One could say, "She was dealing with the phantom of the Internet," because there were no legal recourses to get her money back. It was gone forever, but the ache of the duplicity would become etched in her heart and soul without end.
Kamani decided to take some time off from the business. She contacted all of her clients, reassured them that she was still in business and would return in two weeks. If they needed a rush job, she would give them the name of an associate, but her patrons were very loyal and would wait for her until she got back.
While on retreat, she thought about the blunders she made throughout her life when it came to selecting men. As she became older, she thought she was wiser, but apparently, this was not the case.
She reflected on the bitterness she had towards her married friends but overlooked an important cautionary sign: Landel was too good to be true.
Her haste to find a man clouded her judgment and cost her dearly but believed bad things do happen for a reason and learned a very valuable lesson from this disastrous occurrence. She would never trust men again, swore them off for good and discovered that being alone was not the end of the world.
When Kamani returned home, there were many messages on her voice mail. It would take her almost three days to get back to all the callers.
She went on-line to check her e-mail. There must have been over one hundred messages in her box; most were orders and advertisements, but one particular message caught her eye. It was from a man responding to her personal profile:
Hi:
I was browsing through the dating site and came across your ad. You are a beautiful woman, and reading your profile lifted my spirits, because I just came out of a long-term relationship and never thought I would find someone like you.
You sound so gentle, and this is why I contacted you. We have a lot in common.
My name is Joneh, and I am 46 years old, never been married and have no children.
I own my home and a Laundromat in the Chicago area. I enjoy dinning out, attending plays and reading romance novels. I would love to get to know you more.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Goodbye.
After reading that e-mail, Kamani did not know whether to laugh or cry but knew she had to do two things: Delete the message and cancel her membership.