“Infertile, divorced, failure.” The words glowed on a 10-foot screen at my sister’s wedding reception. Two hundred guests laughed. “My father smiled and said, ‘Just a joke, sweetheart.’” My mother...
The day my fiancé left me, I was still wearing my badge. Not figuratively. A real one—clipped to my belt beside my service weapon, carrying twelve years of federal service...
I came home after five years. My sister laughed at my low rank. My parents said I was an embarrassment. Then police showed up to arrest me. I stayed quiet...
PART 1 — The Chocolates I thought my 70th birthday was going to be quiet. A cup of coffee. The Sunday paper. A little peace in my small two-bedroom house...
For illustrative purposes only At thirty-three, I thought I understood my father. Frank Hayes was sixty-five, a heavy-diesel mechanic with hands like sandpaper and a laugh that could fill a...
For illustrative purposes only My name is Ethan Sterling. I’m thirty-six, and I came back to Chestville, Virginia, for one reason only: to put my father in the ground with...
For illustrative purposes only The first time my parents called after years of silence, I knew it wasn’t love. Love doesn’t arrive like a bill. My name is Kayla Pierce....
For illustrative purposes only The coast smelled like salt and sun-warmed wood, the kind of clean air that used to mean peace to me. That day it smelled like a...
For illustrative purposes only My name is Timothy Carter. I am thirty-two, and my brother Julian has taken things from me for as long as I can remember. When I...
My name is Serena. I’m 38 years old. And last Christmas, I found out that the people I sacrificed everything for had been lying about me for fifteen years. For...