Free Home Again by Jennifer Ketchum Page A

both ends for so long, Danna. Maybe you just need a rest.”
     
    “And what about my job when I come back?” she asked softly, trying to keep her anger in check.
     
    “I’m sorry, Danna…”
     
    “I’m being demoted, aren’t I?” she asked looking him in the eyes.
     
    “Yes.”
     
    “Forget it,” she said standing up as she started opening her drawers.
     
    “What are you doing?” Steve asked.
     
    “Packing. Tell Ronald that I quit,” she said through gritted teeth.
     
    “You’re not serious…”
     
    “Oh, yes. I’m dead serious, Steve,” she said leaning across the desk giving him a glare before continuing to pack her desk.
     
    “Why don’t you take the two weeks and get some space to think before making any rash decisions?” Steve urged her.
     
    “I’ve made my decision, Steve. If Ronald doesn’t think more of the work I’ve put in here than that, it’s time for me to move on.”
     
    “What will you do, Danna?” Steve asked with a look of concern on his face.
     
    “I don’t know, but this is just going to have to be my new beginning, I suppose.”
     
    After loading up her office and saying her goodbyes, Danna got into her car and looked up at the ten story building in the heart of downtown Atlanta. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do now, but she’d always loved a good adventure and maybe it was time for one. After playing it safe and working like a “normal” person for years, maybe it was time to try something totally off the wall and new, but first she would have to do the one thing she wasn’t planning on anytime soon - go back home to Dallas Springs.
     
     

Chapter 2
     
     
    As Danna drove into Dallas Springs, she had that sense of familiarity. She’d lived in Dallas Springs her whole life until she went off to college, eager to get started in the working world. Although her mother really didn't want her to go, and much preferred for Danna to go to the local community college, she had a sense that she needed to get out of the small-town atmosphere and really experience what city life had to offer.
     
    Even though she missed her sisters, because they had always been pretty close, Danna felt like she needed to go out into the world and make something of herself. She’d always been very competitive, even in school. Participating in several different sports from running track to playing softball, Danna was a competitor at heart.
     
    She was never the one who got the best grades. That was her sister, Olivia. However, she did well enough to get herself a scholarship to Georgia State University in Atlanta. Once she went to college and got her marketing degree, she really thought it'd be smooth sailing from then on. She imagined herself living in a luxury apartment being able to afford all the finest things in life.
     
    One thing that she did leave behind and regretted even to this day was Jack Swanson. Jack had been her best friend all through middle school, and they began dating in her senior year of high school under unfortunate circumstances. He was her senior year high school sweetheart, but she left him behind to figure things out in the world. It broke Jack’s heart, and he was especially upset when he found out that she was dating someone else at college that she eventually married. That had been one of her biggest mistakes in life.
     
    She knew when she got married that it was the wrong thing to do, but she was getting a bit lonely in the big city and wanted to make a family for herself. Although the marriage didn't last that long, it had broken her heart when her husband had cheated on her because she felt like she’d been betrayed. Jack would've never done that to her, and she knew it. The deep sense of regret had plagued her all these years thinking about how she left him behind to work on his family's farm while she went out and pursued her dreams.
     
    She’d heard in recent years that Jack still worked on his family's farm, but he hadn't been