My Parents Sold My Seaside Villa to Pay My Sister’s Gambling Debts While I Was Abroad

both hands around my mug, and let the morning happen around me.

The water was pale and still. The heron did not move. The rosemary put out its quiet shoots in the cold air.

It was mine. All of it. Still and completely mine.

And for the first time in a very long time, I let myself feel exactly how much that mattered.