Chapter 10 - The First Real Sunset
It was a Friday evening in late autumn.
The sun was sinking low behind the San Bernardino mountains, painting the sky in breathtaking shades of violet, amber, and deep rose.
Skylar and I were sitting on the newly renovated back patio, wrapped in matching fleece blankets, sipping hot cocoa with miniature marshmallows. The wind chimes hanging from the pergola gave off a soft, melodic ring in the breeze.
My phone chimed on the patio table. I glanced down. It was an email notification from the county recorder’s office: Property Title Update — Sole and Exclusive Ownership Recorded.
The house was fully, legally, unequivocally mine. No hidden loans, no forged signatures, no parasitic in-laws lurking in the shadows.
“Mom?” Skylar asked, looking up from her cup with a warm, content smile.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Do you think we’ll ever eat instant noodles again?”
I laughed out loud—a bright, unburdened sound that echoed into the open evening air.
May you like
“Only when we’re camping, bug,” I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her close against my side. “Only when we’re camping.”
We sat together in the fading light, watching the stars blink into existence one by one, knowing that the dark days were finally behind us, and the future belonged entirely to us.
