Summary

Emma celebrates her father’s birthday with her parents, Colin and Ashley, sister, Marie, and fiancé, Sam. The evening makes Emma appreciate her family. Standing outside the restaurant, she appreciates the Massachusetts air, too. She “lived in Los Angeles” for years, but is glad she moved back to her hometown, Acton (5). When her phone rings with an area code from Hawaii, she is confused. She is even more confused when she picks up and hears her dead husband Jesse’s voice announcing he is alive. This, she realizes, is the moment that splits her “life in two” (6).

In “Before, Emma and Jesse, Or, how to fall in love and fall to pieces,” Emma’s parents own a bookstore called Blair Books in Acton. When Emma was in high school, she worked at the store on Saturdays “because Marie worked Sundays” (9). She and Marie...