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I slide my phone back in my pocket when Ruby hands it to me with a smile. “So you had fun at your dad’s this weekend?” I ask her, trying to keep my voice steady.
Her little face brightens. “Yes! Dad’s friend came over and played video games with me!”
“His new friend, huh?” I prompt, rearranging the books on her nightstand.
“Yeah. She had dinner with us last night. She played with me for like a whole hour, but then she had to go home to feed her dog,” she replies.
I tilt my head at that. “Was she a babysitter? Was your dad there?”
“No, Mommy. She didn’t babysit us. Daddy was still there. I think she’s his new girlfriend even though he didn’t say the word. Kate thinks she’s pretty,” she added, and I swallow thickly, feeling a bit sick to my stomach.
“And what did Lola say?”
Ruby shakes her head. “Lola didn’t really hang out with us. She had her headphones in and listened to her K-pop guys the whole time.”
I nod at that. And now that I have a better understanding about the band she loves so much and their music, I have more of an appreciation that she has that bit of an escape for a situation that had to be super awkward for her. She’s not big into meeting and conversing with new people right off the bat. She’s more introverted than my other two babies. But thinking of BTS makes me think of Winston, and riding in his car to his house, and what we did at his house once we got there and after he fed me.
I blush and clear my throat, leaning down to press a kiss to my girl’s cheek. “Goodnight, my baby,” I tell her.
“‘Night, Mommy,” she replies and snuggles down farther under her covers as I shut off her lamp.
I barely make it to my room and close the door before my shaking hand reaches into my pocket and I pull out my phone. I dial Mia immediately.
“Hey, sis! You won’t believe where I a—”
“He’s got a girlfriend. He’s got a girlfriend, Mia, and I need you. Where are you? How long will it take you to get here, because I’m about to lose my shit!” I tell her, still not understanding why I’m so upset.
“Whoa, whoa, Cece. Calm down. It’s going to be okay. What happened?” Mia asks, and I hear traffic in the background as if she’s standing outside.
“I was tucking Ruby in, and she asked to call Mike to tell him goodnight like she always does. I overheard her ask him…” My voice croaks, and I clear my throat before relaying everything to her.
After a moment, Mia tells me, “Okay, I’ll be there soon. Don’t… do anything crazy. Like call him and cuss him out or anything. Just hold tight, okay?”
I nod, even though she can’t see me. “Okay.”
When we disconnect, I toss my phone on the bed and stumble to my walk-in closet. I hold onto the doorjamb as I toe off my nonslip tennis shoes I never took off after work and nudge them into their place at the bottom of my shoe holder. I strip out of my work clothes and toss them in the hamper, grabbing a pair of wide-leg lounge pants and a tank with a built-in shelf bra and heading to my master bathroom.
I barely make it inside the shower before I lose my shit.
If I wasn’t afraid to scare the hell out of my little girls, I would scream at the top of my lungs. But instead, everything comes out of me in angry sobs. And then I realize, I’m not upset in a sad sense. I’m fucking pissed.
How dare Mike have the audacity to be dating someone before he even knows our divorce papers have been filed! He left it up to me to file for divorce, refusing to go ahead and get things started or even talk about it, and that motherfucker has been dating someone long enough he saw fit to bring them around our girls? And that’s another thing! He didn’t even talk to me about bringing a woman around our kids. Isn’t that something parents are supposed to do, come to a decision, an agreement together and decide when it’s all right to introduce someone they’re dating to the children?
And it was sprung on me. Not only that, but I had to find out about it from my daughter, and after the fact!
If I hadn’t just promised my sister that I wouldn’t call him and cuss that asshole out, I sure as fuck would be doing just that as I finally figure out what I’m so goddamn mad about.
It actually makes me feel a little better knowing what all my emotional turmoil was all about, enough that I stand back up from where I’d collapsed on the shower floor and squeeze some shampoo into my hand. Next comes the conditioner, and while that sits in my hair, I scrub my face then shave my armpits. After rinsing out the conditioner, I pour some body wash on my loofa and scrub at least one layer of skin off, feeling even better, since I know this new outer layer of me is one that fucker Mike, or any man, has never touched before. I’m a brand-new woman.
