Chapter 10 - Standing on My Own Two Feet
Six months after moving into her new condo, Cassidy sat on her balcony watching the autumn leaves drift down through the crisp evening air.
The wind was cool, carrying the familiar scent of woodsmoke and changing seasons. But unlike the Thanksgiving evening a year ago, when the air inside her family's dining room had felt heavy with unspoken resentment and suffocating obligation, the air here felt light, clean, and entirely her own.
Her phone buzzed on the patio table.
She picked it up, expecting a work email. Instead, it was a notification from Wren’s university portal: Dean’s List - Fall Semester Confirmation.
Cassidy smiled, a deep, genuine warmth spreading through her chest. She dialed Wren’s number immediately.
"Hey, kiddo," Cassidy said as soon as the line connected. "Did you see what I just saw?"
"I know! I just checked my portal!" Wren squealed on the other end, her voice bubbling with youthful excitement. "I made the Dean's List, Cassidy! All As!"
"I am so proud of you, Wren. You earned every single one of those grades."
"I couldn't have done it without you believing in me," Wren said softly, her tone turning tender. "Thank you for everything, Cassidy. Really."
"You never have to thank me for that," Cassidy replied, looking out over the quiet, peaceful neighborhood park where children were laughing and playing as the sun dipped below the horizon. "We take care of each other."
After hanging up, Cassidy leaned back in her patio chair, closing her eyes for a brief moment to listen to the evening sounds.
There was no ceiling fan humming overhead waiting for a repair she couldn't afford. There were no hidden bills tucked away in a kitchen binder waiting to explode. There was no thirty-five-year-old brother demanding comfort while offering nothing in return.
There was only peace.
Her father had told her on Thanksgiving that it was time she learned to stand on her own two feet. At the time, he had meant it as an insult, a dismissal, an eviction notice designed to keep her under his thumb while bleeding her dry.
He had accidentally given her the greatest gift of her life.
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Cassidy opened her eyes, looked down at her own two feet resting comfortably on the balcony floor, and smiled into the cool autumn night.
She was standing on them just fine.
