They always said: “Plant something worth keeping, and guard it with all you’ve got.”
Turns out… I did both. And as I took another sip of coffee, I heard Faye’s voice behind the fence, bitter and low:
“God, I wish we’d never moved here.”
I didn’t even turn around. I just smiled and whispered:
“Me too, Faye.”
Emily, who had taken to reading the letters with me. She picked up a bright yellow envelope and grinned. “This one’s from California, Mom. A single dad…
in my contact list. You are a sunk cost, Elena. He’d said it two years earlier during yet another lecture about my “small thinking.” It had landed…
into bed. I knew this moment would come, and now that it was here, I didn’t know what to say. I sighed, stroking his hair gently. “Dad…
circular drive curved around a fountain that had never once been turned off, not even during the drought years. Manicured hedges lined the path, trimmed into obedient…
