The world tilted.
“Come again?”
“I’m Mark Jr.,” he said. “Your Mark—my dad—is Mark Sr. He had me right after you left for college.”
I stared at his face—my ex’s face, just younger—and felt everything click.
“You let me believe you were him.”
“I panicked,” he said. “You opened the door and said his name. The age thing got away from me. I kept stretching it. I know how bad it is.”
“That’s not even the worst part,” I said. “Why did you swipe on my daughter?”
He met my eyes.
“My dad kept an album of you,” he said. “Pictures, notes, ticket stubs. He’d get drunk and tell the ‘one that got away’ story. I grew up hearing about you more than hearing ‘I’m proud of you.’”
My stomach turned.
“One night I found it,” he said. “I was furious. Like, ‘You’re still hung up on her instead of being a dad?’”
He swallowed.
“Years later, I’m on a dating app,” he said. “I see a girl who looks like you did in those pictures. Same eyes, same smile, same last name. She had a photo with you in the background. I recognized you.”
He looked sick.
“I swiped right out of spite,” he admitted. “I thought I’d hurt you by hurting her. A few dates, then I’d disappear.”
I felt nauseous. “And then?”
“And then I met her,” he said. “And she wasn’t a symbol. She was Emily. Funny, sharp, kind. She listened. She challenged me. I fell for her.”
He rubbed his face.
“The revenge idea died,” he said. “The lie didn’t. I was terrified if I told her how it started, she’d think everything good was fake. So I kept saying I’d tell her ‘after.’ Always after.”
He looked at me, eyes wet.
“I love her,” he said. “That part is real. I’m telling you because you already know my dad and the past. Emily doesn’t. I’m terrified she’ll never forgive me.”
“So you want me to keep the secret,” I said.
“No,” he said quickly. “I just didn’t want her to hear it twisted.”
