Chapter 86 Dinner

• The house smelled like roasted chicken and garlic, with warm bread fresh from the oven. It was the kind of smell that hugged you from the moment you walked in and Zara hadn’t realized how much she missed it until now.
• Her mother moved around the kitchen gently, almost like muscle memory. But behind each small movement placing plates, fixing the candles, smoothing out the tablecloth there was something deeper. As if, by making everything just right, she could somehow make up for all the years she had been gone.
• Zara leaned against the counter, quietly watching her mother. For so many years, this had only lived in her dreams, dreams that faded the moment she opened her eyes. But now it was real.