With the baby down in the crib, finally blanketed with a blissfully silent house, Theo lays on the couch, letting out a staggering sigh. The only thing he can think about as he stares at the ceiling are the words of Mattheo from dinner earlier that evening.

'Don't you think it's time to get back out there? Don't you think you've been alone long enough?'

He swallows hard, pulling at the collar of his shirt absentmindedly. Because the truth was, no. He hadn't considered getting back out there. The loss always felt so fresh, so heartbreaking over the last year. The trauma of gaining the gift of his daughter while having her mother taken away haunts him to his core, the pain ripping a hole in his chest whenever he allows himself a moment to think about it.

But he thinks of his girl upstairs, sleeping. And how she deserves a mother to raise her and do the things that he can't. And he thinks of the incessant loneliness he feels. The long nights in an empty bed. The long days going through the motions, more surviving than living. Maybe the only way to heal the void in his heart is to allow someone in it.

So Theo does the one thing he vowed he would never do.

He downloads a dating app for the magical.