<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Dating After 40 — World of Curious</title><description>Original fiction about starting again with a mortgage, children and a very clear idea of what you want.</description><link>https://worldofcurious.com/</link><language>en-au</language><atom:link href="https://worldofcurious.com/dating-after-40/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>The Gas Bill Is Still in the Drawer, Under the Takeaway Menus</title><link>https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-5/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-5/</guid><description>Part five of five. Her daughter has asked, in Fran’s own tone, what the point is. The answer is not romantic, and it is not about the housework.</description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Dating After 40</category><category>fiction</category><category>dating</category><category>divorce</category><author>Editorial Team</author></item><item><title>Two People Have Told Her It Sounds Cold. It Was the Opposite.</title><link>https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-4/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-4/</guid><description>Part four of five. What Gordon used to do, why the list exists at all, and the two occasions item four has come up since.</description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 03:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Dating After 40</category><category>fiction</category><category>dating</category><category>divorce</category><author>Editorial Team</author></item><item><title>He Read the List Twice, at the Table, All the Way Through</title><link>https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-3/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-3/</guid><description>Part three of five. She showed him in June. He did not laugh, and he did not reassure her, and what he said instead took her a year to understand.</description><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 01:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Dating After 40</category><category>fiction</category><category>dating</category><category>divorce</category><author>Editorial Team</author></item><item><title>Fourteen Months, Four First Dates, and Item One Every Time</title><link>https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-2/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years-part-2/</guid><description>Part two of five. The part of the story nobody tells: the version where you decide what you want and then nothing happens for over a year.</description><pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Dating After 40</category><category>fiction</category><category>dating</category><category>divorce</category><author>Editorial Team</author></item><item><title>She Wrote Nine Things on the Back of a Gas Bill</title><link>https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://worldofcurious.com/article/the-first-date-after-nineteen-years/</guid><description>Part one of five. Nineteen years married, eleven months divorced, and a list written at a kitchen table that her sister said was far too specific.</description><pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 21:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Dating After 40</category><category>fiction</category><category>dating</category><category>divorce</category><author>Editorial Team</author></item></channel></rss>