She: When you have a minute, could you change a lightbulb for me?
He: I'm free now. Which one?
now == now, at this moment
compare
I recently left the group I'd been playing with for 5 years, and I'm now free to pursue other projects and try for a career in music production.
Here, the 'now' is used to contrast between before, and 'now', and it comes before 'free': before, all my time was devoted to playing in a group; but 'I'm now free of those commitments and able to do other things'.