App Love by Isla Santos

Going through a bereavement has never had so many lessons to be learned

 
If the protagonist of this story had to sum up her love life, she could do it succinctly: a first gay boyfriend, a second who needed alcohol to talk to her and a third whose life was pure rock and roll. She married the third.

Fifteen years later, with an endless list of infidelities, two children, forty extra kilos and tired of being invisible, she put an end to it. She wanted to get back in the game, but this time she wasn’t looking for love, she was looking for fun. That’s how she got into the world of dating apps. As she moved into online flirting, she began to understand the logic of virtual flirting. The key was to establish a rhythm, a kind of “gymnastics” and always have a replacement when the candidate or prospect didn’t work out. Always ready, always attentive, always sharp. Without mercy or shame, she resorted to a life-saving notebook, where she recorded in black and white the name, age, area, profession and number of children (including their names) of the subject in question.

That’s how he started keeping a travel diary on Tinder, Happn and other virtual apps. A year of outings and blind dates recorded without taboos or complexes. A return to the ring by making a veronica to sadness and allowing herself to go through a mourning in the best possible way.