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

later she heard the screen door and Robert came out and sat on the steps the way he used to, his legs folded, his hands around his mug, looking out at the water.

They did not speak for a long while.

The ocean did the speaking.

And after a time, Eleanor felt the last of the evening’s tension leave her shoulders. It left her slowly, the way cold leaves continue reading …