“With one hand, she wipes at her eyes but makes no move to escape me. She lies flopped on the road looking beautiful, and stunned, and completely exhausted. Her teeth strum at her bottom lip as though she’s thinking hard. And she doesn’t let go of my shirt. Her arm is straight, and her knuckles are still white as she grips the cotton.”

Skylar Stone and Weston (West) Belmont’s first encounter on the road sets a precedent for their relationship. Skylar’s body language illustrates how afraid and vulnerable she feels, especially when she runs her teeth over her lip and grips West’s shirt—both of which are physical tics that capture her fearful state. Notably, West holds her, even though she is a perfect stranger at this point, and his gesture demonstrates his protective nature and foreshadows the fact that he will grow to care for Skylar and make her feel safe.

“I’m going to record my own album. And I’m not going to tell a single soul about it. I don’t want their input. I don’t want their opinions. This project will be by me, for me. I am desperate for a fresh start. Desperate for a change of scenery. Desperate to escape the chokehold my life has on me.”

Skylar’s assertive narrative tone conveys her desire to make a new start for herself. She states what she will do in the future using the imperative tense—a grammatical mood that captures her determination despite her recent vocational setbacks. Similarly, her use of anaphora—starting the latter two lines with the same opening word—underscores the urgency she feels to make a life for herself and to reimagine her identity.

“The sight instantly soothes my nerves. It exudes the lived-in cozy that I’ve only seen in movies. My steps slow as I take in the white-painted wood and the exposed redbrick chimney that has mortar squishing out from between each block. Charming rust-colored shingles cover the roof.”

Skylar’s response to West’s house and property foreshadow the role that this rustic setting will play in her internal development. As her bone-deep reaction demonstrates, West’s home feels welcoming and comforting to Skylar, and its cozy