In “They Could Live with Themselves” Jodi Paloni introduces and develops each character into people we’re absolutely positive we met at some point, so real are they-the daughter weighed down with unspoken guilt under her mother’s unspoken grief, the nerdy shell of a high school boy cracking to reveal the artist within, the store employee closing up shop and anxious to get home who reopens for a stranger who needs help. We hope, yearn, drop with disappointment and rise with encouragement along each story arc. When characters reappear in other stories there is the feeling of a bonus, we get to see old friends again, and we get to know what has happened in the intervening years. A rich collection of life in a small town with universal dreams.