Page 167 of Jude

Hell, we couldn’t stop touching each other.

He was my husband, but at the core, he was my best friend.

I’d never felt so seen, cared for, and loved in my life.

I was filled with a fresh sense of purpose, even at work.

I quit the depot, and my return to the The Sanctuary was epic.

The second I walked into the office, the crew lost it, shouting and making enough noise to wake the dead.

Misty tackled me, her arms wrapping around me so hard I stumbled back.

‘Hey, easy!’ I laughed, shoving her shoulder. ‘I only left for a few weeks; I wasn’t marooned on a desert island.’

‘Thank heavens you’re back,’ she muttered into my hair, squeezing tight. ‘This place was falling apart without you.’

‘Good thing I’m here to clean up your mess then,’ I shot back.

I dove straight in, recharged by the familiarity of The Sanctuary’s walls, grateful to be back serving the community.

Over the next few workdays, I threw myself into the job with a clear head and a happy heart.

Being back with Jude made every part of my life feel steady again, and I finally had the energy to give my work everything I had.

However, it soon became apparent that The Sanctuary was overwhelmed.

Our multilingual community help app was attracting a lot more clients than we could manage.

‘We need to recruit a few more support team members,’ Misty groused to me one late evening as we tried to finalize paperwork, her eyes bleary and red-eyed as she gazed at her laptop screen.

‘I’ll put the word out,’ I told her, my voice just as exhausted.

‘If you find good people, you’ve carte blanche to hand them application forms,’ Misty added with a sigh.

At the end of that week, on my day off, I met up with Camilla, Maria and Sarah at the diner down the street from the depot.

We squeezed into a corner booth and caught up over hot coffees.

‘Look at you, glowing like a million bucks,’ Camilla teased, bumping her shoulder against mine. ‘We miss your face on the night shift, Sof, but we’re so damn happy for you and Jude.’

‘Grazie, Cami,’ I said, smiling so wide my cheeks hurt. ‘He’s amazing, and we’re doing well. Enough about me, how are things at the depot? Really?’

Sarah sighed, tracing a circle in the condensation on her water glass.

‘Same old grind. Double shifts, garbage pay, and Miller keeps riding our backs. It’s draining the life out of us.’

I gazed at the three women who had held me up when I was struggling.

They deserved so much better than surviving on crumbs.

‘Then quit,’ I announced.

Maria let out a laugh.

‘Right, and pay rent with what, good vibes?’

‘I talked to Misty yesterday,’ I said, leaning over the table. ‘The Sanctuary is expanding the support team. We need help with paperwork, connecting vulnerable people with food, clothing, and safe housing.’