Mia woke to the smell of food drifting through the air. For a moment, she lay still, caught between sleep and waking. The bright exterior lights slipped through the thin curtains, casting a quiet glow in her room. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand—just past 5 a.m., the same time she always woke up.
Stretching her arms above her head, she slowly sat up. Her eyes wandered to the empty chair by her bed, where she had spent hours last night, going over the questions Zac had told her to prepare. A few answers stuck in her head. Most of them didn’t. It didn’t really matter. She had a few hours left to cram, but the thought of why she was doing this lingered. Why did she care so much about obeying Zac?
The answer came quickly: her mom.
Mia hadn’t expected to see her mother last night.
