I stopped for a woman dying on the roadside and lost my job for being late, but when I came back for my desk, my whole life changed. “What the hell do you mean you were helping somebody?” – usnews

I wanted to believe her.

I really did.

But there’s a special kind of fear that settles into a man when he has children and suddenly sees how thin the line is between being okay and not okay.

I had some savings.

Not a fortune, but enough.

An emergency fund Emily and I had built a little at a time by skipping vacations, driving older cars, saying no to things we wanted so we could say yes to the things we needed.

It would carry us for a while.

Still, that fear sat down in my chest and refused to leave.

I looked around the kitchen at the cereal bowls in the sink, the school art on the fridge, the grocery coupons clipped in a little stack by the fruit basket.

Everything ordinary suddenly looked fragile.

Emily reached across the table and covered my hand with hers.

“We will be okay.”