Epilogue: A Future at Last

Inside the folder were legal ownership documents with my name printed across them.

Official. Real. Impossible.

I started laughing and crying at the same time.

Joe watched me carefully, then said quietly, “She was proud of you, kid. You know that, right?”

I covered my face with my hand because I thought my chest might split open.

After a minute, Joe cleared his throat gruffly.

“All right, enough crying in my diner. We open at five tomorrow. Hope you’re ready to learn how to run a business, partner.”

And standing there in the middle of that tiny diner, something inside me shifted.

For the first time in my life, I was not thinking about surviving the next month.

I was thinking about tomorrow.