Chapter 24

As Elizabeth stepped out of the taxi onto the sidewalk at 15 Broad street, the familiar fragrance of Mama La Boer's famous golden fried corn dogs from the deli around the corner, ran up her nostrils. The honking loud as ever, the smell of burnt air and baked goods evident as always, and the streets thrumming with voices and lives, Manhattan was still the same, but there was a certain shift in the way Elizabeth perceived it all.

It didn’t feel so heavy to be back home anymore, and to her shame she had to admit that it was weird to come back home, not wanting to get in the next train, avoiding 15 Broad street. Instead she was yearning to walk into apartment thirty.

Elizabeth breathed in and pulled her stuff into the building, where Sam the doorman tipped his cap at her with his usual beam. She nodded a smile and paced up her walk to a run as her chest fluttered in nervousness and excitement and all things new, she couldn’t explain.