Chapter One The drive down from Lansing took forever. Flat gray roads, half-melted snow piled along the shoulders, and my dad’s endless rotation of seventies rock made the air feel heavier than the sky pressing down on Michigan. He loved his road trips. The playlists, the gas-station coffee, the pit stops every hour just to “stretch his knees,” he was in dad mode. Mom rode shotgun, chatting about work or laughing into her...

CHAPTER 9: MIRA'S APARTMENT Mira’s apartment glowed low and deliberate. Sconces spilled amber light across the walls, while concealed lamps near the wide window cast a soft, wavering warmth that made the shadows move like breath. The air was scented with jasmine and sandalwood, and anchored by something rich and floral Harper couldn't name. In one corner, the curve of a grand piano caught the light, its lacquered surface...

As soon as Marie met Sarah after work one day, she couldn’t wait to tell her all about her new relationship with a gorgeous girl she’d met in a book shop. Marie gushed about how Bernadette was just her type, a girly girl, all feminine and pretty. She told Sarah how they’d gone for a drink after meeting at a poetry reading in the local library, and how one thing led to another, and Marie had ended up doing the walk of sham...

Please Have Your Way With Me Off to the club, to bump and rub, This one is mostly girls. My cutest dress, face to impress, My hair done up in curls. We danced away, with flirty play, One pretty as the next But there was one, she’s having fun, But left me rather vexed. Not usually, the girl for me, Yet something I felt strange. More masculine, than feminine, My attraction feeling strange. Her boyish charms, and tattooed ar...