After my widowed father’s sixth relationship ended in exactly the same way, I became convinced that something was seriously wrong. Every woman he dated seemed to enjoy being around him, laughed at his jokes, and talked about seeing him again. Yet by the following morning, they would suddenly disappear without giving him any explanation.
My father, Daniel Hayes, had lived alone for twelve years after my mother passed away. Seeing him smile and open himself up to companionship again had felt almost miraculous.
He had recently joined a dating app, cautiously hoping to meet someone special. The women he encountered seemed perfectly nice—a retired librarian, a bakery owner, and others who appeared genuinely interested in him.
But the result was always the same.
One by one, they stopped responding.
Each time another woman disappeared, I watched the happiness drain from my father’s face.
At first, I assumed he was simply experiencing the usual problems that came with modern dating. But eventually, the pattern became far too strange to ignore.
Dad began blaming himself.
