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you could wake up tomorrow and be better at one thing, what would it be? For me personally, it's being a mom. I feel like my son just turned 12 and he is obviously going through so much. regarding hormones and, you know, school and all of these things.
Starting point is 00:49:44 And I want to be more attentive to him and show him that I'm here for him and doing things like putting down my phone, paying attention to him, being present with him and handling stress with him. That's something that I really want to be better at. And when I talk to my therapist through BetterHelp, it is a feeling of relief and I feel supported. I feel like my Better Help therapist really gets me and I can focus on my emotional well-being, but also he gives me the tools and resources that can help me be a good mom. He helps me build my confidence in how I'm supporting my child and how I can be there for him. And it's really amazing
Starting point is 00:50:25 when you have that support. I love my current therapist. I've been able to talk to several different therapist and then I found one that really, really, really super above and beyond aligns with me. And I feel super, super comfortable. So you can change your therapist at any time, which is one thing that I really love as far as feeling the most comfortable with your BetterHelp therapist. You can sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash TDD. That's BetterH-E-L-P.com slash T-D-D. And so now with 4th of July, so the time period, he's home, we go to a barbecue. He came with me and he ended up leaving early because he said that he was having a celiac reaction. Oh, that's an allergy to gluten, yeah?
Starting point is 00:51:19 Gluten? Yes. Okay, yeah. From day one, he told me, I have celiac disease. It makes it hard for eating out and whatnot or whatever. So the following weekend, you know, I'm working on a salon. He messaged me. There's been a data breach and I have to go to Boston.
Starting point is 00:51:35 And there was this sense of urgency. And I was like, again, I'm still on the white. Like I'm hitting Wi-Fi hotspots, right? You're not even getting paid. And these folks are telling you to travel and you're just going? Right, right. Exactly. And I'm like, you know, I'm reaching my limit emotionally.
Starting point is 00:51:51 And I had asked some questions, but because I didn't have service when I got back from my break at work, I couldn't check any of my messages until I got home. Well, I get home and he's gone. And I asked the kids, I said, we're no ago. And they said, oh, he said he needed to go to work. I said, did he pack a bag? No. And I was like, okay. The communication was kind of lessening and lessening, you know, like there wasn't a lot of, like, I couldn't reach him because he's working and he's working on projects. About two weeks after he'd been gone after. after that last, when he left last, I got service back on my phone because I took, I'm taking back my finances.
Starting point is 00:52:32 Yeah, of course. I need a phone. And I'd been telling him, I'm like, we need to pay this phone bill. I need to have a functioning phone. This is unacceptable. And he's like, I know, I'll pay for it. I'll pay for it. And, you know, because he's doing all these odd jobs and stuff right along the way.
Starting point is 00:52:45 But nothing was ever produced of it. And so at any rate, I have service now, but he doesn't. So I'm not hounding him by any means. but he's not responding. When I do get a response, he's like, you know, they have me work on these projects. So he's still maintaining that he's working. Yeah. So here's when the bombshell goes down.
Starting point is 00:53:09 Okay. I want answers. I'm hoping there's some answers here. Oh, my gosh. So the only thing that I'm communicating with him is, when are you coming home? And he'd say soon, soon, soon. And I'm like, you keep saying that. Like, give me, I needed a date.
Starting point is 00:53:23 I need an it, an itinerary. I need something. And like, now I'm like holding his feet to the fire. Right. Right. Right. So I get home from work. I see I've missed a couple messages from Sophie.
Starting point is 00:53:38 That's his daughter, his oldest. And she's been trying to reach her dad. And she had tried to reach out to me like on, she has my phone number, but she messaged me like on like social media. This fella better have been abducted. is a trafficking victim because where the freak are you? Right. So my daughter comes in. She's on the phone with Sophie because they talk a lot, right? Remember, they have a bond. They're, you know, like step-sisters, but they, I love it. I love it for both of them. So she's like, I'm trying to get a hold of my dad. Have you talk to him? I had a situation today and I really need to talk to him. And I was like, okay, you know,
Starting point is 00:54:20 I said, honestly, I haven't really heard from him. Every time I try to call him, he doesn't answer. And I'm telling her he's not even home he's out of town working and during this conversation she casually mentions a half brother and I said oh no what half brother and without even skipping me she goes well you know I was trying to get a hold of Emma and I'm like who's Emma and she goes well that's his that's Theo's mom who the fuck I see you not wait who's the baby that's why I said the baby this half brother she immediately stopped. She knew that when she said that, I didn't know. And I was like, how old is he? And she goes, oh, I don't know, like a year or so when I was like a year. Old? And she goes,
Starting point is 00:55:12 we've been married almost five years at this point. Oh my God. Together for six and we've almost been married for five years. And I am like, uh, What? She's like, I am so sorry. He said you knew, but not to bring it up to you because it was upsetting for me to talk about and for upsetting for you. And I was like, that is so awful. Did you do your daughter for her? What a position to put her in. And so she said, well, this is why grandma doesn't want to talk to him. So I told Sophie, I was like, you know what? Because she was then, then she, you know, I could, I could hear it in her voice. She felt bad. She felt embarrassed. She felt. like, confused, I'm sure. She had just dropped this bomb on me and like,
