Part 2
But here's the thing. Tara doesn't stop at the singing. She uses a much heavier word: grooming. "He's grooming them, I guess, or whatever," she says. That's not a word you throw around lightly. She's describing a pattern — the singing, the small gifts, the slow build of emotional intimacy. And Josh himself later admits to "emotional affairs." So the singing isn't just a guy who likes attention. It's a technique.
Think about the TV lotharios we all know. Charlie Harper from Two and a Half Men — played by Charlie Sheen from 2003 to 2015 — was a hedonist, but he was upfront about it. Joey Tribbiani from Friends — Matt LeBlanc, 1994 to 2004 — was a charming idiot who genuinely liked women. Josh isn't either of those guys. He's not charming in a lovable way. He's calculated. He doesn't just stumble into these connections; he builds them. The smoking area isn't a bar. It's an office. These are coworkers. That's a captive audience.
So ask the question Tara is really asking: is singing in the smoking area a courtship ritual or just a guy who likes attention? According to Tara, the answer is both. He likes the attention, sure. But he also uses it. He creates a little bubble of intimacy — a song, a laugh, a shared cigarette — and then he calls it friendship. That's the emotional affair he admits to. He told Maury he had "emotional affairs" because Tara "made me feel one type of way about myself." That's the excuse. The singing is the method.
And then there's the age gap. Josh is 12 years younger than Tara. That detail matters. It's not just a number. It changes the power dynamic. Is he immature? Maybe. But Tara's point is sharper: he's playing a game. He knows how to talk to women — she says so herself. He did the exact same thing with her. The singing, the gifts, the attention. She's seen this movie before. She was the leading lady. Now she's watching him run the same play on other women.
What did he buy one of them? A package of peanut M&M's. For her birthday. That's not a grand romantic gesture. It's a small, cheap, deliberate token. It says, "I was thinking about you." And that's the point. Grooming isn't always diamonds and roses. Sometimes it's candy from the vending machine and a song at the picnic table. It's the little things that make someone feel special — and then make them feel crazy when you deny it.
Tara also mentions he bought another woman stuff with her Target gift card. That's a detail that would be funny if it weren't so brutal. He's not just flirting. He's using resources from his own household to fund his side quests. That's not a ladies' man. That's a guy who has figured out exactly how to get away with it — until now.
So when you picture Josh, don't picture a smooth operator. Picture a guy at a picnic table, cigarette in one hand, singing a Luther Vandross ballad to a coworker who thinks they're just friends. Picture the peanut M&M's. Picture the Target gift card. That's the grooming. That's the emotional affair. And that's why Tara is on Maury in the first place.
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But Josh isn't the only one with a story. Enter Lacy, the woman at the center of the storm. She's the one Josh calls his best friend. She has a boyfriend named Justin. And Justin is sitting in the audience, trusting Josh completely. That's our next stop.
Stop 3: Lacy and Justin – The Unlikely Triangle (or Square) of Trust
Now, step into the living room of this Maury episode and meet the other players in this drama. You’ve already met Tara, the fed-up fiancée, and Josh, the self-proclaimed ladies’ man who thinks he’s Luther Vandross. But there’s another woman in the picture: Lacy. And she’s not alone. She’s got a boyfriend, Justin, and he’s sitting right there in the audience, nodding along like everything’s fine.
Let’s start with Justin. When Maury asks him if he thinks Josh and Lacy are messing around, Justin doesn’t flinch. “No, Maury. We have a very comfortable relationship and I trust and I do love you trust Josh? Yes, sir.” That’s right—he trusts Josh completely. No hesitation. No side-eye. Just pure, unshakable faith. But why? Why does Justin trust Josh so blindly? Is he naive, or is he protecting his own relationship? Think about it: if Justin admits that Josh might be up to something, he also has to admit that his girlfriend might be involved. It’s easier to keep the blinders on than to face that possibility. But the truth has a way of sneaking up on you—especially on a show like Maury.
Then there’s Lacy. She walks out, takes a seat, and describes her relationship with Josh as just friends. “He comes over and hangs out, yes, he does. I mean, Justin’s always there. My boyfriend’s always there.” She’s adamant: Josh has never been at her apartment without Justin. But wait—Josh told Tara something different. He said he’d been to Lacy’s without Justin. That’s the contradiction that blows this whole thing wide open. Someone is lying. Is it Lacy, trying to cover her tracks? Or Josh, spinning tales to make himself look like a player? Or maybe Tara, so consumed by jealousy that she’s imagining things? The lie detector will supposedly sort it out, but right now, we’re left with a tangled web of he-said-she-said.
