A stranger beside me on a flight asked, “Could you pretend you fell asleep on my shoulder?” I almost said no. I had just left Chicago with my five-year-old daughter, two suitcases, and a marriage that had fallen apart three days earlier. But I agreed. Two hours later, I woke up still leaning against him—and discovered the quiet man beside me was one of the country’s best-known billionaires. Then my phone reconnected, and a message from my ex-husband appeared: I KNOW YOU TOOK FIONA TO NEW YORK.

car was going to get two children to school from temporary housing.

But I understood what ordinary help could mean when someone’s life had stopped feeling ordinary.

One Saturday morning in October, I sat on the back steps of my house holding a cup of coffee while Fiona chased Pancake through a pile of leaves.

Luca came around the side of the house carrying a paper bag from the bakery.

“You’re late,” I told him.

“By three minutes.”

“Unacceptable.”

He sat beside me.

Fiona ran toward us holding a yellow leaf.

“Look!”

She handed it to Luca.

“It looks like a star.”

He examined it with the seriousness he normally reserved for business documents.

“You’re right.”

“We have to save it.”

“Obviously.”

She ran inside to find her drawing book.

Luca looked at me.

“You okay?”

I nodded.

Across the yard stood my own back door.

My key was in