Chapter 6 - THE RETREAT TO THE COAST
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
The grandfather clock in the corner ticked off the seconds—one, two, three—measuring the distance between what our family used to be and what it had just become.
Vanessa broke the silence, her voice dropping into a cold, venomous hiss.
“Fine,” she said, turning on her heel toward the front door. “Keep your dusty little shack. We don't need your charity anyway. We’ll rent a luxury condo in Myrtle Beach like normal people who actually have money.”
She yanked the front door open, slammed it behind her with a force that rattled the windows, and stormed down the walkway toward the idling SUV in the driveway.
Ethan lingered for a second. He looked down at the floor, swallowed hard, and looked back up at me.
“Are you really not going to let us use it at all this summer, Mom?” he asked, his voice small, stripped of all arrogance.
“When you learn how to ask like an adult, Ethan,” I said quietly, “we can talk about the summer. Until then... the locks stay changed.”
He nodded slowly, defeated. Without another word, he turned and walked out of the house, closing the front door gently behind him.
I stood in the hallway for a long time after they left, listening to the engine of the SUV rev in the driveway and the crunch of tires on gravel as they backed out and drove away.
When the street grew quiet again, I walked into the kitchen, picked up my coffee mug, and walked out to the back porch.
The morning sun was warm on my face. The azaleas were blooming in shades of pink and white along the fence line.
May you like
I sat down in my wooden rocking chair, took a sip of my coffee, and smiled.
For the first time in three years, the house felt entirely mine.
