Tangled Hearts.

~Chapter 38~

~Raelyn~

Just as me and Colby were finally taking in the glory of our freshly-decorated room—his weird moody posters somehow not clashing with my "calm neutral goddess" vibe—we heard a stampede of feet thundering down the hallway like a herd of caffeinated buffalo.

The door flung open like we were in an action movie, and there stood Blake, panting and wide-eyed like he just discovered Narnia. "MOM. COLBY. YOU GOTTA SEE THIS."

Colby blinked. "Did the house catch on fire?"

"No, better!" Blake was vibrating with excitement. "Sam, Jake, and Corey helped me. It's *epic.*"

Colby raised an eyebrow. "Define epic."

"I can't, you have to *see* it!" Blake turned and sprinted out of the room without another word.

Colby looked at me, deadpan. "We're about to walk into a bedroom that either has a hamster zoo or a paint explosion."

"Place your bets," I muttered, already heading out the door.

"Lead the way, Commander Blake!" I called, humoring his Star Wars obsession.

He barreled down the hall and flung open the door to his room like it was the big reveal on a home makeover show. And honestly? It *kind of* was.

We stepped inside and—boom—Star Wars fever had taken over. The walls were covered in glowing decals of ships mid-battle, there was a Chewbacca rug, and his bedspread had Yoda's face on it looking slightly judgmental.

"I mean... wow," I said, blinking at the floating blue Kylo Ren hologram thingy that Corey was currently adjusting.

Jake was crouched in the corner like he was staging a rebel base out of Legos. "Took us like four hours, but it was worth it."

"We even put glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling," Sam added, beaming and pointing upward. "It's like sleeping in outer space, minus the floating and, you know, the suffocating vacuum of death."

Blake looked like he was gonna explode from pride. "It's supposed to be like the Millennium Falcon! Corey did the lights. Jake did the fleet. Sam ate snacks but gave ideas."

"I supervised," Sam corrected, "which is a vital role."

Corey flipped a switch and suddenly the whole room filled with spaceship battle noises. "Check it out—sound effects. I made it immersive."

Colby looked around and gave an impressed nod. "Not bad. Very... intergalactic chic."

Blake turned to me, eyes huge. "What do you think, Mama?"

I grinned and ruffled his hair. "I think George Lucas would weep tears of joy."

"YES!" he fist-pumped and ran a lap around the room. The rest of us just laughed and tried not to trip over a lightsaber.

After the grand tour, we made our way back to mine and Colby's room, now free of boxes and judgment. Every pillow was fluffed, every candle placed like it was on HGTV.

"Okay, this room kinda slaps," I said, spinning in the middle like I was giving a Pinterest tutorial.

Colby flopped onto the bed dramatically. "It's giving... cozy married couple who definitely don't have their lives together but look like they do on Instagram."

"Wow, that's oddly specific," I said, plopping down beside him.

Downstairs, the smell of sautéed *something* drifted up the stairs like a homey little cloud of love. We followed it like moths to flame.