I Arrived at My Beach House for Peace but Found My Daughter in Law Had Taken It Over

and one of them had kicked a ball directly through the center of the geranium bed she had spent all of April coaxing back from winter. The blooms lay scattered across the grass. The plant stems were bent at angles that she understood immediately were not recoverable.

Eleanor did not turn the car off right away.

She sat with her hands on the wheel and continue reading …