Atonement Trail (Laurel Valley #5)

Chapter 5

But today, she had paint on her hands and a half-transformed apartment that suddenly felt too small for all the feelings she’d been trying to contain since yesterday’s treasure hunt.

Dylan dipped her roller in the paint tray, watching the warm terra-cotta color cling to the foam.

The first wall had been an accident—she’d bought the paint on impulse Friday night, driven by a restlessness she couldn’t name.

But now, Sunday afternoon, with three walls done and her furniture pushed to the center of the room like islands in a sea of drop cloths, she understood what she was doing.

She was nesting. Building. Making space for a life that might actually happen instead of one she was just passing through.