**LILA POV**
Linda comes home earlier than expected.
I hear the car before I see it, tires crunching over the gravel in the driveway, and my stomach drops so hard it feels like I might be sick. I freeze in the hallway with a jumper half folded in my hands.
Too soon.
I had planned this carefully. I was going to finish packing. I was going to think through what I would say. I was going to be calm.
The front door opens.
“Lila?” Linda calls out, already halfway inside. “I finished up early. Thought I’d…”
She stops.
Not abruptly. Not dramatically. Just a pause that tells me she sees everything at once.
The bags by the door.
The one leaning awkwardly against the wall.
The silence that feels deliberate instead of accidental.
Her eyes lift to me. I am standing too straight, shoulders t
