Nothing in Tyler Owens’ background could prepare him for the maelstrom of Lorna Eads. The son of “Sawdust Republicans who nonetheless spoke cordially of FDR and Carter,” he grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and moved to California to study economics at USC. Although he was raised to have practical plans for the future, Tyler drops out of college to pursue a writing career. A late-night drive through Los Angeles changes the trajectory of his life when he gets into a fender bender with Lorna Eads, an aspiring actress from Rhode Island. She gives Tyler her phone number, and a relationship quickly develops between the pair. While Tyler works a series of odd jobs to make ends meet, Lorna finds short-lived success as the star of a series of viral murder mystery videos. They seem like any other couple trying to establish careers in LA until they move in together and Tyler discovers that Lorna is a drug addict. Although he knew she regularly took Adderall, he didn’t realize the extent of her dependency until they were living together. As Tyler tries to manage the fallout from Lorna’s addictions, her behavior grows increasingly unpredictable and erratic, threatening their relationship, and, ultimately, her life. Bel’s (Valérie, or Red Velvet Nothing, 2024, etc.) latest work is a sharply written tale of a young man desperately trying to navigate a relationship with someone whose addictions threaten to consume the relationship. Tyler is a wry and perceptive protagonist (“I understood her present situation was not a reflection of who she truly was, any more than mine was of me”). The narrative is told from Tyler’s first-person perspective and paints a nuanced portrait of a vibrant woman in denial about the depth of her drug addiction. (“This is who I am, Ty. I could pretend different, but where’s the dignity in that? The freedom?”) Bel is a gifted storyteller who brings rich character development and humane insight to the briskly paced narrative. This special edition of the novella also includes Bel’s short story “Jerks.”