Stu typed on his laptop behind a wobbly wooden desk positioned away from the window in his room to avoid the distraction from windblown trees and their bounty of autumn foliage exploding with vibrant orange, red, and yellow hues. Spurred by his aggressive first draft deadline, he reviewed the notes he’d compiled during previous conversations with Simon. A prolific author...

Lisa Harvey rocked back and forth empty-handed in her nursery glider beside a cadre of miniature zoo animals hanging from the musical mobile above the finished crib. A hand-painted nightlight cast a soft glow near one end of the darkened room bathed in lavender scent from a plug-in air freshener. “The room looks nice,” she told Stu, who entered the...