But the real karma hit about three months in.
I was at a hardware store buying supplies for my new deck when I bumped into Sarah, one of Chloe's old friends. Sarah had always been kind of neutral; she tolerated Linda, but clearly thought the whole dynamic was weird.
"Mark?" she asked, looking shocked to see me. "Wow, you look good."
"I feel good, Sarah," I said, putting a box of screws in my cart.
She hesitated, then leaned in. "Look, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but did you hear about the upgrade?"
I chuckled. "The what?"
"Linda set her up," Sarah whispered. "About a month after you, you know, kicked them out. Linda told Chloe she needed to get back on the horse and find a high-value man. She set her up with this guy named Julian. Told Chloe he was a crypto investor or something."
I leaned against the shelf. "Let me guess: he wasn't."
Sarah gasped. "Oh, he was rich—or he acted like it. He took them both out to dinner. Linda was drooling over him. He drove a Maserati. Chloe thought she had won the lottery. She was posting all over Instagram about how she finally found someone on her level, and—"
"And he was a scammer," Sarah said. "Like, a literal con artist. He dated Chloe for six weeks, convinced her to take out a personal loan to invest in his new coin, and then vanished. He took the money, ghosted her, and left her with a $15,000 debt. Linda is furious because he borrowed one of her credit cards, too."
I felt a cold, hard satisfaction settle in my chest. "That's unfortunate."
"She's in a bad place, Mark," Sarah said softly. "She's working at a diner now. Linda is threatening to kick her out because she can't pay the rent."
I nodded. "Well, she wanted better. Sometimes better is a steep learning curve."
I paid for my screws and left.
Six months post-breakup, I was a different person. My savings account was healthy, my skin was clear, and I was dating a woman named Elena, a pediatrician I met at a running club. Elena drove a beat-up Toyota, split the bill on our first date without asking, and hated drama. It was the easiest, most peaceful relationship of my life.
I hadn't thought about Chloe in weeks.