Free Wild Within (Wild at Heart #1) by Christine Hartmann

Peeling and hanging down in strips. I always worried it was going to fall into Kenji’s soup.”
    “Me too. So we spent two weekends stripping it and repainting. Kenji looked things up online. We went to a little hardware store in town and bought the tools. The stuff’s still in the hall closet. We said we were going to paint the bathroom next.” Celine’s arm drooped.
    “You can always come fix up my place.” Grace stepped past her, turned the knob, and entered. “Wow.” She checked her stride and spun around. “I’m serious. Let’s make a date. You have to come over to my place if you can pull this off.”
    The walls shone in the morning light with an iridescent yellow that multiplied each sunbeam twenty-fold. The cobalt blue window casements drew the eye. A coat of eggshell matte transformed the 1970s cabinets into art deco masterpieces.
    “I feel like I’m in Greece.” Grace whistled with admiration. “Sun and water all around me.” She whirled. “You work in a bank, right? You’re not a professional decorator, right?”
    Celine chuckled, her features brightening. “Straight up. I work at a computer behind a desk all day, advising folks on mortgages. Super fun. A superb use of my new college education. Filling out forms all day really taxes my grey cells.”
    “All this wasted talent.” Grace ran her fingers along the wall. “How did you make it shimmer like this?”
    “Glitter topcoat. You put it on the base color. It’s easy.”
    “For a professional, maybe. I’m into Japanese minimalist. It hides I have no style. You should see my place.”
    Celine’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I’d love to see it.”
    Grace heard the disappointment in Celine’s voice. “I am serious. I was an idiot for not calling you before. I should have invited you over. But I was too…”
    “No, girl, you don’t have to explain. We’re all…”
    “I know.” The room suddenly felt too small and Grace walked over to the window and pulled the curtains aside. She tilted her head to look beyond the neighbor’s grey siding and glimpse the blue sky. “It shouldn’t be like that. My whole family’s crawled into these individual holes in the ground. I know we have to grieve in our own ways, but I don’t want to stay in a hole the rest of my life. I came here to get a little sunshine. And I’m glad I’m not alone.”
    “Me too.”
    The two women strolled around the apartment. Celine pointed out improvements: new faucets in the bathroom, a dimmer switch in the bedroom, paintings added to the walls. When they came to the second bedroom, Celine left her hand on the doorknob without turning it.
    “I haven’t actually gone in here before.”
    Grace lay her hand on the door carefully, as if she were afraid it might burn her. “Not at all? In all these weeks?”
    “Nope.”
    “What’s in there?”
    “You’ll see.” Celine threw open the door and marched in with Grace on her heels. The bare hardwood floor was strewn with plastic tubs, each crammed with oddly-shaped contents. Cardboard boxes and clothes lay scattered in a curiously organized way. Piles of colorfully filled baggies climbed the walls. Grace recognized jars of almond butter, cans of sardines, and packs of AA lithium batteries. In a corner she noticed clothing, hats, and what looked like a huge safari knife still in its original wrapping.
    “I don’t get it. Were you two selling stuff on Ebay?”
    “No.” Celine’s eyes sparkled and she winked at Grace. “Guess again.”
    “Donating stuff for tsunami victims?”
    “Not even close.”
    Grace took another look and discovered a scale similar to ones she’d seen at the post office. It occupied an honored location in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a clearing. “You were obviously weighing something. Aren’t those labels near the boxes?”
    “Yeah. And look over there.” Celine pointed to a backpack hanging on a hook from the closet door. “That’s a hint.”
    Grace picked her way