My Husband Teased Me at a Pool Party, Saying I Wasn’t as Attractive as His Brother’s New Wife – So I Put Him in His Place, and He’ll Never Forget It

I didn’t remember my brother-in-law (BIL) mentioning a thing. Neither did Steve, apparently, judging by the confused look on his face.

“Just want to look decent.”

Alice caught my eye across the table. She held my gaze a second too long.

***

Later, she texted me. Not about Carl’s strange behavior. Just, “How are you doing, really? I bought too much lasagna. Want me to drop some off?”

Then she started showing up with more food.

She even held Onica while I finally ate something warm.

Alice caught my eye.

My new SIL asked about my job as if she actually wanted to hear the answer.

I kept waiting for the catch. It never came.

***

“You seem tired, Nina,” Alice said one afternoon, sitting on my kitchen floor while Bradley showed her his dinosaur collection.

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t have to be okay with me.”

I almost cried. I blamed the hormones.

I kept waiting for the catch.

***

That week, I tried to reclaim something. I decided I’d do one squat while the oatmeal spun in the microwave.

How hard could it be?

Very hard, apparently.

Something in my lower back popped, and I froze mid-squat, my arms out as if I were surrendering to a very small army.

Bradley wandered in, took one long look, and tilted his head.

I tried to reclaim something.

“Mommy, why are you stuck like a frog? Are you gonna hop?”

“No, sweetheart.”

“Can you hop?”

“Not currently, no.”

My son nodded thoughtfully, opened the fridge, and helped himself to some string cheese while his mother remained crouched by the microwave.

“Can you hop?”

I laughed until I cried, and then very slowly straightened up like a folding chair with trust issues.

That was the highlight of my week: a three-year-old comparing me to a frog.

***

That evening, Carl was at it again.

“Have you seen Alice? She’s literally the definition of beauty.”

I’d noticed how often my husband and his brother talked about how perfect Alice was.

I laughed until I cried.

Still, I tried to keep the peace and calmly said, “That’s nice of you to notice her, but right now beauty is the last thing on my mind. I’m simply trying to survive with a schedule like mine.”

I held onto the hope that he understood me.

I wasted my time.

***

Friday night, Carl came home practically bouncing.

“So,” he announced, cracking open a beer he didn’t buy. “I’m throwing a pool party. For my 40th. A big one!”

I tried to keep the peace.

“Here?”

“Where else? Steve’s coming. Alice too, obviously.”

Obviously.

“Carl, I’m exhausted. Onica isn’t sleeping through the night. Bradley…”

“Nina. It’s my 40th!”

I looked at him. The fresh haircut he hadn’t mentioned, I thought of his phone lying face down on the counter, and how he used to bring me flowers just because.

“Fine,” I said. “We’ll have a party.”