The tales in Aerate arise in unique and curious settings: open fields and pastures, a house full of feathers and a house full of cheese, the fruit aisle, the ghost of a hardware store, an airplane, a strip club, a hot tub, and a forest full of fog. Food p­ays a subtle yet pivotal role: apricot pits provide the promise of reunion, dairy delivers a dignified end, cupcakes are a coping mechanism, a sizzling ham breakfast is used to smother, adding marshmallows to coffee is a tender quirk that leads to love, bread making is the building of a life together, and identical habits around green drinks, be it mojitos or smoothies, are a reminder of familial ties that cannot be ignored. Aerate is a compilation of 18 stories about relationships: queer, parent and child, sibling, friendship, new love, and long-term marriage. Aerate ponders the connection we carry with those who have passed on, and the bewildering ways in which an experience with a stranger can transform our lives. These stories explore mental health, reincarnation, codependency, pain, joy, gender, sexuality, survival, forgiveness, loneliness, magic, love, death, and liberation.