Chapter One

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The driveway looked smaller than I remembered.

I sat in the driver’s seat for a full minute after turning off the engine, hands still on the wheel, staring at the two-story house with its faded blue shutters and the same cracked basketball hoop above the garage. Four years of college and somehow the place had stayed exactly the same. The lawn was neat. The porch light was on even though it was only late afternoon. A pair of James’s old running shoes sat by the front door like they had never been moved.

I had told myself this was temporary. A few months at home while...