Starting point is 00:55:59 she thought I knew. And I said, it's not your fault. The truth always comes out. And this is not you're doing. This is totally your dad. I didn't have a clue is what I told her. And so I handed the phone back to my daughter,
Starting point is 00:56:13 which I had excused my daughter because I didn't want her to hear that part, but I think she kind of heard half brother. She heard enough. And she's sharp. Okay, that one's a sharp one. Yeah. So she,
Starting point is 00:56:22 I think she knew something was up at that point but she had left the conversation I finished my conversation with Sophie and then I gave the phone back and let them finish their conversation and I called up Beverly and she's like hey you know
Starting point is 00:56:36 because we had we talked on the phone it was infrequent I you know I'm busy she's always been respectful always loved me we've always sounds great yeah she's great lady and I said I feel a little confused and I hope maybe you can
Starting point is 00:56:52 clear some things up for me. And I heard her gasp. And I said, so Noah has another child. And she said, oh my gosh, I thought you knew. Oh, my God. He called me last summer and said, I have this kid. I said, how old is he? And she said, I don't know. He tells me a different age every time I ask. But she's like a year, 18 months. It's never the same age. And so she's filling me in. and she's like he called and said I have this kid and I didn't think it was mine but he had to take a paternity test so his actual trip to see his dying friend was to establish paternity with this child and she's horrified she's like I thought you knew he had said that you're just a really private person that you're just a really private person that you're talking about it was upsetting, but that we were working through it. That was what he had maintained to her. And she had said that when he was telling her about this child that he wanted her to video call the child to build a relationship with the kid. And she had said, absolutely not. This is
Starting point is 00:58:08 wrong. You know, what about Emmy? She was so sick and was really angry about it. And she gave him a piece of her mind at that time. And while I'm talking to her about it, I said, who else knows? And she said the whole family, everyone, every one of his siblings, all his kids. Oh, my God. Yep. And everyone thought that I knew. And everyone believed that Noah and I were privately working through this affair and this secret child. So I got off the phone with her.
Starting point is 00:58:48 I felt like physically sick. Like not only, like I felt like a punch in the gut. I mean, I'm so sorry. And then I just felt ill. And like I could just vomit everywhere. So then I start calling my close friends that I was not being vulnerable with during the times that I probably should have in the last year. And my friends are little investigators. And my sister-in-law also, she started doing some searching too.
Starting point is 00:59:16 And she found the paperwork for this paternity. because she, you know, when she had to establish paternity, there was a court hearing. So remember he had to go out to Colorado urgently, might I add, because his dying friend was out there dying and his daughter couldn't take care of him. How sad. So my first piece of paper trial that she was trying to get child support for this child. So within the first 24 or 48 hours, it's kind of, it's a blur. Right. Like I'm just shell-shocked. This is beyond my imagination, right? Like, I knew there were shenanigans happening, but this was not what I imagined at all. Like, this guy's a space cadet when he's at home. There's no way. There's no way he's had a double life. And I even had a neighbor who was like, what if he has double life? Because she was noticing that he was gone a lot. And she's like, where is he? When is he coming back? And I'm like, I don't know, girl. I don't even know. I'm just fighting for my life over here, you know. And so it's funny. Hindsight's 2020. But the night that I found out, so I had spoken to Sophie and I had spoken to Beverly and then I called him.
Starting point is 01:00:28 And he wasn't answering at first. And I was messaging him and it was on Snapchat and I said, you need to answer me. We need to talk right now. We need to talk. And so he answers and it was a video. And I said, so what is this about Sophie telling me you have another child? And he's like, oh, it's just some bullshit. it and I said, why, why would she lie? She clearly thought that I knew this information. There's
Starting point is 01:00:55 no reason she would be lying to me. And the whole family knows. Right now. Well, I didn't tell him this, right? And I had told Beverly. I said, Beverly, you didn't talk to me and I didn't talk to you. And she said, understood. Not a word. Because now all, everything he's ever told me is a lie. Since I find this is a lie. Immediately, as soon as I found out about this kid, I'm thinking, my, everything's been a lie. Everything, every single thing. And so I pressed him. And it was a video call so I could see his body language.
Starting point is 01:01:31 He was clearly uncomfortable, but I was like, you need to tell me. And he goes, well, this is something I wanted the same person. But my response immediately was, when? You've been gone for two months now? Oh, you had plans to come back? Right. Do you plan on coming back and telling me this in person? No, you need to tell me right now.
Starting point is 01:01:51 He's waiting until the kid turns 18. Oh, my God. Ugh. So then he was like, okay, fine, I cheated on you. But it was only once. Right. Okay. I have a really hard time believing that it was one time.
