







The coffee shop went dead silent when the biker’s fist smashed the table, spilling coffee across the old man’s book. “Get out of my…

At 14, I was abandoned at the Dubai airport because of a joke from my envious brother. Broken and hungry, I met a strange Arab…

Carmen had four minutes to convince a father his wife was secretly harming his son or the boy wouldn’t make it to the new…

The waiting room of St. Aethelgard’s Academy was less a reception area and more a cathedral dedicated to the worship of pedigree. The walls were…

The night was calm until that little girl screamed, “Look under your bikes.” Her tiny voice cut through the roar of engines like a…

The morning of my wedding, I opened the garment bag containing my dress. The dress I’d spent eight months choosing. The dress I’d saved for.…

I don’t check homework first. I check their fingertips. Blue means the heat is off. Purple means they walked. “Mrs. Reed, are we staying inside…

Chapter 1: The Disgraced Aunt The air in the backyard smelled of lighter fluid, charred meat, and the cloying, synthetic sweetness of my sister-in-law’s cheap…

At my brother’s anniversary, I was seated in the hallway at a folding table. “Real seats are for important people, not you,” Dad announced to…

Chapter 1: The Disgraced Aunt The air in the backyard smelled of lighter fluid, charred meat, and the cloying, synthetic sweetness of my sister-in-law’s cheap…