Margaret smoothed her dress before walking into her friend’s dinner party. At fifty-four, she felt self-conscious at these gatherings. “Maggie! Come in!” Susan embraced her. “You look wonderful. Are you seeing anyone special these days?” Her stomach tightened. “No, not right now,” she answered, hearing a slight apologetic tone in her voice that surprised her. …
The morning Sarah turned fifty-nine, she woke up alone in the house she’d shared with Mark for twenty-eight years. Three months after their marriage ended with a quiet Sunday evening conversation, she still struggled with the silence. Empty rooms that once held the comfortable rhythm of their shared life now echoed with questions she never …
She wrapped up her call, a major deal successfully negotiated. In the corporate world, she was known for being sharp, strategic, and unwavering. But as she glanced at her phone and saw his message changing their plans again, that familiar knot formed in her stomach. “Meeting ran late. Rain check for tonight? Drinks tomorrow instead?” …
Sarah sat in her living room, staring at her phone long after her daughter Karen’s FaceTime call had ended. The knot in her stomach had formed halfway through their conversation, when Karen mentioned canceling her art studio membership because Brad, her new boyfriend, thought they should spend Saturday mornings together at his golf club. “It …
Elena’s built her life around achievement. Her calendar is a testament to efficiency – client meetings flow into conference calls, board presentations into strategy sessions. Work dominates her world. Last night’s date started promisingly enough. Mark seemed intelligent, attractive, engaged. But when he asked, “What do you do for fun?” Elena launched into talking about …
In April 2021, Jennifer Lopez ended her engagement with Alex Rodriguez, closing a chapter on one of Hollywood’s power couples. A month later she was seen with Ben Affleck, reigniting a flame that had been extinguished for 17 years. Sources say they quickly “picked up where they left off.” Their first engagement had ended in …
Carol was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when her phone buzzed with a text from Michael: “So sorry, Carol. Big crisis at work. Have to cancel dinner. Rain check?” She glanced at her watch. It was 6:45 PM, and now she was all dressed up with nowhere to go. Carol stared at her …
At 55, freshly divorced after a 25-year marriage, Jenna stepped cautiously back into the dating world. Her first attempts were disappointing – the man who checked emails throughout dinner, the divorcé still wearing his wedding ring, the “entrepreneur” living in his parents’ basement. Just as she was about to delete all her dating apps, Jenna …
Rachel smoothed her dress as she waited for Nathan to pick her up. At 45 and newly divorced, she felt a flutter of excitement she hadn’t experienced in years. This was their third date, and things seemed to be going well. At the restaurant, they chatted and laughed over dinner. When the bill arrived, Nathan …
Barbara stared at her reflection in the mirror, scrutinizing every line and wrinkle. At 53, she felt like a relic in the dating world. It had been two years since her divorce, and her friends had finally convinced her to attend a neighborhood party. “You can do this,” she whispered to herself, but the tremor …