When Jeremy and his wife, Nina, get home from a vacation, they are horrified to find Ted, Jeremy’s slob of a brother, in their home. After a confrontation which leads to angry parents and Nina moving out, Jeremy forces Ted’s hand, making him move out…
When I came home from vacation, I was expecting to relax, maybe pop open a bottle of wine with my wife, and enjoy the peace of our home. Instead, we walked into a living room that looked like a complete frat house after a party from Hell.
A couple on vacation | Source: Midjourney
There were beer cans everywhere, dirty clothes tossed in random piles, and the smell, my goodness, the smell. And there, sprawled out on my couch like he owned the place, was my older brother, Theodore, or Ted, as everyone called him.
“Ted, what the hell? What is this? Why are you in my house?” I asked, trying to stay calm, though my blood pressure was rising by the second.
Nina, my wife, looked around our living room and rolled her eyes. In that moment, I knew that I had to fix it or I’d have to deal with a very upset wife.
A messy living room | Source: Midjourney
My brother looked up, casually, like I hadn’t just caught him red-handed.
“Oh, hey, Jeremy,” he said. “Mom and Dad figured that it would be easier if I just moved in while you were gone. You’ve got all this space, and it’s not like you’re using it, you know? You and Nina are either working or on vacation.”
I blinked, trying to process the audacity of his words.
A man sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
“You moved in? You moved into my house? Without asking? Ted, are you insane?”
He rolled his eyes, lifting his feet onto the couch and crossing them like he was about to watch a movie.
“Yeah, so what?” he said. “I needed a place to stay, and it’s not like you’d say yes. So, we decided to skip that part. Quit being so uptight, Jeremy. Just help a brother out.”
A man sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
It was like a switch flipped inside me, the years of watching him leech off my parents, his life one big excuse after another, and somehow, he was the victim here.
Now, he’d taken over my house. Really?
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, my phone rang. Mom. Of course.
I answered, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.
A man holding his phone | Source: Midjourney
“Mom, did you and Dad seriously let Theodore move into my house while I was away?”
“Why are you using my full name?” Ted chimed in from the background.
I ignored him.
“Jeremy, don’t be so dramatic,” my mother said, not even a hint of apology in her voice. “Ted needed a place to stay, and you’ve got all that room. You don’t even have kids yet. So what’s the harm in helping out your brother?”
An annoyed woman | Source: Midjourney
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Mom, he is 42 years old. He isn’t a kid. You’ve let him mooch off you for years, and you want to dump him on me? Are you being serious? Why do you want to treat him like he’s a kid just out of college?”
My mother’s tone shifted, and she immediately went on the defense.
“Oh, mooching, huh?” she said. “I’m disappointed in you, Jeremy. He’s been through a lot. You don’t understand what it’s like to be him. You’ve always had everything together. Ted needs a little more help. And as family, you owe it to him.”
A frowning man | Source: Midjourney
Been through a lot? My brother had two children under the age of five, with two different women. And he didn’t bother to support either of them. How was I supposed to feel sorry for this man?
Before I could respond, my father took the phone, his voice taking over my ear, sounding even more irritated.
“Jeremy, stop being selfish. You’ve got the money, the house, the wife. What’s the big deal? It’s your job to take care of your family. Ted is your brother. He is staying.”
Two young children | Source: Midjourney
I almost lost my mind. I almost let my anger take over me. But then I remembered that it just wasn’t my style. Ted might’ve thought that he had won this time, but I had a plan.
“It’s not about the space, Dad,” I said. “It’s about respect. Ted can’t just live here without my permission. Nina and I have worked hard for our home. And what’s even worse? My wife just has to deal with this, too.”
From the couch, Ted snorted.
A man sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, come on. Don’t act like you’re all high and mighty. It’s just a house,” he said.
“But you’ve been freeloading off Mom and Dad for years. Why should I trust that you’d do anything differently here? Why can’t you stay with one of your kids and their mom?”
I thought that was the card that would have frustrated him. But he didn’t even flinch.
A frowning man | Source: Midjourney
“Because I’m family, that’s why. Why do you always act like I’m a stranger? It’s my right to stay here. Mom and Dad said that you’d be like this, but I didn’t think you’d be this bad.”
I was done.
“Fine, Ted,” I said. “You want to stay? Sure. Let’s see how that works out.”
I was fine with being horrible to my brother, I mean, someone had to teach him a lesson. But when I went upstairs to tell Nina about everything that had happened on the phone, she was highly frustrated.
A disgruntled man | Source: Midjourney
“Jer, you can’t be serious,” she said as I sat down on the bed across her.
“I’m going to fix it. I promise you, Nina. I’ll make this right. But I’m going to teach him a lesson first.”
“Well, I don’t want to be here for it. You have a week. Get him out, or I’ll stay gone,” she said.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
An annoyed woman | Source: Midjourney
“I’m going to my sister’s house, Jeremy. I can’t stand your brother, and I will not stay here while he’s here,” she said, packing a suitcase as she spoke.
“I’ll make this right, my love,” I promised her.
