Cheating isn't physical for me... Yeah it'll hurt a lot if my boyfriend would sleep with a girl casually, but it would hurt me MORE if he cared for her, like a crush... and sleeping around with a crush would be the worse... anyways... he was using her as a shoulder to lean on? That right there is an emotional tie that he should only have with you. It's where friends get too close to the point where, the stuff he should go to YOU for he goes to someone else. They even come in same sex friendships with heterosexual people, it's not about the physical bonding, but emotional, and spiritual. I met my boyfriend online, so can online things be serious even if you don't meet in person? Yes totally. So my answer is that, yes, from what the emails say, and the fact that he was getting involved with her family and kids, yes it sounds like cheating... Did they do anything when he went on a mini vacation? I donno, he could have, but if he did, is there anything you can do by worrying about it? It's in the past, your real question is, "Do I really want to try to work this out?" Good luck and I hope everything works out