153

MAXINE

"Okay," I said. "Let's do it. Let's run away together."

Zel's eyes shone with excitement. "We'll make it work. We'll find a place where we can both be happy doing whatever we want. We could go anywhere."

The night was filled with so many possibilities. I could be anyone I wanted. Nothing was holding me back. I was going to take this opportunity to create the life I wanted.

No one told me to be a midwife. No one to tell me who I should be. No one to lean on, who would give up on me because I wasn't what they wanted. I would do it all for me.

The next few days, Zel and I spent countless hours talking and fleshing out our ideas for a new life. We each had some savings tucked away, enough to get us started but not enough to last longer than a few months. We knew we had to find work and a place to settle soon.

At the kitchen counter one morning, Zel spread out a map in front of us. "Where do you think we should go?" she asked, her finger tracing various routes across the country.

I