Starting point is 01:02:06 So then I started asking. I'm like, well, who is she? She was the nurse at the juvenile detention center. I knew it. And I said, how did it happen? And he goes, well, I was initially there for support for her. Because he was saying he was some sort of support individual at the job. So his explanation was, well, initially I was just there for support for her.
Starting point is 01:02:27 And she was married at the time. And he's still maintaining. We only had sex one time. And I said, well, where did you guys go? And he was like, it was in the car. Fine. And he's like, go ahead and guilt and shame me. I'm like, first of all, if you feel guilt and shame, that is you.
Starting point is 01:02:43 That's 100%. And you should. So then I asked him, when was this child born? And he said, January of 2023. And I said, so he's three months younger than our child. Oh, my God. And he said, yeah. And I'm calm during this call, right?
Starting point is 01:03:05 Like, I'm not screaming. I'm not acting like a crazy person. I'm giving him the opportunity to just be honest with me. At this point, the jig is up. I have found out. And you need to tell him. me. Wait, so does that mean that he had gotten her pregnant around the time that you were getting planning to get married and then you got married while she was pregnant? No. No. We got pregnant. I was
Starting point is 01:03:27 pregnant first. She got pregnant after me. Oh. Oh, but this is like after we got married. See, I'm confused. Right. Imagine how you were. The point is that your marriage and first baby was happening around the same time. We were, this woman and I were pregnant at the same time. Oh my God. I had our baby and three months later she had their baby. But at this point, I'm so shell-shocked by the information I've learned thus far. And then I barely get a confession out of the man, didn't even apologize, just so unremorseful. And he ends up ending the call. And I'm still trying to just press him for like, I deserve to know. How long has this been going on? No. Have you been visiting this? I asked that. I said, have you seen this child? No. Are you in a relationship with this woman? No.
Starting point is 01:04:11 okay and he goes I've been fighting this for the last year and a half and I said okay so you didn't think it was your child he goes no I didn't think it was mine but it is mine so he was minimizing everything I just didn't believe him right so then this these mysterious trips to Colorado were making way more sense to me I'm like he wasn't visiting his dead dying co-worker he's fighting paternity or maybe he's in a full-blown relationship with this woman right like and one of my skills from previous marriage was reading between the lines, which is not like a healthy thing, but like I learned to read between the lines because that was the dynamic, right? And that's how narcissists behave that way, because if they don't fully confess to the truth,
Starting point is 01:04:54 they're not admitting fault, right? Yeah, yeah. Right. That, you know, if you can fill in the blanks yourself, they don't have to confess to their sins or they don't have to be 100% honest. Right. So after that phone call where he minimized. you know he tells me but it was like that wasn't like I deserve so much more of an explanation
Starting point is 01:05:16 and he was just kind of like you need to like he just had this he his it turned it was like night and day difference last week he was like oh I love you and then I find this information out and now he's completely turned on me cold calculated so this is when I start telling myself he didn't just have sex with her one time they they had an affair They were sneaking around. She was married. She is now divorced. But after talking to my friends and family out there in Colorado who do a little investigating, they found her name.
Starting point is 01:05:52 They found her address. They found her telephone number. And I... Called her. Well, they mess. One of my dearest friends did message her. and she was very pragmatic about it. You know, she was just like, I am writing this.
Starting point is 01:06:13 I have no judgment towards you. I have no ill will towards you. Whatever Noah is telling you is not the truth. It is a lie. Whatever you have heard about this situation. And she kind of spelled it out, right? Yeah. Emmy is by herself thinking he's out of town working.
Starting point is 01:06:29 He has not asked about Lucy. That's our baby's name. And we are just trying to fill in the blanks of information. if you want to reach out to me, you can. That's kind of like, there was a lot more. She was really kind and, you know, just non-judgmental, right, you know, woman to woman. And they had found an email address, but it didn't go through. And then she messaged one of the numbers that had come up when they were looking her up.
Starting point is 01:06:59 And she had responded with, do not contact me. And so, you know, like, All right. Well, and then so then this is where I'm like, you know, because I'm trying to piece, you know, now I'm like, now I'm playing detective. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I'm like, where are you really? And I had pressed him for his location and he still was maintaining. He's in Boston. But then he started sending me emails like almost exactly around the time that these messages from my friends were going. Of course. That I'm like, no, he's right there. He's right there. He's reading what she's getting. And he is totally. control of whatever that narrative is. And I just want him to tell me the truth because I've already now decided nothing has been real since day one. And I'm trying to get him to tell me and to just just tell me. You have nothing to lose. Like if you've already decided I'm divorcing you,
Starting point is 01:07:54 you need to just tell me. You have nothing else to lose because now I'm replaying everything. Every job, every trip, every story, every explanation about his ex-wife, every financial crisis, every red flag that was rationalized. And he kept saying, I don't want to argue about this. It's in the past. Like, this might be the past for you,
Starting point is 01:08:13 but this is fresh for me. And I deserve answers. I deserve respect. I deserve an apology. Because at this point, he still hasn't apologized. There was nothing. No remorse, no nothing.
