81. THE WANTING HEAT

HOLLY'S POV. Maryland, a town I’ve spent my entire life running from. Yet, no matter how far or how fast I flee, it’s the one place I always seem to return to when life falls apart. And at the heart of it all? My grandmother, Marjorie, the one constant in my ever-chaotic world. It’s funny, really. The very streets of this town once suffocated me with their overfamiliarity and weighed me down with memories I wanted to forget. Memories I once despised. But now, they’re just... echoes. Faint whispers of a past I can’t quite shake, no matter how hard I try. The taxi rolled to a stop, its brakes screeching against the quiet hum of the sleepy Maryland afternoon. Through the dusty window, I spotted her, Marjorie, my grandmother, slightly hunched as she bent over her herbs. The sight of her brought a warmth I didn’t know I still carried and a smile crept onto my face I stepped out of the cab, my heels crunching against the gravel driveway. Five years. Five long years since I last set foot in t