CHAPTER 42 - Break-In
Lia cranked the wheel of her battered Civic. The engine sputtered one last hiccup, then died, ticking as the heat leaked away. Winter air spilled into the car, sharp enough to make her eyes water. She stayed there a second, hands still on the wheel, staring through the windshield. Her parents’ house glowed like a freaking Hallmark movie. White Christmas lights. A plastic Santa that always tipped sideways when it got windy. The smell of woodsmoke hung in the air like some nostalgic t****k filter. For one glorious second, she almost believed her life was normal. Errands, traffic, Christmas shopping. Debating for the hundredth year what to buy her dad, who claimed he wanted “nothing,” but would definitely look wounded if she took him seriously. Then her gaze drifted a few houses down. An
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