GINA’S POV
Three days.
That’s how long it’s been since I moved back into the house I once called home. Three long, quiet, tense days under the same roof as Elder Festus and his darling wife, Susan.
Not a word from either of them unless absolutely necessary. And that’s fine by me. I wasn’t here for reunion hugs or family breakfasts around the table. I was here because I had nowhere else to go. Because Bernard needed a warm bed and meals that didn’t come from coins scraped together.
If this was what rock bottom looked like, then I was staring it right in the face. But at least we weren’t on the street. For now.
Today, I needed something different. A break from the four walls that pressed in on me like a reminder of everything I’d lost. So I dressed Bernard in his favorite hoodie—the one
