Every woman my father dated seemed thrilled to see him again, only to disappear before dawn. When my best friend agreed to help me figure out why, a terrifying message proved it was no coincidence.
My father lost my mother twelve years ago.
I was old enough to understand what death meant, but too young to understand what it could do to the person left behind.
After the funeral, he became a different man.
Before Mom passed away, he brought life to every room.
He sang while making coffee.
At dinner he would tell terrible jokes and laugh before he even got to the punch line.
There was always music playing in the background at home.
After he left, silence fell over everything.
For years he refused to date anyone.
His family encouraged him to meet someone.
Friends invited him to dinner and it seemed as if there was always a single woman next to him.
He refused every invitation.
One day I told him that his mother would never have wanted him to spend the rest of his life alone.
He looked at me with an expression I have never forgotten.
“I’m not alone, Lola,” he said. “I have you.”
That answer hurt me more than I let him know.
Then, almost without warning, something changed.
He signed up for dating apps.
I discovered it one Saturday afternoon, when I passed by his house.
He was sitting at the kitchen table and holding the phone with both hands.
His reading glasses rested low on his nose and he smiled at the screen.
I haven’t seen that smile in years.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
He quickly locked the phone.
“Nothing.”
I raised an eyebrow.
He lasted less than ten seconds before giving up.
“I created a profile.”
“A dating profile?”
He nodded, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
Before he could explain, I pulled him into a hug.
At first he remained still, then he hugged me back.
“I think Mom would approve,” I told him.
“I hope so,” he murmured.
Soon after, he began meeting wonderful women.
Before every appointment, he talked to me about it.
One of them worked in a library.
Another owned a neighborhood bakery.
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