For the next week, I made Ted’s life a waking nightmare without ever raising my voice. And with Nina gone, I had a bigger incentive to get him out.
A woman packing a suitcase | Source: Midjourney
The first thing I did was disconnect the Wi-Fi. Ted, who spent most of his days glued to his phone or binge-watching shows on the TV, was completely lost.
He complained, but I just smiled.
“Oh, the internet? Yeah, it’s been spotty.”
Next, I shut off the hot water. Ted loved his long, lazy showers, but now he was greeted with ice-cold water every morning.
Water running in a shower | Source: Midjourney
“Must be something wrong with the plumbing,” I’d say innocently when he whined about it.
Then, there was the food.
I stocked the fridge with nothing but tofu, vegetables, and the healthiest food I could find. Ted hated anything that wasn’t greasy or fried. And now, every time he opened the fridge, he groaned like I was starving him.
“You’re family, right?” I’d say. “I’m sure you can deal with a little inconvenience. But it’s for my health, so you’ll be fine.”
An array of healthy food | Source: Midjourney
To top it all off, I started blasting music at 6 a.m. every day while I had my treadmill session in the gym room. I figured if Ted wasn’t going to contribute to the household, the least he could do was get up early.
He hated it all, of course. And by day five, he looked like he was on the verge of losing his mind.
“Jeremy, man, this is BS,” Ted said one morning, his voice filled with frustration. “I can’t stay here. How do you live like this? No Wi-Fi, no hot water, and no food I enjoy. This is torture.”
A man on a treadmill | Source: Midjourney
I raised an eyebrow.
“I thought you’d be grateful to stay, Ted. It’s not like you’re paying rent or contributing anything. What’s the problem?”
He grumbled something under his breath, clearly fuming.
“Forget it, I’m going back to Mom and Dad’s.”
An annoyed man | Source: Midjourney
As he stormed out, dragging his junk with him, I couldn’t help but smile.
But I wasn’t done yet. I cleaned the house top to bottom, went out to get proper groceries, and cooked Nina a good meal. I had already called her during the day and told her that Ted was gone.
“Come home, honey,” I said.
“I’ll see you later,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
While waiting for Nina to shower, I knew that there was just one more thing to do.
“Mom, Dad,” I said on the phone. “Ted’s out of my house. And he won’t be coming back again. He’s your problem again.”
My mother was furious.
“Jeremy, you can’t just kick him out! Where will he go?”
“That’s up to Ted, Mom. He’s 42. If you guys want to keep coddling him, go ahead. But I’m done.”
A man talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
After that, I heard that Ted moved back into my parents’ house, but they demanded that he transform the garage into his own space. They forced him to get a job.
Ted was upset, of course, so they blamed it all on me. But I was fine with that. Nina and I had our home back, and we were at peace.
A garage converted into a bedroom | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done?
If you enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you |
My Husband ‘Accidentally’ Locked Me in the Basement to Watch Basketball with His Friends at Our House
Dani cannot stand her husband’s friends. So when Ethan brings up the possibility of having them over to watch a basketball game, she shuts down the idea. On the evening of the game, Dani finds herself going into the basement to get a pack of beer, but before she knows it, she’s locked inside. What happens next?…
I should have just said no from the start. Not just when Ethan brought up the idea of his friends coming over for dinner. I mean way before that, like when I first realized how awful they were. I never outright said that I didn’t hate them, but let me be honest with you: I think I made it pretty clear.
An annoyed woman | Source: Midjourney
But my husband, Ethan?
He’s so different from these guys. At 35, he’s a successful manager at a tech company, and for reasons that I will never understand, he’s still friends with the same guys he went to high school with.
They’re loud, rude, and completely unlike Ethan. They’re everything he left behind when he made something of himself.
Except, apparently, his loyalty to them.
A man sitting in his office | Source: Midjourney
“Dani, it’s just one game,” he said that night, sitting in the kitchen with a hopeful grin. “The guys really want to watch the game here. They’re dying to see our new TV setup. It’ll be fun!”
I sighed, trying to stay calm. I could almost see the dreadful evening unfolding. I knew that Ethan’s friends would take over the house, inappropriate comments getting into every conversation.
“Ethan, you know how I feel about them. Every single time they come over, it’s like our house gets turned into a frat house. I’m not cleaning up after them again. It’s not happening.”
A man sitting at a kitchen counter | Source: Midjourney
My husband’s face dropped, a look of wounded pride flashing in his eyes.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
“When you have a broken heart – at least when I do – you got to get it out of your system. You want people to sympathize with you. I was at rock bottom, in the middle of hell.”
Rumors of a breakdown dogged Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert’s brief marriage. Both are now contentedly wed to separate partners.
Given their prominent positions in the music industry, it is understandable why Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert fell in love so soon.
Even though he was still married when he met her, their shared love of music drew them together. Their love affair ended in divorce eventually.
Following their introductions at CMT’s 100 Greatest Duets Concert, the two musicians first came into contact with one another in 2005.
