Show don't tell -- The marriage clock -- White women LOL -- The richest babysitter in the world -- Creative differences -- Follow-up -- The tomorrow box -- A for alone -- The patron saints of middle age -- Giraffe and flamingo -- The hug -- Lost but not forgotten

"In her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she's as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these ... stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long-held beliefs are overturned. In 'The Patron Saints of Middle Age,' a woman visits two friends she hasn't seen since her divorce. In 'A for Alone,' a married middle-aged artist embarks on a creative project intended to disprove the so-called Mike Pence Rule, which suggests that women and mencan't spend time alone without lusting after each other. And in 'Lost but Not Forgotten,' Sittenfeld gives readers of her novel Prep a window into the world of her ... character Lee Fiora, decades later,when Lee attends an alumni reunion at her boarding school"--