Chapter 10
The low hum of conversation carried through the dining room, silverware clinking softly as Mrs. McCall—Cassie—placed a tray of desserts on the table. Chocolate torte, fruit tarts, and delicate little cakes filled the air with the scent of sugar and vanilla, but my mind was somewhere else entirely.
My phone buzzed quietly in my lap.
I glanced down, expecting some random group chat notification, but instead, my mom’s name lit up the screen. Relief loosened the tension coiled tight in my chest.
*Mom: Hey sweetheart, everything ok? Are you still staying at Ally’s?*
I hadn’t even realized how much I needed that message until I saw it. The weight of the evening—awkward introductions, tense stares, and that unspoken energy pulsing under every polite smile—had distracted me more th
