There really was a “Bill,” although that’s not necessarily his name. There really was a Mark (that’s me). There really was a truck full of chocolate and only four of us to unload the whole thing. Bill really did sit beside me and talk to me that morning. He really was as hot as I’ve described, and I was immediately in love.

As we talked, I learned something else that made me believe we were destined to be together forever. Somehow we got to talking about birthdays, and as we talked, I learned that we had been born thirty-six hours apart. In all my years, I had never had anyone who shared a birthday with me or even came close, so to hear that this man who sat beside me was one of the first humans I ever met seventeen years earlier just made me absolutely convinced our paths were destined to cross in a tremendously romantic way.

Most of this story is real, but it didn’t all happen in the order I’ve told it here. I’ve woven together dozens of threads, dozens of experiences that really did happen, to make the story that you are about to read. So this is my story—my stories, actually, all woven together into what I hope you will find to be a good read.

—Robbie Michaels