I Spent Three Months Dating a Woman—Let’s Call Her Anna—A Single Mum to an Eight-Year-Old Boy. As Colleagues, She Was the First to Show Interest in Me. At First, I Wasn’t…

I lasted about three months dating this girllet’s call her Emily. Shes a single mum with an eight-year-old son and, as luck (or misfortune) would have it, we worked together. Emily actually made the first move, which I found both flattering and a bit terrifying, considering I quite fancy my job and wanted to keep things strictly professional. Naturally, rules are meant to be broken, and soon enough there we were: going on dates and, lo and behold, she turned out to be absolutely lovelysmart, confident, actually gorgeous, and fiercely independent.
Right from our first few outings, though, I got this weird sense of being pushed away. Soon enough, I realised she wasnt much of a cuddler, shall we saydefinitely the type whos keen on her own company. When we finally went official as a couple (because, you know, its important to know where you stand, especially when youll be bumping into each other in the staff room), we did everything strictly by the book. Things were nice for a bit, and we started spending more time together until the three-month mark. Thats when she went all chillylike, full-on Antarctic breeze. No empathy, emotionally distant, bordering on robotic.
Eventually, I was just knackered. My patience hit its expiry date, and I ended things a bit abruptlyalright, maybe not my most gentlemanly moment. I was absolutely fuming and done. Emily promptly hit the block button on every possible app, and its been eight solid days since Ive heard a whisper. She might as well have been abducted by aliensor, more likely, just living her best life elsewhere.
Now, if Im honest, it feels like she was never actually interested. Every time there was an argument, I was the one trying to mend things, waving olive branches left, right, and centre. Even though it was a relatively short fling, some of the stuff she said made me feel pretty used and just small. Seriously, empathy levels were at absolute zero.
So, what now? Any sage advice? Pep talks for the battered ego? Should I just toss my phone in the Thames, or is there a sliver of a chance shell reach out again?