Nicky Wake, 55, lost her husband Andy to Covid in April 2020, and after struggling to find love again, she created a widowed dating app for widows called Chapter 2
A woman who launched a dating app for widows after losing her husband says she has discovered love following just “seven fiery dates”. Nicky Wake, 55, lost her husband Andy, 57, to Covid in April 2020, after he was placed into a care home in 2017 following a catastrophic brain injury.
Six months after being widowed, Nicky attempted dating once more but found it difficult to meet people who grasped what she was experiencing, so she created a dating app for widows, called Chapter 2, in November 2022, which now boasts 25,000 members.
Nicky soon discovered that she wasn’t achieving much success on her own platform, as she remained in love with her late husband, so she established a second app called Widow’s Fire in June 2023, designed specifically for widows seeking hook-ups.
The title refers to the sudden spike of sexual desire many people experience after losing a spouse, she explained. In July 2025, Nicky connected with widower Dan Smith, 52, whose wife had died five years earlier, and was immediately drawn to him.
Following seven encounters, the couple chose to advance their relationship further, and they are now completely smitten and approaching their first anniversary together, reports the Manchester Evening News. Nicky, from Bury, said: “Dan’s profile immediately caught my attention because he’s a silver fox.
“After seven fiery dates, he said to me, ‘ This isn’t Widow’s Fire; this is Chapter 2. We fell madly in love, and I wouldn’t be disappointed if he got down on one knee.
“I fully anticipate that happening; I’ve been dropping hints”. Dan, from Saddleworth, said: “My wife died five years ago, we were together for 26 years.
“I’d tried dating before, but people didn’t understand what it was like to be a widow. I liked the idea of the Widow’s Fire app because you could have a physical relationship, without enormous emotional investment at the start. Nicky and I have great communication, and we’re very experimental.
“We’re so close as a blended family and operate as a five. We’re just coming up to a year together, but it feels much longer as we’ve done so much together.”
Last summer, while Nicky was enjoying an Alaskan cruise, she received a message from Dan that instantly grabbed her interest. The duo exchanged flirty messages and organised to meet at a nearby pub once Nicky had returned from her holiday abroad.
“The chemistry was instant; we were holding hands after about 10 minutes, and after an hour we were kissing,” Nicky said. “It was the best first date ever.”
Following seven dates, the pair chose to become exclusive, and since then they have attended a festival together, enjoyed a weekend at an Airbnb in Krakow, and are preparing to embark on a blended family cruise from Venice to Barcelona. Their children all get along ‘brilliantly’, and Nicky’s son Finn, 18, whom she had with her late husband, even assists in looking after Dan’s kids, aged 16 and 14.
The couple have no plans to cohabit while their children are still residing at home, but once the youngsters have headed off to university, they intend to ‘grow old disgracefully’ and move to Barbados.
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