Chapter 148

• The street outside was still damp from the rain that had passed through during the night. The kind of rain that darkens the brick and leaves the shopfronts gleaming under the early light. I arrived before anyone else and let myself in, locking the door behind me and pausing in the middle of the boutique for a moment before touching anything.
• It was always quiet at this hour. No footsteps overhead. No hum of voices. Just the faint ticking of the clock in the back room and the muffled sound of traffic from the main road. The air still carried the familiar mix I had grown used to over the years—cotton, cedar polish, and the faint sweetness drifting through from the café next door.
• I turned on the lights one by one. The racks lit up first, then the display table by the window, then the soft glow above the counter. The kettle went on automatically, a habit I never questioned. While I waited for it to boil, I stacked the fabric swatches Claudia had left out yesterday. She had been experimenting with a heavier linen, and the deep moss green of one piece caught my eye enough to set it aside for later.