(Ava’s POV )
The air shifted that afternoon.
It wasn’t anything dramatic and not the rumble of a storm or a sudden change in the sky or just a subtle tightening, a quiet warning only Ava seemed to feel. The kind that made her instincts prickle and her steps grow carefully.
Lily and Jake had left already, heading into town with their arms linked and their laughter echoing down the driveway. Brian had watched them go from the porch, the way someone watched a fire they didn’t trust not to spread. He said he needed to finish paperwork in his office. Ava didn’t argue.
She grabbed a sweater and told herself a walk might clear her head. Outside, the air held the cool crispness of post-storm calm. The lawn glistened in patches, droplets still clinging to blades of grass like reluctant memories