Starting point is 01:08:25 And so the little gears are turning. Like, has he even had a job since we moved to Georgia? Has it, has the right? This is my mind. Oh, my God. Has there even been a job? You know, I don't know what was real and what wasn't.
Starting point is 01:08:40 When was the last time that you have seen any money or like a paycheck from him? It was in 2024 before we left for Georgia. Oh, my God. And that was the last time we filed our taxes. And every time I asked him for W2, I'll get it to you, I'll get it to you. I'll get it to. And initially, when I found this information out, I felt a lot of guilt and shame. How did I get here again?
Starting point is 01:09:03 Like, how is this my life and my reality again with a man child, right? And I'm comparing notes with his mom. She's like, I don't think that he has psiliac disease. He had never mentioned celiac's disease until you guys were together. And I was just like, oh my God. You know, so like now even more unraveling. Like, right? Like I'm like, everything was a lie.
Starting point is 01:09:21 Everything from day one was a lie. Because he wanted something to use as an excuse medically to get out of something. I guess. I guess. What about when your brother took him to that test? He dropped him off at the, didn't he? to drive him to the hotel? To a hotel?
Starting point is 01:09:36 Oh, my God. I have no idea. I mean, maybe he was meeting up. I don't know. Like that, you know, everything, everything was questioning, you know, like, uh, not a clue, not a clue. And my friend Claire, when I tell her this bombshell, she's like, he mirrored you from the beginning.
Starting point is 01:09:55 And I said, what? You know, he's empathetic. He's adventurous. He's cool-oriented. He's a dreamer. He's family-focused. He's hardworking. all the qualities that matter deeply to me that, you know, you were looking for.
Starting point is 01:10:10 What part of Noah was actually Noah? And how much of it was fabricated specifically for me was the biggest mind fuck of the whole experience, right? Like an affair is devastating enough, the level of betrayal there. But this was like, is this person even who he says he is? Like, this is fabrication. What you're describing is a different type of dark personality than your first husband and that we've talked about this with Dr. Romani Dervasula. I don't know if you've heard of her, but we talked to her on our Patreon and she's a narcissist expert. And we asked her, why do a lot of people get into second relationships with narcissists?
Starting point is 01:10:53 Because that really makes people feel stupid because they're like, I thought I knew how to defend myself against this. And she was like, there's so many different types. and this guy was so good at giving you what you wanted, meeting your unmet needs. We talked about a lot. And it looked different than before. And it was covert, right? Like he knew, like you said, he knew what I, like you said, he knew what I went through with my ex-husband. And he knew all these things.
Starting point is 01:11:24 And like he played a part. And it's, um, it's. It's just been wild. And so I tell my very closest to your friends this information and I'm like I have to tell my kids and I said no it's not I'm in home and
Starting point is 01:11:42 this isn't the life he wants anymore and I don't have a lot more information is basically what I said and immediately my daughter starts to cry and she's trying to hide it from me and I'm like talk to me and she's like I am just so mad for you and for Lucy and I knew this was going to happen
Starting point is 01:12:03 I never trusted him and I said what mind you she was five when I met Noah and so hard she said I didn't know how to explain to you
Starting point is 01:12:18 that I didn't trust him you were so happy and I didn't I didn't know how to tell you and I was like I am so sorry that you had to live with that feeling. And I told them, I want you to talk to me.
Starting point is 01:12:39 If you're feeling some strong feelings, I want you to be able to feel like you can come to me and talk to me. And not everything was bad. We had happy years. The first several years, it was happy. And because I'm a positive person, I'm like, you know, not everything was bad, right? We did have happy years.
Starting point is 01:12:57 we did go on adventures, we did learn things. He may be this imaginary human. He is not who he said he was, but I'm taking that not all things were bad because in the end, I was being genuine and I was, I was learning things and I was growing. And I told my kids, I didn't want them to erase every positive memory simply because this awful thing was happening. Right. It doesn't have to all be bad. Right.
Starting point is 01:13:22 Well, what's your plan and it's so soon so if you don't have a full plan? Well, I have a plan. I am going to file for divorce. But here's the thing that I, you know, my theory, I think he was hoping that if he disconnected himself, that I'd just say, you know what, dude, don't even come home. And divorce on different terms. But now I have evidence that not only did he have an affair, he had a child as a result of that affair and I can ask for a hell of a lot more in a divorce with infidelity and I have a paper
Starting point is 01:13:59 trial I have that paternity paperwork I don't know how much money he's making but they will find you know so I have the form I have to fill out the divorce decree and I know I already know that I need like hours of my time to fill this out because it is treacherous and it is time consuming And so that's actually my goal for this weekend. I'm filling that stuff out. I'm, you know, I need to fill out. In the state of Georgia, you can open up a child support case without actually being divorced. So I can open up that case and maybe they can track him down as far as a job.
Starting point is 01:14:41 I am so curious to hear where his money has been going. I mean, I'm sure we all have guesses, but I'm like, did he have any money? Like, I don't know what he's been doing all this time other than cheating. Yeah. So that's crazy. Yeah. If he has a separate bank account that if he, because if the, if in fact, you know, because if not everything he said was a lie, right?
