And then, in one weekend, I had finally been strong in the right way, the way that set me free.

Chapter 20 — The Key to My Own Freedom

My phone buzzed on the patio table beside my iced tea.

I picked it up, and I saw that it was an email from my former employer, the corporate firm I would be returning to at the end of my maternity leave.

It was an offer.

They wanted me back not in my old role, but in a new one, a bigger one: Director of Portfolio Risk Management, a significant promotion, a substantial raise, a seat much closer to the center of the company than the one I had left behind when I went on leave.

I read it twice, to be sure it was real, and I smiled, and I tapped Accept, and I locked the screen, and I leaned back against the patio cushions and closed my eyes and felt the warm spring breeze move across my skin.