I Hate My Husband’s “Work Wife”

Reader Wary of Work Wife writes,

My husband works in IT and there are very few women in his office. Unfortunately one of the few who is there is his “work wife.” While I do not think she is consciously romantically interested in my husband, she is young and somewhat attractive and texts him late night about stupid stuff like Game of Thrones. She obviously likes the attention and maybe one day she will realize she wants to have more or a different kind of his attention.

Either way, I deeply dislike her and how my husband acts when he is around her (like an indulgent uncle or something?). I wish she would change jobs. I don’t want to say anything because my husband usually acts like I am crazy and paranoid, but do you think this type of relationship is healthy? If not, how can I tell him to cool the communications with her?

Dear WWW,

Your last sentence did not specify which relationship you’re asking about, yours with your husband or his with his “work wife.” I think that we should spend the most time discussing the former as it’s likely the reason that this situation upsets you so much. It is certainly not healthy for your husband to call you paranoid or invalidate your feelings, and it is also not healthy for you to feel consistently jealous or suspicious (which I would imagine is what he thinks about you, for…