Starting point is 01:15:05 So what the percentage of truth was of everything he's ever said to me and everything he ever was, there's some truth to some of it, right? but if he's getting a paycheck, which he most likely is getting something, because at this point, I'm like, there's no way they're taking 100% this check. Maybe 60%, maybe, but not 100%. He's hiding money from me then. But does he have a job? Is he getting paid? Those are the things that I don't have answers for. If you're comfortable updating us, I would be interested.
Starting point is 01:15:39 I would totally be. how you and your kids and family are doing because what a journey so in the last two weeks i've told you beverly and i've been really we've been talking she checks on me every day every other day shout to beverly i love her and you know my sister-in-law checks in on me my uh my another my other sister-in-law she checked in on me and all of them they have all turned their backs on him and Before I spoke to, you know, for the intake call, Noah re-added me on Snapchat. Remember I told you he removed me.
Starting point is 01:16:16 Oh. Why? And I had just, I had just said to my friend the day prior, I am already coping ahead and mentally preparing myself for the event that he tries to return and ask for forgiveness. You up and left your child. Right. You're not getting back. Right.
Starting point is 01:16:39 And that's the thing. And I'm just like, does he not know that I have a PhD in this shit? Right? Like, I know how to gray rock things. I'm in the mode of, I've done this before, dude, you know? So when I saw that request, I, because I had just been telling my friend and she goes, yeah, I can't wait to see you laughing his face. And I said, oh, I'm going to send a video or like a voice recording. You know how you can hit the voice and record an audio.
Starting point is 01:17:05 I would be like, I'm audibly going. going to laugh in his face when he is coming back, you know, crawling back. Small pleasures. Small pleasures. Right. And then I get that request and I was like, wow. Like, I was shocked. It was that quick. But like, I haven't even accepted. I haven't accepted it. It's just sitting there. Just sitting there. Well, I vote for keeping that request sitting there because it's your turn to focus on you and you. I think no response is worse than like a Yeah. That's so loud. Silence. is loud. That is where I'm at 1,000% for sure. And my friend immediately emailed you guys about my story.
Starting point is 01:17:46 And we both were kind of like, we'll see if anything comes of it, right? Because the biggest part of the betrayal was that he intentionally and calculatedly, he chose this. He knew how much it would hurt me and he did it anyway. Like, what? You know, and so for me, it's like, I know I'm not alone. I know that I'm not the only person going through this. And I think that it's important for women to, you know, like, he checked off all the boxes. He was a totally normal dude. His family was a great, you know, like his family's great. Like all these things. But there were small inconsistencies over time. But even though he had an explanation for everything, I think it's important that if you feel like something is off, you don't dismiss them.
Starting point is 01:18:47 Dig deeper. Really like, why do I feel this way? Because McKenzie, were you saying the women tuition? What did you say? Fem tuition never needs evidence. Femtuition. Never needs evidence. And I think that that would.
Starting point is 01:19:01 We always want it. Right. We always want to be just because I'm evidence-based. I wanted evidence before saying anything, but if it can help just even one person to, if you are noticing small inconsistencies, like, do not dismiss them. Even if you don't have to take action right away, like your Femtuition can give you the beginning of information gathering before you start accusing, right? Like you don't have to accuse right away because very rarely are they going to be like, oh, yeah, that's, you got me. But kind of setting things aside and starting the process of protecting yourself and protecting your heart.
Starting point is 01:19:39 Breaks my heart is also that he's just going to do this again. Like even if he goes to this other woman. Yeah. I mean, now he has another child who's about the same age and, you know, like very confusing, very damaging. And had I not experienced what I had my first marriage, I don't know that I'd be this calm and resolved. And you know you will survive. Right. You've done it.
Starting point is 01:20:02 Exactly. And, you know, because when I told my brother, his betrayal, you know, he feels just as betrayed. It's at the same level of correct. Yep. And he has said to me, like, if you weren't this calm, I don't know. It's keeping me grounded because he feels just as betrayed. It's just as deep for him. All of the time and money and everything that he invested into Noah, it's, you know, like he was,
Starting point is 01:20:30 was on to him. He said I would have considered him a close friend, like my brother-in-law, my close friend. And now we're questioning, who is this person? He's never been this person. He's just pretend he's been playing a part. Karma's going to get him. Yeah. So talking to Claire, she's like, let's get you into therapy.
Starting point is 01:20:53 And I was like, yeah, I probably should have started that after my first divorce. Because you think that you're healed. You think that you move past and learn things and just also like the faith in humanity of like this seemed like a really solid dude. And well, Emmy, even if you are healed and have learned things, it's not your fault that that happened.
Starting point is 01:21:15 And I understand the feeling of like, this is really fresh. Thank you for talking to us so soon after you find this stuff out. You're welcome. No, me neither. I honestly, I think it's good timing because it's easier for me to recount all of this information because I feel like this is a very traumatic experience and I don't know what I might remember in a few months of just the details.
