I ARRIVED AT MY BEACH HOUSE EXPECTING PEACE-YILUX

enough to carry the weight of what had happened.

“Yes,” I said softly, and the word hung there, not as punishment, but as something he would have to sit with, something no apology could erase immediately.

We stood in silence again, the kind that doesn’t rush away, the kind that asks for patience, for reflection, for something deeper than quick forgiveness.continue reading …