---
Chapter 1: Backroads
Nora didn't take the highway. She told herself it was to avoid traffic, but really, it was about the detour. The long way. The way that passed the bakery with the flaking green awning, the baseball field where her brother broke his collarbone, the rusted-out sign for Turner's Diner that hadn't served coffee since 2003.
She hadn't been back in over a decade. Not really. Holidays didn't count; those were in-and-out visits with too many people and too little space. But this time, it was just her. Just a trunk full of old sweaters and a silence in the passenger seat where her mother's voice used to be.
The road narrowed as she approached the town line. Trees leaned in, branches heavy with early April rain. It was the kind of gray that settled into everything—sky, skin, thought. She rolled down the window anyway. She wanted to feel it. Wanted the wind to slap her a little. Remind her she was here, now, not in some memory she couldn't quite shake.
When the "Welcome to Mapleton" sign appeared, Nora didn't feel anything big. No rush. No ache. Just a small tightening in her chest, like someone pulling a drawstring. The town looked the same. Smaller, maybe. Older. But that could've been her.
She passed the elementary school, now fenced in with bright new plastic playgrounds. She passed the library where she used to hide in the nonfiction aisle, pretending to read when she just needed quiet. And then, finally, the house.
It looked good. That was the first thought, and it surprised her. The paint was fresh. The shutters had been replaced. Claire had done it justice.
Nora parked across the street and sat for a minute, engine off. The rain tapped soft on the windshield. Her fingers gripped the wheel. She could still back out, turn around, say she'd gotten lost or caught up or simply changed her mind.
But then the porch light flicked on.
And just like that, it began.
---