Julie sat on the park bench until her fingers went numb from the cold. The sun had climbed higher, but the wind still carried a bite. She kept rereading Alex’s message, tracing the words like they might disappear if she looked away too long. “Hey Julie. Been a while. Saw you followed me and thought I’d say hi. Hope you’re doing okay.” Her thumb hovered over the reply box. She typed, deleted, typed again. She wanted to be...

Chapter 1 Julie woke up at 6:47 a.m. with the same thought she’d had every morning for the last three years: I’m already behind. Her phone was face-down on the nightstand, buzzing like a trapped insect. She didn’t need to look. She knew the notifications by heart: Venmo requests from her mom (“just $50 until payday”), three unread texts from Sarah asking if she was “still alive,” and at least two Instagram stories from gi...