That night, after Noah and his wife, Kayla, drove back home, after Frank scraped the untouched cake into the trash, Frank went into his small office and did something he’d never allowed himself to do.
He cried.
And then he started planning.
“Are you sure about this?” Diane asked now, adjusting the strap of the worn canvas bag on her shoulder.
Frank drew a deep breath. “We spent our whole lives teaching our kids about character. It’s time to find out who actually learned.”
Hand in hand, they left the home where they’d raised their children… to discover whether there was still a place they could call home.
Diane squeezed Frank’s hand before they stepped out the gate.
The street looked the same—the guy selling tamales on the corner, the city bus rattling past, the neighbor’s dog barking behind a fence. But for them, everything had shifted.
They weren’t the respected retired man and the beloved teacher anymore.
Now they were invisible.
Or worse.
And they were about to find out.
Door One: Olivia
Chicago greeted them with horns, glass towers, and cold wind.
Olivia’s building near the lake had uniformed doormen, marble floors, and manicured plants in the lobby.