Ryan had stepped in to offer assistance when his ex-wife Laura—who was known for her unpredictable behavior—made the spontaneous decision to have dogs despite the terms of their lease specifically prohibiting them. When I confronted Ryan about the situation, he stated, “I didn’t think it would be a big deal.” My primary objective was to lift the girls’ spirits because they were so depressed. His explanation did not lessen my anger because his activity had compromised my health and created a rift in our household.

One of the females revealed that Laura had exploited the situation by preying on my known sensitivity, which further complicated things. “Mom told us you wouldn’t mind the pets because she said you liked animals,” she confessed, exposing Laura’s devious plan to ruin Ryan and my relationship.

In an effort to learn more, I had Laura’s landlord verify the information. It was discovered that the landlord had no issues with dogs and had no plans to evict anyone. Armed with this information, I turned back to Ryan. “Laura lied about being in danger of being evicted,” I told him. “She attempted to use this circumstance to sour things between us.”

Now that I knew the truth, I sent Laura an angry SMS demanding that the animals be returned immediately. Ryan and I had to address our deepest trust issues and improve our communication as a result of this incident. We came to the realization that the foundation of our partnership needed to be mutual respect and cooperative decision-making. We learned from this challenging experience how crucial it was to keep together and make decisions as a team in order to strengthen our bond and get through further difficult times.