From the beginning, she was drawn to him, but he ignored her because he was married. In a similar vein, Shelton was instantly smitten with the “Drunk” singer.
The beginning of their romantic tale
In a subsequent interview, Lambert claimed to have seen Shelton’s wedding photo in Country Weekly and to have known he was married. She continued, saying:
“I should have known better—this is forbidden. For crying out loud, my folks work as private detectives. I’ve witnessed affairs my entire life. I am one of the few who can truly know better than this.
Even still, she was powerless to ignore the “inevitable chemistry” they shared from the start. Shelton separated from his wife Kaynette Williams a year later and went after Lambert.
Shelton asked Lambert to marry him in 2010, but he did so in remembrance of her father. The “God’s Country” singer gave Lambert’s father a call to get his OK before proposing on May 9 and bringing out a platinum and diamond ring that he had personally picked out.
“It’s so much more perfect than I could have picked myself, but we’ve been together for five years, so he knew exactly what I wanted,” Lambert remarked. The country music artist cherished the casual party that was the proposal.
Apart from that specific instance, 2010 was an exceptional year for Lambert, as she achieved her first number one song, “White Liar,” in January and won both Album of the Year and Top Female Vocalist at the ACM Awards.
The pair married in 2011, but problems soon arose in their union. Rumors of a breakup surfaced in 2013, which the couple refuted.
In order to demonstrate that there were no secrets in their marriage, the “The Voice” judge at the time said that his wife had access to his phone anytime she wanted. He declared:
We truly do have that level of trust. Nothing is hidden. “Go search through my drawers or my computer if you feel like it,” is what I’ll say, and it’s been extremely helpful since I don’t want her to ever question anything.
Even though there were still rumors in 2014, the pair didn’t seem to be affected and even made jokes about the supposed divorce. In the past two years, Lambert joked, “I think I’ve had like five sets of twins and we’ve been divorced four times, and one of us had a $100 million divorce.”
Shelton and Stefani were married in a modest chapel on the “Home” singer’s property in July 2021 in a private ceremony held in Oklahoma.
The pair sent heartfelt wishes on social media to commemorate their third wedding anniversary the same year.
Lambert acknowledged that marriage was difficult, but he also stated it was a wonderful gift that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. She continued, saying:
It is our constant goal to be together. On our anniversary, I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of the nation! That moment is precious.
However, the pair soon shown that there was turmoil in paradise, proving the claims to be real. Gwen Stefani collaborated with Shelton as a coach on season nine of “The Voice” in April 2014.
After four years together, Shelton and Lambert announced their divorce within a year. They said in a statement that was released:
We are actual individuals with actual lives, families, friends, and coworkers. As a result, we respectfully request your understanding and privacy in this very private situation.
The couple disclosed that they were surprised by the split and that they had to take a risk by choosing to continue living their lives on their own.
Both before and after the publishing of the statement, Shelton and Lambert said nothing about the matter. They had ten wonderful years together, including their courtship phase.
LIFE AFTER PARTNERSHIP
Shelton quickly started dating Gwen Stefani, his co-star on “The Voice,” following their breakup. On November 4, 2015, they made their relationship official via Shelton’s agent, who stated:
“Gwen and Blake have been friends for a long time, but they recently started dating.”
The couple claimed that their congruent divorces and life events strengthened their bond.
Shelton eventually told Lambert about his divorce in 2020. Details regarding their breakup were disclosed in his song “If I’m Honest.”
He answered, “Maybe not specifics.” However, you get the gist of it. It is my chronicle of divorce, but perhaps even more than that, it is also my record of happiness and infatuation.
He’s got to admit that his second divorce has devastated him to the point of no return. Even though Shelton did not create the song “She’s Got a Way With Words,” which describes a partner who strayed and lied, he isn’t stopping people from believing it was a reflection of his own relationship. He declared:
“You have to let go of it when you’re feeling down, or at least that’s how I feel. You want to be able to relate to other individuals. I was in the midst of hell, at my lowest point.
But there was also someone who understood him quite well. It was a day he will never forget. “Gwen, who I didn’t really know, had these enormous tears in her eyes when I looked at her. It struck me, “Wow, she really feels bad for me.”
The singer of “Candyman” had recently filed for divorce from Gavin Rossdale, her husband of 20 years. Later, she spoke with Shelton by herself, and that’s when their close relationship began.
As time went on, their friendship grew; they went from communicating their understanding to exchanging emails once a week. He declared:
“Then I wake up, and she’s my entire world, and I wonder if she feels the same way about me.”
Shelton and Stefani were married in a modest chapel on the “Home” singer’s property in July 2021 in a private ceremony held in Oklahoma. Luckily, Stefani’s family and kids adore her new husband and have a wonderful impact on her. Says she:
“I’ve never had a more feminine style. I think it’s because I have a pretty macho man and I’m genuinely in love. Now that I’ve let that side of myself show, I enjoy it.
Within three months of their first date, Lambert also wed Brendan McLoughlin, an officer in New York City. Even though he was married when they initially met, their love remained. It was made public in 2022 that the couple was attempting to conceive.
Leave a Reply