The soft click of Isla’s front door behind her was the first true exhale she’d had since boarding the plane home. The warm desert air was a balm, welcoming her back like a familiar hug. Inside, the modest house was exactly how she’d left it—sunlight still catching in the glass wind chimes over the kitchen sink, her shoes waiting in the same spot by the door. She set her suitcase down with a thud, her keys landing in the ceramic bowl she’d bought at a street market in Taos.
Dinner with Nathan had gone... oddly well. Better than expected. She hadn’t really planned on enjoying herself. But she had, and that made her nervous.
Still barefoot, she padded into her bedroom and tugged open the zipper on her duffel bag. Clothes spilled out in the mess of fast packing, and as she refolded and sorte
