Chapter 1 - The Man Who Only Talked About Money
My date spent the entire evening acting like the richest man in the room, but when the bill landed he just crossed his arms and waited for me to pay — and then the front door opened.
My date spent the entire evening bragging about his six-figure salary, but when the check arrived, he just stared at me expectantly — and just as I was about to respond, karma stepped in.
I matched with Derek on a dating app, and we texted for about a week before I agreed to meet him for dinner.
Nothing about his profile set off alarms. Our conversations had a real rhythm to them — he asked follow-up questions, he was funny in an understated way, he never sent anything strange at midnight. He came across as steady. So when he pushed to pick the restaurant and mentioned more than once that he "knew people" at Ferraro's — the kind of downtown Italian place you book three weeks out — I let him run with it. It seemed harmless enough.
The man who'd texted me for a week did not show up to that dinner. Someone else did.
For two solid hours, I sat across from a man who talked about exactly one subject: himself. He announced his recent promotion loud enough for the next table to hear. He walked me through his investment portfolio. He spent a genuinely impressive amount of time on the maintenance costs of the luxury car he'd supposedly just bought. When the waitress brought the wine, he stopped her to deliver a small lecture about the vintage, and she stood there and took it with a frozen little smile.
He did not ask me one question about my life. Not one.
So I nodded in the right places, ate my food, and quietly worked out the cleanest way to end the night early.
When the waitress cleared our plates, she set the black leather check folder down right in the middle of the table.
After everything he'd just told me about his income, I figured Derek would reach for it. Or at the very least do the normal-adult thing and suggest we split it.
He didn't move. He leaned back, folded his arms across his chest, and looked at me.
May you like
The silence went on for several excruciating seconds, long enough that there was no mistaking it. He was waiting for me to pay.
I took a slow breath, about to tell him exactly what I thought, when karma stepped in.
