Chapter 16 - Family GroundsYears passed.
Lily became confident and artistic.
Noah became curious and energetic.
Ryan and I opened a small café downtown.
We called it Family Grounds.
It became more than a business.
It became a gathering place.
A place where people talked.
A place where lonely people found company.
A place where families laughed.
One afternoon, a woman walked through the door.
She looked familiar.
Then she introduced herself.
“I'm Jennifer.”
Diane's sister.
My heart tightened.
But Jennifer wasn't there to defend Diane.
She was there to apologize.
“She was cruel even when we were children,” Jennifer said. “I escaped years ago.”
She gave me her phone number.
“Not everyone in that family is like her.”
I looked at Ryan.
Then at Lily.
And understood.
May you like
Family wasn't only blood.
Sometimes family was the people who chose you after blood had failed you.
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