Chapter 5

She looked through the peephole and saw her brother, Daniel Harper, standing outside with a bag of groceries in his hand. She opened the door.

Daniel didn't sit down. He set the fruit on the shoe cabinet and nervously rubbed his hands together. "Linda, Ryan just stopped by my place. His eyes were red from crying—said there's been some misunderstanding between you two." Linda poured him a glass of water but stayed quiet.

Daniel sighed. "Buying a house is a major event for young people. If things get stuck at the last minute, of course they're going to panic. Linda...…