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I felt a little panicked. No one was supposed to know about our relationship.
"No, I'm..." What was I supposed to say to that? I wasn't his girlfriend. But it's not like we weren't... entangled. Still, I had no idea who this woman was. I didn't owe her any explanations.
I frowned and said more firmly, "No, I'm not." She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"No?" she asked. "Hmmm. Okay. But you're the mother of his kid, right?"
My whole body went cold.
"His kid?" I whispered.
"Mm-hmm," she said, nodding. "Makayla, right? Pretty name."
"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she giggled. "I should have introduced myself. I'm Michelle, Cassius's wife. I mean," she rolled her eyes and smirked, as if telling a joke, “Ex-wife, technically."
"His ex-wife?" I asked. He hadn't mentioned an ex-wife, or a wife of any kind.
As if reading my thoughts, she said, "Ah, I guess he hasn't mentioned me. I'm sorry, this must come as a shock, then." She didn't look sorry. "Then again," she continued, "it was a bit of a shock to me, finding out about you and your daughter. We were together for years, and he never mentioned either of you."
"We're not..." I started to say, and then stopped myself. I didn't even know this woman was who she said she was. I shouldn't give her any information.
"What do you want?" I asked. She smiled that beautiful, cold smile again.
"I just wanted to warn you, woman to woman. I had a hunch he wasn't being truthful with you, just like he wasn't truthful with me. And I was right. I thought it was only fair, now that I knew about you, that you also knew about me. Female solidarity, right?"
"Right..." was all I could manage to mumble. I wanted to ask her how she knew about me. I wanted to scream at her to tell me how she knew my daughter's name. But I also felt like she was tricky and possibly dangerous, and that I shouldn't give away anything more than I already had.
"Okay, thanks," I said. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now."
"Of course. My apologies for the ambush. I know what it's like." She gave me a sympathetic look, and for a second, I thought she really might be on my side. Incredibly confused, I just pulled open the car door and got in. She gave me a small wave as I pulled away.
I turned the conversation over and over the whole way home. This woman had admitted to being his ex, and she had seemed quite pleased with herself, almost as if her point was to drive us apart. She obviously didn't really understand our relationship, since she had thought that I was Cassius's girlfriend. Would Cassius have told her that I was his girlfriend? That seemed odd. It was as if she knew a lot about us, but was still missing crucial pieces of information.
And yet, I couldn't think of a way that she would know about Makayla, unless Cassius had told her. Even if someone had seen me with him, or seen us with him, no one from his circles should know her name. It had to be him that had told her. Didn't it?
My head was spinning, and I finally decided the only way I would get the truth was to talk to Cassius himself. I thought about calling him, but I really wanted to see his reaction. I felt like I would be able to tell from his expression whether or not he knew anything about his ex and what she'd been up to. I thought about going to his house, but I wasn't sure I could remember where it was, so I resolved to wait until I went into work. This whole episode had only made me angrier with him. Not only had he lost Makayla, but now his ex was showing up and practically harassing me.
The next day, I went up to his floor on my lunch break. I didn't really want to ask his assistant if he was in, so I just walked through the cubicles like I had a reason for being there. His door was shut, and I was just thinking I might have to give up and ask, when I got lucky. The assistant seemed to be looking for something, and after a moment, stood up and went into the office. I quickly changed my direction so I could see through the open door.
The assistant was looking through a drawer in the filing cabinet. I briefly remember how not that long ago I'd been undressing in front of that very filing cabinet. I shook my head to clear away the memory and squinted. I didn't see him inside.
"Trying to get a peek at the boss?" asked an unfamiliar voice. I looked up to see a cheerful woman holding a stack of papers and grinning at me.
"Oh, no. I, uh..."
"It's okay," she said conspiratorially. "It happens a lot. He's kind of like a celebrity. People hear everything about him, but they rarely see him, so they're curious. We get all kinds of people finding an excuse to come to this floor to try to see him. Don't worry."
"Yeah, I um... I guess I was just curious," I lied. The woman nodded.
"He's not in today, though," she said.
"Oh, really?" I asked, hoping I sounded casual.
"He actually hasn't been coming in much. He's out a lot for meetings and things, you know? But I can tell you,” she leaned in, and I could tell she was enjoying this like it was juicy gossip, "he almost always comes in on Wednesday. Something to do with contracts he needs to sign or some other paperwork."
"Oh, okay. Good tip, thanks." I couldn't help but think of what this woman would do if she ever happened upon the knowledge that her "celebrity" boss liked to have sex in his office with his baby mama. I shuddered at the thought, and resolved to never let that happen again.