Starting point is 01:21:42 Well, because there's so much that you're intaking right now. It's like you're trying to make room for everything and it you have to, a little bit has to absorb so that more can come in and it's a lot right now. So you're still in limbo. Like you have no idea. How do you feel emotionally towards him? Like, do you feel heartbroken or mad or what are you feeling? now? It has been mad. Yeah. Because when I initially find this out, my first question was, how long was he going to drag me along? How long was he just not going to come home for? You know, like, if I hadn't found this out, how long would he have gone on for? I couldn't wrap my head around it because he's been gone for two months now. Like how long, how much longer? If I didn't know this information,
Starting point is 01:22:21 how much longer was he going to let me just sit here? Yeah. Yeah. How long was it going to go on? Just guessing when he's coming. Right. How long was it going to go on? But I've radically accepted. I may never know the whole story. But I think he was trying to do both. And he did it horribly. And I don't think he anticipated what has transpired in the last couple weeks. Well, they have that inflated sense of self.
Starting point is 01:22:51 He thought he could get away with anything. Yeah, for sure. And as it turns out, it works to my advantage. and I will fully exploit it. And, you know, I'm probably going to ask for way more than what I would normally ask for as far as like divorce and... Just for pain and frequent. Parent time.
Starting point is 01:23:10 Punitive family. He says you only care about the money. Okay, watch. Now I care about the money. Watch. So remember, we've borrowed money and the people we've borrowed money from, you know, like, you don't owe me money. He owes me money.
Starting point is 01:23:25 And I said, wait till I'm divorced from him. and then you can go after him on a judgment because that will follow him for 10 years. And you can renew it very easily. Please keep us updated as you heal and all of our love to the kids and you and your family and not to him. Yes. Thank you. Truly, like this will help other people and it is hopefully healing to put it all out there.
Starting point is 01:23:50 Yeah. I definitely, I want to keep you guys updated because my goal is literally this weekend to get that divorce paperwork filled out. And I'm just going to print off my little evidence because I've got that previous paternity case thing to establish parents. Well, that's going to be very telling when you go to court because the court's going to compel him to share his employment history, his employment information. So he'll be compelled to share that and he'll have to.
Starting point is 01:24:12 So then we're really going to get some answers there. Oh, my God. Okay, this is what I'm saying. I did not expect there would be another child. Like I expected for sure maybe another relationship. but I don't know why that threw me off, but I think it's because you know how like she, I think that she thought she knew how to spot a narcissist because of her ex. Yeah, we talked about it a little with her, but yeah, it's almost like, and I'm sure people can
Starting point is 01:24:43 relate to this, you come out of a bad relationship and you're like, I've learned from it. And you have. And yet there's almost this false sense of security coming out of it because you're still maybe susceptible to a different kind of narcissism or abuse or any kind of mistreatment. And it's like, ugh, it's so hard because then you'd feel even worse. I was thinking it would be maybe good to go through the different types of narcissists. Yes. I'm on the Family Institute at Northwestern University's website. Northwestern, great school. I trust them. But we've talked about this before, but I just feel like people don't, we throw around the word narcissist all the time.
Starting point is 01:25:28 It's very popular in social media. And it's not even like a label we're diagnosing. What it really is is a scale. Like I, I'm, like all of us have tendencies that could align with a narcissistic personality. It doesn't mean that we are like diagnosed narcissists. You know, it's like it's all a scale. So there's different kinds and different levels of impact. And at the end of the day, the label doesn't matter.
Starting point is 01:25:50 It's the behavior that is important in the. impact that's important. But let's just like go through a little bit. So the first is malignant narcissist. This form takes, this is from, this is a quote, this form takes the grandiose narcissist. It adds a more exploitative, antagonistic, Machiavellian and at times seemingly psychopathic overlay. Malignant narcissist drive people to the edge and leave them feeling betrayed, fearful, manipulated, tricked and devastated. So this is often referred to as the dark triad. It's like psychopathy. So psychopath, Machiavellianism, which is just like that manipulative
Starting point is 01:26:30 like Machiavel, you know, the guy that did the wars and stuff. Yeah, yeah. And narcissism. And sometimes sadism. So they get like pleasure out of it. Yeah. Like they really enjoy it sometimes. These are often very charming people. It's, it's an extreme. It's an extreme. These are, yeah, these are great. These are the big, big, big bad wolves and stuff. I don't know. So that's big bad one. Communal narcissists are very engaged in the community. So this is the person that maybe is like posting online about all the ways that they're changing the world. They really need to feel like they're the savior, that they're maybe superior to people because they do work for the less fortunate. But in doing that, their brain is
Starting point is 01:27:18 positioning them as better than other people, you know? And they need a lot of valid. validation. So, you know, they're not, hey, if they're doing community service, I guess I don't care why you're doing it. It's nice that you're doing it. But they're not doing it for the right reasons, you know? Yeah, I see what you're saying. They want that kind of, oh, good on you. And they're like, look at what I did. Look at what I do. They want to show off for themselves or something. Yeah. And also this says that they derive a sense of self from the idea of being a giver, but they are also incredibly entitled about it. Like, they don't actually have a lot of empathy. They just are like, you should, you should be thanking me. Why aren't you thanking me?
