The call ended, and she sat at the table and lifted her coffee to take a sip, but thoughts of her future had her up and moving to grab the tablet Jump had showed her the day before. She wanted to look up potential jobs and careers she could have.
It was overwhelming as an adult to look at her future and try to come up with an idea of what she wanted to do. There were so many things she could do with her life. Now she just had to narrow down what really interested her.
Her thoughts slid to Willa and Pen. In the cult, friendships had been highly discouraged, especially friendships between women. Women having friends was seen as a huge sin. The first year after being free, she wouldn’t even talk to other women. It had taken a lot to get her to even be friendly with her coworkers. She guessed that made her cold, but learning how to deal with the concept of friends had been difficult.
Looking back, the first few months she’d absolutely been rude. Now she was much more chill about meeting new people and developing what could be described as friendship. She was friends with Jump. Of course they’d been tossed into a weird situation, and she was glad Jump was such a good person.
She would spend this time while he was going figure out what she wanted to do in life. She hoped she had some answers by the time he got home. The thought of having him back here madeher stomach tighten. Would he still want her when he came back? She hoped so.
CHAPTER TWENTY
By the time Willa swung by to pick her up, she was more confused than ever. She plopped down in the passenger seat and blew out a harsh breath.
“Thank you for coming to get me.”
“Sure. How was your day?”
“Ugh. I don’t know what to do.”
Willa pulled up at a stop sign and glanced over. “What do you mean?”
“I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life and I have no idea. There are so many choices.”
“What do you like doing?”
She shrugged, and the car slowed. “Are we almost here?”
“Yes. We live right here.” Willa pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. “Come in and we can all talk about it.”
“Sure.”
She followed Willa inside, happy to see Pen already there. Pen came over and pulled her into a hug.
“It’s good to see you.” Pen stepped back and looked her up and down. “But you seem worried.”
“It’s nothing big. I’m just trying to decide what I want to do with my life.”
“That’s not nothing. That’s a big thing. What are you leaning toward?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“What do you like to do?”
Blakely blew out a slow breath and shook her head. “That’s the thing. I don’t know. I was never encouraged to have a future beyond having a husband and kids. That was my future. Nothing else mattered. Now I’m free, and I don’t even know where to start.”
“That is tough,” Pen said as she stirred the vegetables she’d just dumped into a hot pan.
Blakely felt odd not helping, and she moved to the kitchen opening. “What can I help you with?”
“Nothing. Go sit,” Willa said.
“Yeah, I’ve already got everything cut and ready to cook. There’s nothing left to do.”
She moved to a stool and sat so she could see into the kitchen. “In the cult, they didn’t let us have friends. My only friend or connection was supposed to be my husband. It’s nice having friends.”
“We’re glad you’re here with us. I think it’s great that you want to have friends.”
She nodded. “It’s different, weird in some respects. But I was so lonely in the cult. I don’t think I would have done well if I’d stuck around.”
