The palm reader giggled as he ran a finger over my hand. “You’ll be poor and you’ll be rich, but you’ll always be bad with money. Fortunately, you’ll also always have someone to take care of you.” I rolled my eyes. I just wasn’t that kind of girl.

I got my first clue things were shifting when they changed the name of the Personnel Department to Human Resources. That title brought to mind bodies wearing pressed suits and hanging from huge hooks, cycling around on a motorized rack like the one in the dry cleaners. A neat filing system, it displayed unlimited selections to replace the used-up models that had been piled into the roll-off dumpster in the alley. My second clue arrived the morning after the merger papers were signed.

I Love You

Kristin and Jeremy Calloway met four years ago; they worked in the same circle and became good friends, but their relationship wasn’t romantic. Then, Jeremy moved away to go to law school, and they missed each other. It was a life-changing experience for both of them: Kristin became a mom, and her relationship with her son’s father ultimately ended, and Jeremy decided that law school wasn’t for him after all. When he got back to Augusta, it wasn’t long before he and Kristin had re-connected—and for them to realize they’d been the perfect match, all along. 

Kristin: “We have the exact same sense of humor. He’s very sweet and sensitive, but he’s also a guy’s guy. He always puts family first.”

Jeremy: “She’s beautiful; she’s sweet. Everyone that is around her is really that much better for it. I don’t know a single person that doesn’t like her.”

Hance Jones and Caroline Lewis-Jones make their relationship a priority, even though as a professional dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher, Caroline’s work keeps her on the road dancing, choreographing, and teaching master classes (when she’s not working with her new dance company, Unbound). But spending so much time apart has made them treasure time together that much more.

Caroline: “He has an amazing personality. He’s extremely smart. He can fix anything. He’s sort of like a Renaissance man, in a way. We just fit together. We’re the perfect little mold.”

Hance: “She’s a great person. She’s got a great heart. She’s got this magnetism that people tend to gravitate towards. She always wants the best for everybody.”