Chapter 75: Ripple Effects

The key turned in the lock with a finality that echoed through Olivia's bones. She pushed open the door to her loft. The familiar scents of oil paint and lavender, usually a comfort, now served as a stark reminder of how much had changed. It was different somehow, the space, as if her conversation with Nathan had altered the very fabric of her reality. Olivia's eyes rested on the canvas she had been working on before Nathan came back into her life. Swirling colors seemed to challenge her now, a visual portrait of emotional turmoil churning within her body. "Liv? Is that you?" Mark's voice called from the bedroom, followed by the soft pad of his footsteps. Olivia's heart contracted. Dear, solid Mark. The man who had been her lifeline in the storm of her illness, who loved her with that quiet intensity that could still make her breath catch—how could she even begin to describe the whirlwind of emotions Nathan's reappearance had wakened? "Yeah, it's me," she said, her tone coming out