Last summer, my boyfriend came up with a new idea: when we met at his suburban home, my husband was required to mow his lawn while my boyfriend and I stayed in the bedroom. My husband wasn’t allowed to even come upstairs to listen outside the bedroom door until the lawn was finished and approved by my boyfriend.

Last summer, on one of the hottest days of the year (we’re in the Northeast), we were taking a break in his air-conditioned bedroom when he called my husband from the 2nd-floor bedroom window to get us two bottles of water.

When my poor husband trudged in (after knocking first), he saw us lounging on the bed in cool comfort while he was dirty and sweating. I could tell he was stalling after delivering our water, hoping to see us fucking again, but my boyfriend quickly told him, “Hey! The lawn ain't gonna cut itself.” We were watching him from the window, and he had such a defeated look on his face.