Free Love.com by Karolyn Cairns

unable to stop the torrent of tears. Shaking, she managed to turn on the car and navigate out of the parking garage.
    Emily couldn’t recall anything on the ride home except her own pain, ripping through her in waves. She sat in the driveway, her face streaked with tears. On unsteady legs, she got out.
    She found herself on the couch, wrapped in her fluffy pink robe, watching some horrible soap opera on TV. Figures the bitch in the story was a dead ringer for Tabitha. The same storyline appeared to be playing out. The nice girl ran away in tears after discovering the man she loved was cheating on her with the bitch.
    The glaring similarities made her become glued to the TV after that, seeing it play out before her eyes. The nice girl went back to her former boyfriend for comfort. The pair slept together, further complicating their lives, as Emily howled in protest at their stupidity.
    As it turned out, the bitch was knocked up by the nice girl’s boyfriend and planned on coming between the pair. Emily rolled her eyes. It ended with its drippy music. She was convinced she wasted an hour of her life and too many brain cells watching such crap.
    But, she had an idea. It formed on its own, as most bad ideas do . She was driven to such desperation after her heartbreaking discovery of Ian doing the nasty business with Tabitha.Sure she didn’t have an ex-lover to give her comfort now, but she had her men on Love.com, didn’t she? Excitement filled her to think of throwing herself into dating now, even imagining Ian being jealous when he learned of it. He would learn of it. She was going to make sure everyone heard about her dates.
    Emily turned on the computer and navigated to her profile page on Love.com. She gasped to see she had thirty-seven emails, fifty-three winks, and one hundred and thirty-three likes of her new profile picture.
    ~ ~ ~
    Joan eyed her approvingly after their work out. Emily was finding it easier now, even if she didn’t see much of a result after weeks of sweating her ass off. The scales didn’t lie. She lost sixteen mediocre pounds. She vowed to starve herself into submission until she was back into a size four. It was funny what heartache could achieve, more than exercise ever could. She went home and burned Ian’s tie in her fireplace. She then removed every item from her kitchen that had more than one hundred calories in it; determined to stick to her diet.
    Emily told herself when she was skinny and hot, she would ignore Ian the Unattainable. She would make him burn for her as she had for him. These thoughts soothed her later as she simmered in her bubbly think-tank. The lavender scented water eased her sore muscles and hurt feelings.
    Emily cringed to know she was emailing seven men she picked out on Love.com. These were the cr eam of the crop her emails yielded. They were all handsome, dynamic, and promised future happiness. She pushed all thoughts of Ian away. The hurt she felt was fresh daily, reminding her she brought such pain upon herself. Still, this unrequited attraction doomed her. Even if she hid behind bachelors one through seven, as she numbered them instead of learning their names; she couldn’t ignore the feelings that lingered for Ian. How could she disregard the breathless way she felt every time she saw him? Those tingly, treacherous butterflies encouraged her to believe in something that wasn’t there. The fact she was the only one doing the feeling was never lost on her.
    Resentment filled her to know she could never compete with women like Tabitha. While she was hardly ugly, her face certainly wasn’t one that launched men’s fantasies. She was cute, like the duck she thought of herself, next to the black swan who stole her man. Obviously those types were the women Ian was attracted to. He might be friends with women like her, but he was like any other man in one respect; he was very visual.
    Men only saw big boobs and a pretty face .  Emily looked down, pushing the