I had crawled into bed at eleven for what was certain to be another sleepless night. Sometime around one a.m., I heard Kim, my girlfriend's daughter, use the bathroom. She must have seen that my lamp was still on and poked her head in, asking if I needed anything. "No. I'm good. Thanks, though." Unconvinced, she entered my room and asked if I wanted her to rub my back like her mother used to do. She walked in wearing one...

I woke the next morning and groggily looked at the clock. I sat up, surprised that I had slept through the night. Moments later, Kim walked into my room, drying her hair with a towel. Her mom's tattered old robe clung to her still-damp body, making it almost transparent. "How did you sleep?" she asked as she sat next to me on the bed. "I finally slept through the night." "Me, too. I slept like a baby. I don't know what to...