I’m a single dad to the most precious seven-year-old girl, and, like most single parents, this is not the way I expected my life to turn out. Emma’s mom left when she was three. One day, she just packed a bag, said she “needed space,” and walked out. I thought she’d be back, but…

Daniel has an older sister, Lauren. She’s 42 now, and I’ve always liked her. She’s one of those women who look like they have everything under control. When I met him, he told me, “If you want to impress me, impress Lauren.” Over the years, she became one of my closest friends. Four years…

I was stirring a pot of dollar-store noodles with one hand while leaning over to help my eight-year-old son, Liam, spell “astronomer.” He’d been obsessed with space since he was five and saw his first shooting star. Every night, he’d drag me outside to point at constellations he’d memorized from library books. It was…

We moved into our new house a year ago, and everything seemed perfect. The neighborhood was quiet, the house was beautiful, and we were excited to settle in. Our neighbors, the Johnsons, seemed cool too. They welcomed us with a pie and friendly smiles. “Welcome to the neighborhood!” Jane beamed, holding out a steaming…

I was genuinely standing on the best possible starting line: my wedding day. The man waiting for me at the other end was Daniel, the human equivalent of a warm hug and a perfect sunrise, all rolled into one impossibly kind package. He was the perfect opposite of every bad decision I’d dated before…

Twenty-five years ago, I married a man with three kids. His name was Ellis, and he had this quiet kindness in his eyes—the kind that made me feel safe even on my worst days. His children—Quentin, Mallory, and Bryson—were tiny tornadoes when I met them, still grieving their mother, who had passed two years…