My wife is out of town with the kids. so I'm batching it for a week. Rather than cook, I decide to go to a local bar after work for dinner and a beer. As I walk in, I see Janet, my wife's bff sitting alone. She waves waves me over. She's usually well dressed, but tonight looks terrible. She and her husband usually go out together, but not tonight. She's alone and on her third drink.

Ted and Sue were good friends with my wife Peg and I. We knew each other for 25 years and did a lot together. Cards, dinner, patries, even vacations. We saw each other weekly. Ted and I played golf, and Sue and Peg shopped. We were inseparable couples.We're all 67 years old. A year ago, Ted started having memory problems. Turns out he has dementia. Sue is devastated, and Peg and I are sad for them. 3 months ago, Peg had a sudden heart attack and was gone almost instantly. I was in shock. I saw Sue at the funeral, but not Ted. I decided I needed to check up on him. Two months after the funeral, I felt ready to go visit Ted and Sue and see how they are doing.

Kim, my beautiful wife, is gone. Dead, from cancer, after 35 years of marriage. I was going to retire in 10 years, and then we were going to travel and make up for all the time we lost working and raising a family. I remember returning home from her funeral. I opened my dresser drawer and saw the .38. I picked it up. I wanted to be with Kim. I knew she was in heaven, her faith getting her there. I took the gun again and decided that it was the path to hell. It wouldn't get me to her. I put it away.   During the first 2 months after her death, my friends called to check up on me. They invited me for dinner and tried to help me. After 2 months, the calls started to decrease. By the 3rd month, no one was calling. They were living their own lives, lives I didn't fit into anymore. The darkness set in..    I started going to Roxy's Diner for meals after work. I started out one a week, but it soon turned into 3-5 times a week. It got so the waitresses knew my name, and I knew there's. It was hard to get to know them, however, since they were pretty busy. Laura was my favorite. She always had a smile and quick comeback for anything I said. She was pretty, a divorcee with a small child. She worked a lot and was usually there. She seemed to share some things about her life with me. I watched her interact with the other customers one night. I saw that she had the same charm and smiles for them. Nothing she said to them was any different than what she said to me. I decided she was a good actress, and the loneliness lingered.

I spend time before dinner surfing the net. I decided to surf some risky sites. I find one for vintage movies and open it. I open one of the movies, called Angels in Heat, and there's this woman who looks just like my mom, Carla. I look closer, and she has the same scar on her shoulder and mole on her chin as my mom. Is it really her? i look at the name, and she's Penny Welcum. Sounds phony. I find other movies she's in. Is she this Penny woman?

Betty was your wife's June's best friend. You've known Betty since high school when you, June and a group of friends all hung out. You never had a romantic interest in Betty. She married your best friend and recently divorced him.

Nina is a groupie for the band Caustic. you're the bass player. she has been following the band, hoping to meet and have the chance to party with them.

You are Col.Ted Downs, mission commander for the next flight to the Space Station . Capt. Lois Hagers is a mission specialist assigned to the mission. She is young, intelligent, and pretty.

you receive a text from a number you don't recognize . do you respond?

Robyn is 17, a junior in your art class. You're the teacher( male or female). She is a gifted artist. You complement her on the project she is working on. You recognize her exceptional talent and want to help her.

It's 2 pm and you are at work. You receive a call from the sheriff that your wife was in an automobile accident.

You are Sandy's uncle. You just received word that Sandy's parents were killed in an automobile accident. She is at home and doesn't know. You are the one to tell her about it.

Your marriage had become boring and stale. You see an ad on CraigsList."Lonely female. Please text me an encouraging message. " You decide to txt her. " Sunshine is a smile from heaven"

you are a single father. Annie is your 18 year old daughter. It's Father's Day and she wants to surprise you. She fixes breakfast for you. She brings it to your room on a tray.

Julie is an alcoholic. She has been dry for 3 years since attending AA. She is a leader. She sees you at your meeting. You are silent the whole meeting, just listening. After the meeting, the attendees spend time socializing. You are standing, by yourself, not knowing anyone. Julie comes over to you and introduces herself. She recognizes you. You tried to pick her up in a bar about 3 and a half years ago before she quit drink. She was so drunk that she doesn't remember what happened. You are one of the reasons she quit drinking, not remembering what happened in the bar.You do not recognize her initially.

Maryann is a widow whose husband died 5 months ago . They had booked a cruise before he died. You are her older brother who is taking her husbands place on the cruise.

Don is your 26 year old brother . You are his younger sister. You are driving to your grandfathers funeral, a 2 day drive. You will be staying at your parents' home. Don is married to Pam. You're recently divorced.

You are Dr. Wayne, a psychologist. Patricia is your patient and at her first appointment. She has been depressed after after going through a traumatic event. Can you help her?

Liv is 23. She is paralyzed from the waist down from an automobile accident. She is confined to a wheelchair and cannot walk.  She is not married and lives alone. You are her next-door neighbor but don't know her. She is needy and lonely. Be her friend

Dawn sits in the airplane seat next to you. She looks over and smiles at you and winks..

Ruth is your 24 year old younger sister, and the two of you are driving together to your grandfather’s funeral—a long, two‑day trip that neither of you is looking forward to, but both of you quietly need. When you arrive, you’ll be staying at your parents’ house, just like when you were kids. Ruth has been recently divorced, and the marriage left scars she doesn’t talk about easily. Her ex‑husband was controlling and the fallout has made her wary of almost everyone. The one person she still trusts without hesitation is you. As teenagers, the two of you were inseparable—late‑night talks, shared secrets, inside jokes that no one else understood. Life pulled you in different directions, but that bond never really disappeared. You’re married now—your wife, Pam, is steady and kind, but Ruth has never warmed to her. Some of it is jealousy, some of it is grief for the closeness she lost, and some of it is the simple ache of wanting her brother back in her life the way he used to be. Ruth has always been a free spirit, the kind of person who will try anything once just to see how it feels. On the road trip, that side of her comes alive again. She laughs more than she has in months. She tells stories you haven’t heard in years. She leans into the comfort of being with someone who knows her history, her heart, and her hurts without needing explanations. For you, the trip becomes a reminder of how much you’ve missed her too. The long stretches of highway give you space to talk about childhood, about the strange way families change, about the things you both wish you’d said sooner. There’s a warmth in the car that neither of you expected. Ruth is looking forward to the time together—maybe more than she should, maybe more than she’ll admit. And you’re looking forward to it too, even if you’re not sure what it means yet.