Starting point is 01:27:57 Like, I deserve it. They, yeah. Amazing. Okay. That makes total sense. So that's an interesting one. Neglectful narcissists don't engage with anyone unless they want something from you. I feel like I've met these people. Oh, so they like, they'll like go see, ghost you for a while and then all of a sudden they're come back and they're like, oh, hey, girl, like they want to hook up or they need money or something? Literally, it's somebody who doesn't really have genuine connections unless there's something to gain. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Not a fun way to live in my opinion. I agree. I agree. Okay. Benign narcissists often exhibit a lack of empathy, entitlement, and grandiosity. However, others experience their lack of empathy as being clueless. Their entitlement as being
Starting point is 01:28:43 clumsy and their grandiosity as being childlike. So these people, it's, it's a lack of empathy as saying like these are the individuals that only talk about themselves and they make everything about them and they have a superficial immaturity that kind of like gets a lot of attention. Like they need a lot of attention. But they're not necessarily harmful. Entitled narcissist. I feel like there might have been some of that. I don't know. Entitlement is visible in the behavior of others and is the belief that we deserve special treatment without cause or reason. Okay. That's just a definition of entitlement. That's purely anti- We get that.
Starting point is 01:29:24 So, yeah, this is a self-righteous person. You know, they have this idea that rules do not apply to them and their view of the world is always right. That's what they operate with. And then the next one is generational or cultural narcissist. This type of narcissist is one of the most difficult to describe, even in the consideration of it being a form of narcissism. narcissism. Narcissism. So this is sometimes like if your parent looks or acts narcissistic and you learn it through
Starting point is 01:29:58 them, it influences your behaviors. So it's like an intergenerational pattern, which is sad because, you know, that's not your fault necessarily. And some of these narcissistic traits are the same as saying you're trying to ask a zebra to have spots instead of stripes. Like some of them are baked into your personality. which doesn't mean you can't work on it, but it isn't easy to change. Right.
Starting point is 01:30:24 This one, I think, is very much a learned behavior, like learned entitlement, learned social status, learn manipulation. It's a reflection of how you grew up. So that's that. Yeah. I wanted to ask you, Ms. Private Investigator, another thing that came up on the latest podcast episode I just mentioned is talking about how spotting lies. it's important to focus on what is verifiable and what is not.
Starting point is 01:30:52 And I felt like a lot of what he shared in his story, it's not really a verifiable lie. Right. So you have to choose whether you want to believe it or not, because you're not going to get evidence out of that. Right. But there were some things that I wanted to ask you if there are ways to verify them,
Starting point is 01:31:09 such as the hospital debts. Like, if somebody claims that their checks are being garnished to pay off. I honestly was like getting confused the way he explained it. Like what do you do if someone tells you about that? Is there anything you can do to try to find information about this debt?
Starting point is 01:31:28 You can. So it's a matter. This is where social engineering comes in because you're not allowed to call a hospital. They can't tell you any information. There's all this stuff. But if it's gone to a debt collector and you say,
Starting point is 01:31:41 hey, I want to pay this bill, they're going to give you any information. you want to get the bill paid, right? So if you talk to them in the right way, there are ways to what we call pretext or pretend you are something you're not to get information. This is where cops are different than private investigators. Cops are not allowed to get that information that way. That's called improper, illegal obtaining of evidence or whatever. And we are not legally allowed to either as civilian. So we are not encouraging this. We're just talking about. No. Absolutely. I'm not encouraging it. But there is a way that you can do a little bit of social engineering and say the things that make somebody go, oh, you want to pay. Because the people that do the bill collecting, they get, they have their job because they're good at collecting money. So the more they collect money, the better. So if you call a bill collector and you say, hey, I have this bill that needs to be paid, but this is, it's this much money. And it's $150,000 or however much he said. And then she's like, well, really, it's just.
Starting point is 01:32:46 $11 or whatever. Like then you know, this is, do you know what I mean? Like there's, you'll know if it's right or whatever. And then you'll be like, well, he said it was 100 grand, but really it's only, you know, $12, then you know he's lying. Or what if they like look it up and they're just like, I don't have record of this. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:33:04 Then you know. There's nothing. Like, there's, what do you do? You know what I mean? Like there's, if there's no way, if they're saying, no, this is not accurate. Then there's nothing there. than you know he's lying. It's so crazy.
Starting point is 01:33:20 I mean, you don't want to live your life being like, oh, you're going to visit your friend with cancer. What hospital is he at? Yeah. Like, you don't want to be the person that's asking all those questions, but at the same time, it's like the right person who's not hiding anything isn't going to be mad that you're asking those, I don't think.
