جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 93

Morning light filtered through the curtains in thin gray bands. Elena woke to the low murmur of voices downstairs and the smell of coffee. For a moment she lay still, staring at the familiar ceiling of her old room, listening to the house settle around her. The events of the previous evening lingered like a half-remembered dream—Daniel’s quiet smile in the hallway, the way his fingers had brushed hers over the wine bottle, the heat that had climbed her neck when their knees touched under the table.She pushed the covers aside and dressed quickly in soft jeans and a cream sweater, pulling her hair into a loose knot. When she came downstairs the kitchen was already warm and bright. Her mother stood at the stove flipping pancakes. Richard sat at the table with the newspaper spread open, glasses perched on the end of his nose. Daniel leaned against the counter near the coffee pot, mug in hand, still wearing the same dark sweater from the night before. The short beard along his jaw looked