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And how utterly lonely she was on her own.
When the party was over, Sophie managed to make it onto the highway before the first tear slipped down her face. In a span of a few hours, it felt like her entire world had been flipped upside down.
What was she doing with her life?
She was thirty-six, with no husband in sight. Even if she did happen to meet someone, how long would it be until they married? How long until they had children? And what if it didn’t work out, and she had to start all over again? The years began adding up in her head, causing an overwhelming sensation. A crippling fear that she had missed her chance burned in her veins.
Had she given up her prime years to climb the corporate ladder?
Her thoughts occupied her the entire way back to the city. And when she unlocked the door and stepped inside her apartment, she found she was unable to recall the drive home.
Suddenly, her apartment felt empty. She checked the time on her phone and was surprised to see that it was only seven o’clock.
Not in the mood to cook, she ordered takeout and settled onto her old blue couch, feeling miserable.
In one way, she felt inspired to chase her dreams; in another, she felt completely hopeless about them ever coming true.
Her mind went to the image of Amy — her belly, her ring, her gifts, her house, her husband… and the urge to cry consumed her all over again.
How was she going to fix this? How did people even meet men these days?
Her mind sprung to Mia’s suggestion at the party.
At first, she recoiled at the thought. But her impending doom allowed curiosity to get the better of her as she waited for her food to arrive. Sophie looked up the dating app that Mia had told her about.
Self-doubt swirled like the loading screen on her phone as the app downloaded. She had never used anything like this before. Did people her age even use this?
It took her twenty minutes to find some decent photos of herself and another ten minutes to configure a bio that struck the right balance between witty and mature. Thankfully, there was an option to clickSeeking serious relationship.
After plugging in all of her information, she started to scroll through her options. Which were both underwhelming and slightly concerning.
Most of the men seemed to be divorced with older children and no plans of having any more, and the rest only seemed to be looking for casual hookups. And why were so many of them holding fish in their photos?
When her food finally arrived an hour later, Sophie had matched with only two men. Too afraid to reach out, she closed out the app and got ready for bed.
While brushing her teeth, her phone dinged with a message. It was one of the men she had matched with.
Hello gorgeous. Are you free this Friday?
She couldn’t help but smile at the message. When was the last time somebody had given her a compliment, let alone flirted with her?
Sophie reexamined the guy’s profile.
His name was Matt. He was thirty-seven with sandy blond hair and a strong jawline. His bio stated that he owned a golden retriever named Max.
Handsome and a dog lover… she could do worse than that.
Sophie replied, her heart racing.
Hey, Matt. That depends why you’re asking?
She needed to make it clear from the start that she wasn’t looking to have casual sex. If someone truly wanted to pursue her, they would take her out on a proper date.
After she crawled into bed, her phone dinged again.
I want to take you out! You’re in Olympus City, right? How about the new restaurant on 5th, at 7? I can pick you up.
So soon? He hadn’t even asked her anything about herself. But wasn’t that the point of a date? To get to know someone? She supposed it would be better to learn more about him in person rather than over the phone.
