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When I edited his dating profile, it felt like peeling away a mask. Out went the honeymoon smiles, the curated lies about hiking and deep conversations. In went the sweatpants, the beer belly, and the truth.
The bio was sharper than any insult he had ever thrown my way. Getting into the account was easy — Dorian was a man of one email address and one password for everything.
“Likes beer more than his kids.”
“The couch beats gym every single time.”
“Married for seven years—but the dog is the real man of the house.”
“Will ghost you after three messages when someone easier comes along.”
Within days, the reports piled up, and the profile vanished. For the first time in months, I felt powerful.
In the days after the profile vanished, Dorian was restless. I caught him scowling at his phone more than once, muttering under his breath.
One night, he threw his phone down on the couch and groaned.
“I don’t get it! I can’t even log into that stupid site anymore. Must be a glitch. Figures. The one decent thing I had to distract me from this misery and it just disappears.”
I was making ice cream sandwiches for the kids — Emma was asking about how chocolate sauce was made, and Marcus had stuck his fingers into the tub of vanilla ice cream.
I kept my face carefully neutral so he couldn’t see the spark of satisfaction in my eyes.
“Maybe,” I said evenly. “You should focus less on distractions and more on what’s right in front of you.”
He didn’t catch the double meaning. He just shrugged and reached for the remote.
“Whatever you’re making for the kids, I’ll take two,” he said.
Then came his birthday. Dorian had been dropping hints for weeks, talking about how he wanted “something special” this year.
So I decided to give him exactly that.
I cooked his favorite meal — roast duck with a cherry glaze and creamy mashed potatoes — following his grandmother’s recipes. The house smelled heavenly.
I set the table with candles and flowers, every detail perfect. I even dressed up, makeup carefully applied, hair smooth and glossy after two rounds of conditioner. The children were at my sister’s house, so there would be no distractions.
Dorian walked in and immediately grinned.