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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.’