Chapter 19 - Spring on the Porch
Winter finally loosened its grip on the neighborhood as March melted into April, bringing warm sunlight and green shoots through the thawing soil along the driveway.
I was standing on the front porch with a pair of pruning shears, trimming the dead stalks from the rosebushes my father had planted years ago, when a familiar crunch of gravel caught my attention.
I looked up.
A sleek sports car slowed to a crawl along the curb. Behind the tinted window, Natalie stared out at the house for a long, silent moment. She didn't get out. She didn't honk or wave.
For a second, I thought she might pull into the driveway to make a scene. But then her brake lights flared, she shifted into reverse, and she accelerated down the street, disappearing around the corner.
May you like
She was running away again, retreating into a world where status mattered more than truth. I turned back to the rosebushes, clipping away a final dead branch, revealing fresh, emerald-green buds pushing upward through the stems.
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