When seventeen-year-old Mark Potts fell from a balcony, he lost both the use of his legs and any faith in heroes. Now twenty-nine, he’s long-since come to terms with his injury. His job provides more opportunities for eye-rolling than for riding to anybody’s rescue, but with two kids to bring up, he barely has time for his husband, much less for heroics. Besides, Starr Bradford is a policeman -- how many heroes does one family need?<br><br>Mark and Starr love each other madly, but stress management is a load-bearing pillar of their happiness. When Mark’s coping skills fail him at exactly the wrong moment, he’s left hanging by a thread of words he should’ve kept in his mouth. He has the power to repair their relationship, but when Starr’s workday suddenly goes south, will he get to wield it? Keeping it together long enough to find out is a job worthy of any superhero!

You Had Me at Hero

“I have like sixty thousand favorite songs, huh, Daddy?” Jory asked as they made their way to the playground.


“Far as I can tell,” Mark agreed. “You should probably start a band.”


“Same way anybody does. Get some drums, maybe a horn, a record deal…”


“I don’t know how to play drums.”


“And our neighbors probably aren’t dying for you to start learning. Maybe something a little quieter. Can you play a tambourine?”


“Sure.” He mimed shaking one over his head, slapped his hand against his hip, shimmied his skinny body in a joyous circle around Mark.


“You look like a pro, all right,” Mark assured him. “You could call your band, let’s see…how ‘bout Jory Time? Or maybe TheJory Tellers? Your first record could be called Neverending Jory.”


“‘Neverending?’ So like, every song on it could be really long?”


Mark couldn’t think of a thing that made him happier than when one of these little guys made him laugh out loud.


Chapter 8