Into the Fading Twilight (Starlight Grove, #2) (41)

Vintage-style posters dotted the walls, showing cities that had been on my bucket list to visit. Paris. Rome. Prague. London. Madrid. But even the colors didn’t feel quite right anymore. The bold jewel tones, the purple and reddish bedding askew because I’d been reading on top of the covers …

Kol’s eyes seemed to touch every item in the room. “Places you want to go?”

I stared at the city names. “Used to, anyway.”

“Not anymore?” he probed gently.

“It doesn’t call to me the way it used to.” I shrugged, lacing my fingers in front of me. “I’d rather figure out how to plant roots in a way that feels authentic to me. Figure out who I am now, I guess.”

Even giving him that made me feel vulnerable. But Kol simply nodded, moving deeper into the space. “Anything you want to leave behind, we can put into storage. You can take your time figuring out the stuff you want in your new place.”

My heart contracted, and I wondered again if it was one of those palpitations the doctor had warned me about. “Thank you,” I whispered.

Kol lifted his chin in assent as he crossed to my desk. He picked up a pad of sticky notes that read I run on coffee and chaos. His lips twitched. “What do we think? Does this fit the new life?”

A soft chuckle left my lips. “Definitely.”

“Then we’ll use these to mark everything we’re taking. We’ll load it all up and bring it over day after tomorrow.”

“Okay.” The word left my lips on an exhale.

“Posters?” Kol asked.

I shook my head.

“Desk?”

I studied it for a moment but couldn’t really see it in what I wanted my new space to look like. “No.”

Kol crossed the room. “Bedding?”

My nose scrunched.

“What?” he prodded.

“I just … even the colors don’t feel right anymore,” I tried to explain.

Kol looked at me, trying to read beneath my words. “What colors do feel right?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe tones that are a little more peaceful. I like the colors themselves; they just feel too loud.”

He was quiet, seeming to mull that over. “Sometimes, when my surroundings get too loud, it’s like I can’t think. Can’t function.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. And I couldn’t help but wonder what tones filled Kol’s house.

“Chair?” he asked, studying the overstuffed piece of furniture shoved into the far corner.

My stomach churned. The color was all wrong for me now: a deep burgundy. But I had so many beautiful memories from that chair. Feeding Owen. Reading him stories. Writing in my journal. Brae sitting in it while we had one of our heart-to-hearts.

“You could always put a slipcover on it. Or even different throw pillows would change the feel,” Kol suggested.

My mouth curved into a real smile—the kind that so rarely found me these days. “Boss, are you a secret interior designer?”

He let out a huff. “I can watch HGTV with the best of ’em.”

I laughed, and it relieved some of the building pressure. “I’m trusting your design eye and saying … keep.”

Kol stuck one of the Post-its to it and then crossed to a small bookshelf stuffed with titles. He studied them, then picked up the paperback on my bed. I couldn’t hide my giggle as he took in the cover with the purple man-monster with horns and wings in a clinch with the woman. “Interesting,” he muttered.

“Aaaaaall of those are keeps.”

Kol grinned as he put a sticky note on the bookshelf. “I like the definitiveness.”

We kept working, deciding what to keep and what to toss or donate. Kol even found some boxes in the garage to start packing things up, and I found some tape in the kitchen junk drawer.

The sound of the dispenser as I sealed a box of mementos from a life that felt like a stranger’s was like nails on a chalkboard.

“Jesus,” Kol muttered.

I winced. “Sorry.”

He studied me for a moment. “Think you can be ready by day after tomorrow?”

My brows flew up. “Seriously?”

“Just finishing up a couple of things, and it’ll be ready.”

“Okay.” The word was an exhale, and I gripped the tape harder. “I’ll be ready.”

Kol opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of the door opening cut him off.

“Nova, we’re home,” Brae called.

Panic lit through me. I’d planned on talking to my best friend and presenting her with this amazing opportunity, hoping she’d understand why I needed to stretch my wings. But I’d dawdled. And during that dawdle, a grumbly mountain man had shown up at my door, demanding that I basically move now.

Which meant one thing: I was about to level an explosive device on my best friend’s world. And that was seriously shitty.

“Supernova, I brought you boysenberry pie,” Owen yelled as he ran into my bedroom holding a takeout container.

I beamed at him as I took the pie. “My favorite. Thanks, Bubs.”

“Hey, Mr. Kol. What are you doing here?” he asked curiously.

Brae came up short in the doorway, Dex behind her. “Kol. Hi.” There was confusion on her face and then concern. “Is everything okay? Did something happen?”