She thought she was helping a homeless man find his family. What she never imagined was that the search would uncover a connection that would change both of their lives forever.
At 20 years old, she had mastered the art of stretching every dollar. She could make a single bag of rice last an entire week and knew how to soften old bread to make it work in soup. Most days, she kept her complaints to herself, even when things felt too heavy to bear.
She worked the evening shift at Tony’s Pizza, a hole-in-the-wall joint tucked between a laundromat and a liquor store on Maple Street. It always smelled of burnt cheese and oregano, no matter how often the counters were scrubbed.
The pay was barely enough, but it kept her going.