“You know the trails? You have GPS?” Done and done. On that fateful day, I broke one of my cardinal rules: Do Not Ride With Strangers. But we were new to the area. He wasn’t. He had GPS. We didn’t. Sure, just like everyone else, my iPhone had Google Maps. But that’s no substitute for navigating waypoints through a wintery bird sanctuary of thousands of indiscernible trees and dozens of frozen swamps. So, we proceeded. He...

"If jumping to conclusions was an Olympic event, you’d take the gold.” "Seriously?" "Shut up!" an exasperated Maeve shot back. "Don't mock me. I'm not good at this." Kerri glared at her soon-to-be, in-a-long-line of ex-girlfriends, girlfriend, reading CHEATER! she'd carved with candy apple red lipstick onto Maeve's forehead. Forcefully dotting the exclamation mark was what intentionally woke Maeve. “I would never, ever......

She thought it but dared not speak. Marie leered at her daughter instead. She loved Tammi, but at that moment, Marie didn’t much care for her. Her child’s actions angered her. They embarrassed her. They reeked of weakness, failure, and regret. “Why, Biscuit?” Marie asked her daughter’s dog. The powder puff of a Pomeranian tilted her head after hearing her name, but dutifully remained on Marie’s lap, on guard and waiting....