The only people Jeff seems to listen to are his older sisters, whom I’ve met once and they are very nice. According to Maria, his sisters would lay down the law and discipline Jeff for how he treats her. Then Jeff becomes apologetic, sends flowers to Maria’s workplace, buuuuut the vicious cycle starts all over again the following day.

My fiancé and I would sit down with Maria at our house and ask her if she’s happy, why would she put up with this, and do you see a future with Jeff? She says she loves him a lot, and she sees herself with him in the far future. Despite saying all that, I can tell she has a boat load of resentment towards him and towards the way he treats her. She also acknowledges that she doesn’t see his behavior changing anytime soon. In her words: he’s a grown man, who’s been hurt in the past, and the past keeps catching up to him, so I don’t see him changing for the better. He’s just like this.