Melissa waited in line at her Belle Meade pharmacy an hour before the store closed. She stood behind an elderly man dressed in polyester pants and a wrinkled Hawaiian shirt with a straw Fedora on his bald head and his right arm cradled in a sling. She clutched her hands and shifted from side to side in Prada wedge sandals,...

Leland lifted a hammer from his leather tool belt and drove a sixteen penny nail through a two-by-four he’d cut to fit a window frame. He wore a hard hat and jeans with a long-sleeve shirt and steel-toe boots. Rubber ear buds muted the loud whirring sound from a circular saw ripping through a sheet of plywood while a backup...

Jonathan leaned his chair back until his head touched the wall behind him in the principal’s office. So far, nothing about public school excited him. He hated the kids. He hated the teachers. And he hated the food. Most of all, he hated being away from his friends at the Belle Meade private school he’d attended since first grade. “Is...

Melissa Hamilton left her keys inside her Mercedes coupe and tipped the country club valet with a folded five dollar bill from her Dolce & Gabbana clutch. Her mirrored glasses reflected the car’s glossy finish and the CASHVIL vanity plate. Dressed more for a red carpet stroll than a meeting with her talent agent, she wore her favorite pumps with...

Thirteen-year-old Abigail Presley tapped her lilac, high top sneakers on the wet pavement outside an East Nashville rambler with a U-Haul trailer in the driveway. Her left arm hung awkwardly at her side in a long-sleeve top while she held an open golf umbrella in her right hand with her backpack slung over her right shoulder. She wore her strawberry...

I conclude where I began, by emphasizing the importance of acknowledging our core values and defining our most significant personal needs and desires. If we don’t know what we’re looking for, how will we know when we find it? When I started this book, I wanted to write something profound—a revolutionary treatise on romantic relationships and what makes them tick....