PART 1
I was twenty-two, exhausted, and desperate when I accepted the strangest job of my life.
By day, I attended college classes. At night, I stocked shelves at a grocery store. Every free moment I had went to helping my mother care for my younger brother, Noah.
Noah was only fourteen, but hospitals had already become a normal part of his childhood. His treatments cost more than we could afford, and every bill that arrived seemed heavier than the last.
