Everly Collins stood outside the courthouse, a folder of documents clutched against her chest. She couldn't believe that this was where her life had taken her. She'd thought she had everything she’d ever wanted a few months ago, a husband and a baby on the way, and then it all fell apart.

A tear slid down her cheek. She wasn't sad that her marriage was over. Not really. She had come to realize that her ex had never truly loved her. She’d simply seen what she had wanted to see when they’d gotten married. Her friend Stacy put her hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, Everly,” Stacy said. “Let's go.”

Everly followed Stacy to her rusty old station wagon and climbed inside. Everly had had to sell her car and all her belongings to pay for a lawyer to represent her in the divorce. Little good that had done. Everly had been left with nothing. Not only had she lost her marriage and her child, she’d lost everything else too.

Stacy drove the station wagon through town and stopped in front of her apartment building. Everly had been staying in Stacy's spare room. They went upstairs, and Everly collapsed on the couch, still clutching the divorce documents.

“I don't know what I'm going to do, Stacy,” she whispered.

Stacy brought her a cup of coffee and they sat together on the couch, staring at the blank screen of the television.

“You're going to stand up, dust yourself off, and move on with your life. You deserve way better than Tim ever gave you.”

“I can't believe he left me for his skinny secretary.”

“A man like that isn't worth your tears,” Stacy said, handing her a tissue.

“I still don't understand how he could do that?”

“Because he's a selfish narcissist. You didn't give him his perfect, ideal little life. So, he dropped you like a hot potato.”

“I still feel like I did something wrong.”

“Don't ever say that again. You didn't do anything wrong.”

Everly sipped her coffee, the divorce papers still sitting in the folder on her lap.

“Maybe if I hadn't lost the baby,” she whispered.

“I know that losing your pregnancy hurt, Everly. But if Tim had loved you, there's no way he would have left you after that.”

“It all just happened so fast. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“You can stay here as long as you need.”

“I've never been a person who likes to accept charity,” Everly said.

“I can afford to let you keep the room for now,” Stacy said, drawing her eyebrows together.

Everly knew that her friend Stacy was not exactly rich. Letting her borrow the room, rent free, when she could have been renting it out to a roommate, just made Everly feel even worse.

Six months ago, she’d had a miscarriage and lost her child. And three months later, her husband Tim announced that he was leaving her for his secretary: a statuesque, skinny blonde who worked in his office. Everly had been staying home, taking care of him since they'd been married, at his insistence. So, when he decided to leave her, she didn't even have a job. Once he announced the divorce, he told her she had to leave the house. Since everything was in his name, she had no choice but to comply.

He had all the money and all the power. She had no way to fight for anything with her measly savings. The divorce had wiped her out. Now she had nothing except her friend, whose charity could only last for so long.

“I'm going to find a job. And then I will pay you back for everything you've done for me.”

“I just want to make sure you're all right,” Stacy said, patting her knee. “We girls need to stick together and stand up to jerks like Tim.”

“Have I told you how grateful I am for you, Stacy?”

“I know, I know. I also know you would do the same for me.”

She would too. She intended to pay Stacy back for everything, just as soon as she figured out how. Everly had grown up with a single mom who’d been diagnosed with cancer the summer after Everly’s first year of college. She’d dropped out of school to take care of her mom and then started working as a waitress at a diner. That's where she and Stacy had met.

Stacy worked there in the evenings and went to grad school during the day. Everly had asked the diner if they had any hours and could hire her back, but they couldn't take her on. She’d asked all around town, but nobody seemed to be hiring. Especially with such a large gap in her resume.

“I thought I was living my fairytale. How could I have been so deluded?” she asked, holding the warm coffee cup between her palms.

“Tim talked a good game. You can't blame yourself.”

“I feel like I should have known better. Like I should have seen the red flags.”

“Next time, you’ll be more equipped. You won't let somebody pull the wool over your eyes like that again.”

“I hope you're right,” Everly said, setting the coffee down. She hugged Stacy and thanked her again.

Everly went to her room, needing to be alone and ready to look for a job. Stacy's guestroom was sparsely decorated. All Everly had to her name was a suitcase full of old clothes, her ancient laptop, and her flip cellphone. She sat in front of the computer and turned it on, determined to find a job.

If she had to take the bus all over town, then she would. She had to do what she had to do. If growing up with a single mother had taught her anything, it was how to work hard. After her father had left them as a young girl, all Everly had ever wanted was a family of her own. She wanted to live the fairytale in the romantic movies she watched and the books that she read. But her life with Tim had not worked out that way. She gritted her teeth and crinkled her eyebrows, just thinking about how stupid she had been for trusting him.

“I'll never trust another man again,” she said to herself as she opened the want ads in the local paper.

She scanned the job listings. Nothing seemed like she was qualified for it.

“I don't know what I'm going to do,” she said to herself woefully.

And then, as if a beacon in the night, she ran across a listing for a nanny position.

“Looking for a live-in nanny for an infant. Must have childcare experience. Be ready to start as soon as possible.”

Everly had worked in the nursery at the college and had been studying early childhood development in school. She babysat all through high school to save money to go to college. If her mother hadn’t gotten sick, she would have had a degree in child care by now. She bit her lip, thinking it wasn't enough experience. But she had to try. What else could she do? She opened her resume file and updated it, trying to make her experience seem a little bit more impressive.

“I have to pay Stacy back for what she's done for me. I have to move on. I can't let my divorce and the loss of my child beat me. I have to be stronger than the pain,” she said to herself.

She finished sprucing up her resume and sent it to the email address in the want ad.

After that, she stood from her desk and found Stacy in the dining room. “How did the job search go?” Stacy asked, dishing spaghetti noodles onto a plate for Everly.

“I applied for a nanny job. It's a live-in position so hopefully I'll get it, and you can get rid of me.”

“I'm not trying to get rid of you,” Stacy said.

“I know, I know,” Everly chuckled, swirling spaghetti around on her fork.

Stacy was doing everything she could to help Everly. But from the sparsely stocked cabinets and refrigerator, Everly knew that Stacy was hurting. She couldn't continue to rely on her friend’s good will for much longer, or it would pull them both under.

“Everything's going to be fine. I'm going to get that job,” she said. “And then I’m going to do whatever it takes to pay you back.”

“I know you will, Everly. You've always been a dependable and good friend. You're going to get through this. If anyone can recover from what Tim put you through, it’s you.”

“Well I’ll tell you one thing, I'll never trust a man again.”

They both chuckled and ate their spaghetti.

“You never know,” Stacy said. “Maybe there's some great guy out there for you. It's possible that happy endings really do happen.”