Subject: He’s hiding money in our raggedy house
Dear Steve and Shirley, I’m a 49 year old married woman and my husband is 59. We’ve been married for 6 years and this is my first marriage and his second. We dated a good while before he asked me to marry him and when I accepted his proposal, I told him that I didn’t want to live in the house that he and his wife and kids lived in. He rented out his house and we bought a fixer-upper house in a great neighborhood. I wanted a new house or at least one that was in great condition. He promised me that he had some great contractors that would make my dream a reality. The house is so old that we still have linoleum tiles on the kitchen floor. I contacted a professional company to get a flooring estimate and I wanted to replace all the laminate countertops in the kitchen. It had been six years and I saved up money to do a few little things. He hemmed and hawed but he eventually helped me pick out our flooring. He didn’t offer to help me pay for anything because he said it was my impatience that led to the renovation. A few weeks later, we were packing up to go to my parents’ home temporarily while our floors are getting installed and I just happened to be peeking in at him in the bedroom. He carefully pulled a big envelope out of a shoebox and I saw hundreds of dollars. I ran into the room and tackled him and grabbed the envelope. All he could say is that he had to keep a stash because I love spending his money. I don’t know how he thought it was okay to hide this large sum of money from me. I’m wondering if he planned to leave me in this raggedy house. Is that why he’s not interested in doing any upgrades? What’s he up to?