Chapter 50 - The Open Road
Tuesday morning dawned clear, crisp, and brilliantly bright. The winter frost had finally yielded to the first tentative warmth of an early spring, and tiny green shoots were beginning to push their way up through the dark soil of our garden beds.
Tessa and I sat on the back porch with our morning coffee, wrapped in light blankets, watching the sparrows flit between the branches of the oak trees.
My phone rested silently on the patio table—completely dark, completely peaceful.
“Caroline’s texting to confirm dinner for Thursday,” Tessa said, glancing at her own phone screen with a bright, easy grin. “She wants to try that new Italian place downtown.”
“Tell her we’ll be there,” I smiled, taking a sip from my mug. “And tell her we’re walking in through the front doors like we own the place.”
Tessa typed out her reply, hit send, and tossed her phone onto the table beside mine. She leaned back against the porch railing, looking out over the open road winding past our front gate, stretching forward into the distance where the horizon met the azure sky.
“What are you thinking about, Mom?” she asked softly.
I looked at my daughter—strong, brilliant, fearless, and entirely unbroken by the storms we had weathered together.
May you like
“I’m thinking about how lucky we are,” I said, reaching out to take her hand. “And about how wonderful it is to finally hold the pen.”
Tessa smiled, her fingers intertwining firmly with mine as we sat side by side, watching the morning sun rise higher into the endless, unwritten sky.
