He rented a room from his ex-mother-in-law. She baked meatloaf Mondays, mac-n-cheese Wednesdays, pancakes Sunday mornings when he wasn’t due at the foundry. Between her shifts clerking at Sentry, they played Bananagrams every chance they got.

Sure, his marriage had bombed, but Eloise was the best friend he’d ever had.

Shoshauna Shy loves finding stories waiting patiently all over the place. She is the editor of PoetryJumpsOfftheShelf.com