I Was Fired From My Hotel Job After a Wealthy Guest Claimed I Took Her $5,000 Ring – The Next Day, a Security Guard Called and Said, 'You Won't Believe What She Left for You'

He paused.

"Will you come back?"

I looked around the lobby. Yesterday, I'd stood there trying not to cry while people looked at me like a thief.

Now they were waiting for my answer.

"My record says I didn't steal anything? And I'm being paid for the shifts I lost?"

"Yes."

I looked at him for another second. "Then yes. I'll come back."

Marcus grinned.

"Good. Because nobody else fixes the supply closet after night shift destroys it."

I laughed before I could stop myself.

That evening, I picked up Emma and Lucy from daycare. Lucy ran toward me holding a paper crown.

"I made you a queen." She shoved it onto my head.

Emma looked up at me.

"Why are you smiling?"

I almost cried. "Because Mommy had a really strange day."

"Did you see a dinosaur?"

"No."

"A princess?"

I thought about the tiny white dog sitting inside an X-ray room with a five-thousand-dollar ring in her stomach.

"Actually, yes."

On the walk home, both girls held one of my hands.

For the first time in two days, I could breathe without wondering how I was going to keep a roof over their heads.