Valerie Came Home From Deployment to Find Her Twelve-Year-Old Daughter in Intensive Care

It was the first lock in months that had.

The old military phone from my duffel sat in the junk drawer, still dead.

I had plugged it in once and found the old contact number staring back at me.

I left it there.

At two I sat on the sofa with my reassignment orders spread across my knees.

The local reserve headquarters had stamped them approved.

I wasn’t going anywhere.

Abigail came out of her room and sat beside me.