Starting point is 01:33:39 They'll be like, you know what? This is, like, it's really shitty, but also especially if you. Just saying you want to sunflowers. Yep. That too. See, that social engineering. That's something that you can pretext. And by the way, whenever we get compelled in a courtroom to tell how we obtain the information, that's called work product. We don't have to provide that. Whereas law enforcement has to provide a chain of evidence, how they came into it, how they, who's hand by hand, you know, we don't have to do that. So that's where it, that's where it varies. But there are ways to verify. You just have to be really, really savvy, basically. man I feel like now she and her friends are on the case and as she goes through the next process of divorce and obtaining, you know, retribution. What happens in the dark will come into the light. She'll find out. And she said, I mean, to the extent that she's comfortable, we are so open to updates.
Starting point is 01:34:32 So if we get updates, maybe we'll share them on Patreon. I just know they're going to come up with something because y'all know girls, we don't stop. no she's got a good crew that was really special to hear about and I I felt for her so much when she was talking about how she was like I wasn't as vulnerable with the people in my life as I should have been like I totally get that feeling of not wanting to admit what's going on and not wanting to feel like you're a burden like not wanting to feel like wo is me you guys wo is me like you want to look like you're... She's a strong person and probably wanted to maintain that. Sometimes we don't want to admit that things aren't as great as we put them out to be.
Starting point is 01:35:15 And we feel shame around that. Well, she's a good mom and she'll be proud of the way she's navigating this for her kids and for herself. Oh, yeah. So we're all in her corner and I think as sucky as it is. I'm glad she's now able to get what she deserves. I want to know from our audience who is. on team Emmy or Emma, the other girl.
Starting point is 01:35:40 Oh, yeah, the other baby mama? Yeah, like did she do, obviously she has the right to just not say anything, right? But also should she have said, like, should she have gone, you know, sorry? Like, should she have said something? I don't know. I don't know. I think my thing is always like your personal safety and your children's safety is first.
Starting point is 01:36:03 So if there's some part of the situation. that's like she feels threatened. She doesn't want anything to do with this guy or whatever. Like, we don't know that. But if not, and she's just being kind of petty and, like, cheated on her husband with this guy. And I don't know. Like, yeah, there could definitely be a case of, okay, that's not ideal.
Starting point is 01:36:24 You're not being a girl's girl. There's definitely. And there's no law. Like, there's no rule that you have to be a girl's girl, but also don't be a dick. You know what I mean? Yeah. Come on. Don't be a dick.
Starting point is 01:36:36 Well, I love me and we will pass along any support that you send her. If you know what it feels like to have to, you know, tell your kids what's going on. And that was a hard thing to hear and sending her a lot of love and all of you, a lot of love for whatever you're going through. I think the mama part is the hardest because like the little one doesn't even know. The little one's just like, what I'm four? This is fine. What's going on? I don't know.
Starting point is 01:37:03 And that really sucks. Because how do you walk away from your kid? How do you walk away from your kid? That drives me nuts. I don't understand. And she said she was like, it's a lot easier for him to do it than for the woman to do it. And also how shitty for the older daughter.
Starting point is 01:37:20 The older daughter, like, she's the one who spilled the beans. And I think she might have, I think there was something in her heart that wanted it, that wanted to say something. I think she felt it was the right thing to do. But also, like, it's just not fair to her.
Starting point is 01:37:34 at all. No, as an 18 year old, 19 year old, whatever age she is, like she's so young and in such a bad position that I'm sad that he, I blame him completely for putting her in that position and lying to everyone. It is not fair. Oh, I hope that. Oh, Beverly, Queen. Oh, grandma. Yeah. Love her. Mom said, mom said this boy, this boy is ridiculous. Not the man I raised. I love that. And she's being good to the grandkids, even the ones that are not biologically her. She's, I love that. I love that. Good for her. Family can come in all different sizes and shapes and colors and it's beautiful that it's chosen because that sometimes it's not that it means more. It's just like even it's powerful in a different way that they can choose to stay with each other.
Starting point is 01:38:25 Absolutely. There's something to be said for that, you know? Y'all text people that you love right now. That's your homework. Just check. Check in with the friends. that you haven't talked to in a minute and just be like, hey, I was thinking of you because you never know who needs to vent or who needs you in the corner. Yep, 100%. Well, that was a, I mean, not a good story, but a wild story. Yeah. So please tell us your thoughts.
Starting point is 01:38:53 And give her as much support as, you know, as you can. She would obviously really appreciate it, just considering that it's still so fresh. And if you have a story, you can email us, investigate. at the dating detectivespodcast.com, whether it's long or short or a romantic one or a friend or whatever, sometimes we read stories on Patreon that are not completely aligned with our premise as a show. We don't care if it's a good story that's important. We want to talk about it. Send us what's happened. I like a love story. Send me a happy love story. I don't need it to always be sad. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hannah likes a good love story and so do I. So you can send them.
Starting point is 01:39:32 Love you and love you, McKenzie. I love you. And as always, trust your spend tuition.

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