As a parade of sweaty men filed out of the gym, I locked eyes with one.
He made his way over to the reception desk and gave me a wink.
‘Hi, Trevor,’ I grinned.
‘Are you still on for tomorrow?’ he asked.
‘Yep,’ I replied. ‘Don’t forget your hammer!’
Trevor was a regular at the gym where I worked as a fitness instructor and receptionist.
We were friendly, and when I mentioned I was in need of a handyman, he jumped at the chance to help out.
As a single mum of three going through a divorce, men had been the last thing on my mind. I hadn’t planned on meeting someone new.
But after putting up some shelves for me and mowing the lawn, I got to know Trevor better, and I was flattered by the attention.
Before I knew it, we were dating.
He was funny and charming, and he had a great bod.
‘I’m quite insecure,’ he confided one evening. ‘Every girlfriend I’ve ever had has left me for someone else.’
‘Well, I’m not going to do that,’ I reassured, pulling him in for a kiss.
The more Trevor opened up, the more I fell for him.
Things hadn’t been easy and my heart went out to him.
I couldn’t believe he’d been cheated on so many times.
‘It’s their loss and my gain,’ I told him.
And Trevor was the most romantic boyfriend I’d ever had.
If I was working late, I’d come back to a home-cooked dinner and candlelit bath.
When he worked night shifts, he’d drop flowers on my doorstep for me to find the following morning.
He showered me with gifts too.
‘It’s too much!’ I said, as I admired the sparkling Pandora bracelet he’d bought me.
‘You’re worth it,’ he grinned.
When we were apart, we’d message constantly.
Occasionally, there would be long stretches of time when he didn’t respond.
But I knew Trevor had two daughters from a previous relationship that kept him busy, so I didn’t think too much of it.
One day, we were planning to go to the gym and I fancied a dip in the pool afterwards.
‘I don’t want to go swimming’, he wrote.
‘Oh, come on, I really want to go’, I responded.
For a while I could see he was typing.
Then his reply popped up.
‘Stop being a little Miss Princess. You’re just a silly slut that would sleep with anything with a pulse’, it read.
Just a few seconds later, the message vanished.
But it was too late, I’d seen it.
I was shocked.
I’d never heard Trevor speak like that to anyone before.
Eventually I wrote back, pretending I hadn’t seen the message and asking what it had said.
‘Oh, I was just going to suggest we go swimming another time’, he wrote.
‘You’re lying’, I replied, before letting him know that I’d seen it after all.
I was fuming.
We didn’t speak for a few days, but once the dust had settled, we began chatting again.
Although I expected Trevor to be full of remorse, he didn’t offer an apology.
Still, I reasoned that everyone deserved a second chance, so I decided to put the incident behind us.
A few months later, things were going well between us again.
One of Trevor’s friends was having a birthday party at a local pub, and he asked if I’d like to go with him. As I had work the next day, we arranged for him to come to mine and I’d be the designated driver.
On the day, my phone buzzed with a message from Trevor.
It was a selfie of him with some friends riding their motorbikes.
Be safe! I replied.
I worried about him on his bike, and as time ticked on, I began to fear the worst.
When he didn’t turn up at the time we’d agreed, I went into panic mode.
‘I’m worried about Trevor’, I messaged a friend.
‘Looks like he’s out with friends’, she replied, sending over screenshots of social media posts that showed he was already at the party.
‘What the hell?’, I thought.
I messaged one of Trevor’s pals.
‘He’s here, but I don’t think the phone signal is great’, she replied.
I was livid and, once again, Trevor didn’t offer an apology.
‘We lost track of time,’ he shrugged.
When we argued it was explosive, but somehow we always ended up back in each other’s arms.
A few months later, I landed a new job at a health spa.
One of the perks was free use of the facilities, so Trevor and I went there for a romantic spa day.
After a day of rest and relaxation, we settled in the jacuzzi.
‘Let’s take a selfie,’ I said to Trevor.
He planted a kiss on my cheek and snapped a photo.

That evening, we went home separately as we both had work in the morning.
‘Can you send me the selfies, babe?’ I messaged on WhatsApp.
Two blue ticks appeared, indicating Trevor had seen the message, but he didn’t get around to sending them for hours.
Must be busy, I thought.
At my new job, I was scrolling on my phone, when a notification popped up on Facebook messenger.
‘I think my boyfriend has been cheating on me with you’, the message read.
It was from a woman named Kim and I didn’t recognise her.
My heart sank and my pulse started racing.
‘Who’s your boyfriend?’, I tapped out shakily.
Then Trevor’s name appeared on the screen.
Kim explained how Trevor had accidentally sent her the pictures of us in the hot tub, instead of sending them to me.
He’d tried to unsend them once he’d realised his mistake, but she’d already seen them.
She sent over the screenshots which showed Trevor denying everything.
He was trying to pass me off as a colleague!
Then I noticed one of Kim’s replies which added insult to injury.
‘I can’t believe I trusted you and you’ve cheated on me with a really old woman’, it read.
I wasn’t looking my best in that photo, but she was no spring chicken either!
But I didn’t blame her, she was being led on by Trevor too.
We chatted over the phone and she told me she’d met Trevor online several years earlier.
They’d broke up after she caught him cheating, but got back together later.
We shared stories and I was horrified to discover that all of Trevor’s romantic gestures had been repeated with Kim.
I caught sight of a Valentine’s card on my shelf.
Trevor always signed his cards in the same way. He’d put, ‘To my girl, Love from your man’.
‘He signed my card in exactly the same way,’ Kim said.
Later that evening, Trevor came round and I confronted him.
But he was full of the usual excuses.
True to form, there was no sign of an apology.
‘Get out! I need time to think,’ I fumed.

As time went on, I began to think about the happy times we’d had and we got back together.
After all, he was great with my kids.
But 18 months later, I saw a Facebook status from one of Trevor’s close female friends.
‘I had a lovely weekend thanks to Trevor’, it said.
As the familiar sinking feeling hit, I realised I had to end things for good.
Looking back to the start of our relationship, I think Trevor was love-bombing me.
I don’t believe his sob story about being cheated on. In fact,I’m positive it was the other way round!
I’ve been on a few dates since, but that snake’s lies have given me trust issues.
I don’t know why I put up with his dirty tactics for so long.
I’m just glad the truth about that rat finally bubbled up to the surface.

Joanna Wilding, 36

By Charlotte Partis-Nelson. Pictures Shutterstock (couple in hot tub posed by models). Trevor and Kim’s names have been changed