I would guess Michael had been going on about human digestion for about an hour when the cop car pulled in front of us.

How do you convince a well-meaning kid he doesn’t want to do the thing he’s already set his heart on doing?

Beggars can’t be choosers, and I am a literal beggar, so I’ll take whatever I can get. It felt like things were finally turning around.

It’s a surprising relief to be assured your friendship is still intact despite a mistake made by one party.

What’s the best way to react when someone comes at you like an enraged mama bear?

Can you be sure you’re screaming at the invisible man and not an innocent young boy?

Is it possible to feel embarrassed at an awkward encounter even after you’ve lost the last shred of your dignity?

When someone keeps appearing and disappearing, does that mean there’s something prompting those corporeal changes?

Worst case, I could get food someone else had thrown away. Best case, I could get someone to help me out.

A cheap, plastic toy hardly seems like adequate thanks for a blanket, but sometimes it’s enough to give what you can.

I used to care about dirt, but when you’re homeless, you get used to a lot of things you never thought you’d get used to.

It’s not the awards that matter, it’s the test of time.

What if you just wish really, really, hard for someone to disappear so your family can heal? Would that work?

A simple message like “call your sister” or “apologize to your brother” was a lot easier to get across in the dreamworld than “You need to talk to our son and our daughter and convince them to heal this rift so they can go back to being brother and sister.”

Scarlett should have known Mandy would be behind all this. She knew there was a reason she had never liked her.

Just when you think you’ve explained things to your daughter, she throws a major wrench into all your plans.

Convincing children to get along is hard enough when you’re alive. It gets a whole lot harder when you’re dead.

I could tell you. But then I’d have to kill you.

Sometimes best friends aren’t forever.

“Lesson number one: don’t think. Just do. If you let yourself think about it too much you can get yourself into all kinds of trouble.”

Looks like you’ve been Evelyned.

For a moment, it was tempting to slip back into old habits. Let bygones be bygones. Try to revive what was left of our friendship.

“It’s Nikki.”
“She fell down a well?” I said before I could stop myself.

Who was I supposed to go to now that Nikki was the one who had brought me down?

Opening Instagram right after a therapy session? What could go wrong?

I had thought Randy had just dumped me so he could start dating Nikki, but if they were already pregnant, then this had been going on for a while.

When you finish a therapy session, open Instagram, and immediately need another therapy session.

I’m going to need at least two therapy sessions a week for the foreseeable future.

This is the twelfth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, and Part XI before continuing. Once I had changed, I looked around my apartment …

I kind of resented her for reminding me to make an appointment with my GP like I was a child who needed to be nagged into doing her chores.

Can you be friends with your ex after they cheated on you with your (now former) best friend?

Men come and go, but chocolate will always be there for you.

Men come and go, but chocolate ice cream will always be there for you.

Why would I go back to my apartment to face my traitorous ex when I could stay here drinking tea and putting puzzles together?

This is the fifth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV before continuing. Jessica’s apartment is right above ours, so the first thing I did was stomp on the floor, hoping it would disturb Randy. I …

I was embarrassed that my neighbor had seen me at my worst, but I was so grateful for her help.

Grief and anger can blend until you find yourself capable of doing something awful.

What do you say to your best friend when you’ve just found out she stole your boyfriend?

Does, “We need to talk” always mean, “I’m about to break up with you”?

After telling off their parents, Maddy and Tolbert ride off into the sunset together.

Maddy and her brother finally confront their parents. Maddy takes revenge on behalf of their aunt.

Now we know why Mom and Aunt Alison never got along. But for Mom to not even tell us she existed?

“What are you reading?”

“It’s a novel Aunt Alison wrote. It’s totally about Mom.”

Madison could probably make a fortune just by selling the shoes and purses. Even used there had to be at least a few thousand dollars’ worth of leather here.

Anything else you want to claim before I have a chance to look at it?

Aunt Alison may have lived all alone, but maybe her life wasn’t as sad as it sounded….

Can you feel sad about losing someone you never even met?

What is there to say to someone you’ve always loved, even if you never got the chance to meet them?

Some part of Maddy was still convinced this was some sort of mistake. Until she encountered a convincing piece of evidence.

What do you do when you get an email claiming you have an inheritance from an aunt you never knew existed?

This experience is so surreal, and it keeps happening, and I don’t know what to do with it, or how to feel about it.

Who dunnit? Was it really the groom’s father? Or was it his jealous daughter who never got to be bridesmaid…

Detective Knott finally makes an arrest. But is she putting the right person in handcuffs?

“You think you got your guy?”

“Maybe. I don’t have any evidence yet, and I certainly don’t have proof.”

Chad gave the same answer everyone had given: she was the nicest girl, everyone loved her. It was all very unhelpful.

Knott wasn’t ready to voice her theory yet. She had found that once you articulated your theory out loud to another person, it tended to take on a life of its own

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Could that drive someone to murder?

Detective Knott got nothing new from questioning the father of the groom. It was time to move on to the wedding party…

The spouse did it. Or did they…?

Who was the last person to see the bride alive? The flower girl, of course…

First up is the person who found the body.

What was supposed to be a beautiful celebration of love turned into a grisly crime scene.

Instead of the bride making her entrance from around the corner of the foliage, the only thing that emerged from that area was a bloodcurdling scream.

“I don’t understand why they don’t just sell it to a developer who will tear it down and put up a new one. Who’s going to buy a house that doesn’t even have central air?”

“They’re going to tear it down?” Melissa was incredulous. “They want to build new houses that they say will be bigger and better,” George said.

Staying up all night is part of the solstice tradition. It’s important that someone wait up to see the sunrise. To make sure there is a sunrise and to greet the lengthening of days and shortening of nights.

