vacation (10)

But for the first time in months, she didn’t feel the urge to take it out and read it again like scripture. She sat by the fireplace and flipped through the photos on her camera. The driftwood. The child ran along the shore.

Caleb’s face, lit by sunset and shadowed by memory. And finally, the ocean itself, vast and indifferent. She didn’t cry. Not yet. But she thought maybe, soon, she could.

She uploaded the photos, tagged them, and titled the folder simply: Vacation. Not a getaway. Not an escape. Just a place she went to remember how to live again.