I’m not religious, and not very spiritual, either. But sometimes, I like to think I see signs from Nina. A bluebird—her favorite—outside my window on my birthday. Her favorite song, Velvet Guillotine’s Exorcise My Love, playing on the radio when I’m having a bad day.

Or this: the pack of American Spirits—light blues, of course—on my wedding day.

Nina wasn’t even really a smoker.

But sometimes when we were together she’d have one, probably just because she thought she looked ...