Story Dose

I stood frozen when I opened my son’s bedroom. His toys had disappeared, his bed was missing, and a stranger was filling his closet with expensive dresses. She smiled and said, “Your husband told…

PART 1 “Where are my wife and son?” I asked as I unlocked the front door, but the only answer was the faint, weak cry of a newborn echoing from the kitchen. It was…

“There’s something I should have told you before we got married,” Leo said, sitting on the edge of a sagging motel mattress while our wedding-night takeout went cold beside us. The room smelled faintly…

By the time I reached the office, the presentation was over and my career was apparently finished with it. I had left home before dawn, running on three hours of sleep, wearing the good…

Come now. The message had been delivered. No reply came. It didn’t need to. He had promised me once that if I ever sent those words, he would come. No questions. No hesitation. No…

PART 3 If Dad had a problem with paperwork, I handled it. If Mom was overwhelmed, I rearranged my schedule. If someone made a mistake, I was the person expected to clean it up.…

PART 3 The machine hummed. Fresh espresso filled the room. “You’re making coffee?” Elena asked incredulously. “I don’t like difficult conversations before caffeine,” I replied. Julian slammed his palm on the counter. “I’m serious,…

I had buried that man. Dennis Irwin. Husband. Father. Janitor. That was who I had become. But there had once been another name. A name that had been spoken quietly in military briefings. A…