My girlfriend called me a “blue-collar nobody” she was embarrassed to be seen with at her party. So I stopped hiding who I am — and started pulling on the threads of every story she’d told me.

Part 3 – THE OTHER MAN

Update two.

I am writing this from my apartment at 3:00 a.m. because I cannot sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see Madison’s face when she realized I knew about Tyler. But that was just the beginning of this nightmare.

I called Tyler Morrison Sunday afternoon. Found his number through his work. He manages parts inventory at an auto shop in Columbus. When I told him I had been dating his wife for 2 years, there was this long silence on the other end.

“You know Madison? Is she okay? She left 8 months ago. Said she had a job opportunity out of state. Haven’t heard from her since.”

Eight months ago was exactly when Madison moved into that nice apartment and we started talking about moving in together.

“Tyler, are you two still married?”

“Legally, yeah. She wouldn’t sign the divorce papers before she left.”

I spent an hour on the phone with Tyler, comparing stories. Turns out Madison — or Mandy, as he knew her — had done this before. Disappeared for months, always with stories about job opportunities or emergencies. “Last time she said she was working for an environmental nonprofit in Denver,” Tyler explained. “Turned out she was waitressing in Toledo and living with some guy she’d met online.”

My stomach dropped. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since about 6 months after we got married, she would get restless, make up stories about opportunities, then disappear. I kept taking her back because I loved her — or who I thought she was.”

Tyler sent me their wedding photos. She looked happy in a way I had never seen with me. Maybe that was just another performance. “She called you her executive boyfriend in a text to her sister,” Tyler said. “Executive boyfriend? I am an electrician.” Mandy used to spend hours online looking at pictures of rich people, copying their style.

I felt sick. Two years believing I was dating this sophisticated marketing professional, and she was just playing a character.

After I hung up, I decided to follow her. Monday morning, Madison left at 8:15, but instead of heading downtown to the tech district, she drove to a strip mall and walked into a temp agency called QuickStaff Solutions. When she came out two hours later, she wasn’t alone. There was a guy about our age, and they were walking close together, his hand on her lower back. They drove to a coffee shop, sat talking for an hour. Their body language was unmistakable. I felt like I was watching my life fall apart in slow motion.

Tuesday, I called QuickStaff Solutions. The receptionist said Madison only worked there part-time, doing data entry and filing. Data entry. Not marketing campaigns. Data entry at a temp agency.

I drove to Derek’s office that afternoon. During our conversation about the electrical work, I mentioned Madison’s name, said I was curious about the marketing campaign she had been talking about at the party. Derek looked confused. “Madison, the woman from the party? I just met her that night. I assumed she was your date. She is not your employee.”

“No, we have never had anyone named Madison on staff. At the party, she started talking about marketing concepts, so I listened politely. I thought she was just making conversation, maybe looking for job opportunities.”

The room started spinning. Madison had been leaving every morning talking about meetings and campaigns with Derek’s company, but she had never worked there. She had been pretending Derek was her boss.

“She seemed knowledgeable about marketing, though,” Derek said. “I figured she worked in the industry somewhere.”

That evening, Madison came to my apartment with Thai food, acting completely normal.

“Madison, we need to talk about Tyler, about your job, about everything you have been lying about.”

She froze with the pad thai container halfway to the counter. “Garrett, I told you I could explain about Tyler. The divorce is complicated.”

“What about your job? Derek says you don’t work for his company.”

The container slipped from her hands, splattering noodles across my floor. “How dare you interfere with my professional relationships.”

“You work at a temp agency doing data entry.”

She started crying desperately. “I was trying to build something better for us. That temp job was just temporary while I worked my way into marketing.”

“By lying to everyone about working there already?”

“It is called fake it till you make it, Garrett. Some of us have ambition.”

“And what about the guy from the temp agency? The one you had coffee with?”

Madison’s face went white. “You followed me.” She sat down hard on my couch, put her head in her hands. “His name is Brad. He helps me practice being the person I want to be. It is not what you think.”

But something in her voice told me it was exactly what I thought. That is when I realized this story was far from over. Because if Madison had been lying about her job and her marriage, what else was she lying about? And how many other men were there who thought they were dating the real Madison?