Nothing says Christmas like a poem about suicidal thoughts!

Shortly after Carmen makes a Christmas wish, it comes true! Coincidence? Or was someone granting her wish?

”She’s a golddigger?”

“Looks that way.”

“And she’s on the nice list?”

“Must have been an oversight.”

Is there anything more powerful than a Christmas wish made with all your heart?

Between the pain and the exhaustion, it felt like it took forever for his brain to process the simplest bits of information.

This is the fourth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, and Part III before continuing. “I never realized jerky could taste so good,” Carrie said, licking her fingers. “That’s the beauty of making your own,” said Hailey. “You can make …

Not only was it swollen and discolored, but it was bent at an unnatural angle, the toes pointing inward, even when his heel was facing outward.

Tom misjudged a step, which turned out to be a stone covered in wet moss. His right foot shot out in front of him, while his left leg was still behind him from the previous step.

Carrie jumped over roots and onto large, flat rocks like she was playing a championship round of Floor Is Lava and killing it.

When you think you have everything under control, but the sinking just feels too good …

Sandra glared at him, speechless. But she was never speechless for long. Her rage could burn the world.

Business is business. It’s not personal. Even when it’s your baby sister forcing you out of your own company.

Sandra found lies of omission to be the easiest. Even so, this would be so much easier if he weren’t such a good big brother.

The final phase of Sandra’s plan is almost complete. Hugh is walking right into her trap, and he doesn’t even know it.

“Are you proposing to me?” Chris put one hand on his chest with an exaggerated gasp and started batting his eyelashes.

Sandra untied the ribbon to get inside where she found a pair of earrings. Each one consisted of a long, gold chain, at the end of which was suspended a tear-drop-shaped ruby.

You might look at my position and only see the power. I see the responsibility. Trustees are chosen based on how, well, trustworthy they are.

I get my work done faster than anyone else, and I do a fair amount of Angela’s work. Come on, you know I’m overqualified for this position.

When your brother walks in on you making out with your boyfriend … and he’s your boyfriend’s boss … Things can get awkward.

When making a bet, you should really determine the stakes ahead of time. Settling after the fact takes all the excitement out of the bet.

Chris claimed his kiss as his reward, but the deal was never for him to kiss her when he got his promotion…

You know when you ask a question and you don’t even realize you’re looking for a certain answer until you hear it?

“It never ends with Chris, or with Hugh?”

“Either one! They’re two peas in a workaholic pod.”

It’s a job with a major real estate developer. If you do this well, you can move up the ranks, and be running the company before you’re 30.

If there was one thing her brother couldn’t resist, it was a bet. Especially when the stakes included the chance to prove her wrong.

What if Mary Ann Evans had chosen not to use a pen name? Would her work be as widely available as it is today?

You know, I was actually pretty stoked when Amanda said you’d be willing to go out on a date.

I feel like I’m doing what I was put here to do. Do you believe in that stuff, or do I sound like a total wacko?

The couple sat just a few feet from where Jeff worked behind the bar and he could hear every. Single. Word.

What if the answer to “which March sister are you?” depends on which mood I happen to be in?

“Give me one good reason why you should not quit your job and start your own publishing company tomorrow.”

Once Dana was ushered on set and seated in front of her interviewer, it was like another person took over her body.

Editors and publishers are trying to tell stories, and what story do WASPs love more than the American Dream?

I know you’re gay. And I know you’re a reporter. So, technically, yes, you are a gay reporter. But calling you that sounds reductive.

I’m a reporter. I’ve talked to all kinds of people. Everyone wants to know the dirty little secrets of their favorite celebrities.

“In the romance department, we always want our books to have something of the author’s heritage.”
“What does that mean?”

I would not be surprised to learn that editors nudge their writers towards a certain morally pleasing conclusion to their books.

Ms. Priestly’s other assistant knows I’m telepathic, but she can’t prove it, and it’s driving her nuts. It’s so much fun!

“You made pâté?” Abbey asked, incredulous. How could she compete with a woman who made pâté? She didn’t stand a chance.

Finally, it happened. Abbey was walking through the park when a kite came out of nowhere and smacked her in the face.

If you were to assemble your ideal man, what would he look like? Would the whole be greater than the sum of his parts?

Can you manifest the perfect man? If you could, what would he look like? What qualities would you include? What would you exclude?

That is a false accusation meant to tear this party apart, but it will not stand. True Americans know that we always stand united in the face of opposition.

Frank had been the one person left in the party he had thought he could really talk to. Without him, where did that leave Charles?

Charles meets with Matthew himself, but doesn’t have any better luck than Frank had in his meeting.

Frank’s investigation into the President’s Chief of Staff doesn’t exactly leave him empty handed, but he’s no better off than he was when he went in.

Frank and Charles come up with a plan to investigate the president, but what if he’s not the one in control…?

He’s already been investigated by every investigative agency in our federal government. What could we find on him that they haven’t?

“I do know the president’s tendencies. And I thought I knew yours, but it looks like I was mistaken,” said Charles.

“Mother is out there somewhere because she knew there was something better than this, and I’m going to find out what happened to her.”

Is Adam and Eve’s mother dead, or did she escape that nightmare after her children were born?

Instead of holding the Barbie doll to act out the role of her namesake, Eve had the Ken doll and Adam had the Barbie doll.

I realize this was selfish, but if you can’t be selfish at the end of your life, when can you? Haven’t I earned the right to a little selfishness?

“What if there isn’t enough time?”
Young Dana screwed up her face as she considered this. “Then we’ll do the fun stuff first and the boring stuff last.”

“I don’t want to be this person. I don’t want to live like this.”
“OK, maybe it’s time for another round of mimosas?”