Category: Stories
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When the Wind Turns
The following afternoon, the wind had picked up enough to send leaves skittering across the cottage porch. Emma had already swept them away once that morning, but looking through the kitchen window now, she could see another small collection gathering near the front steps. A few had blown beneath the rocking chair, while others had…
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The First Sweater Morning
Emma knew it was going to be a sweater morning before she even got out of bed. The bedroom was cooler than usual, and when she pulled back the curtains, a thin layer of mist hung over the water beyond the cottage. The grass was wet with dew, and the hydrangeas beside the porch had…
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Where the Sea Meets September
Emma woke before her alarm. For a few seconds, she stayed beneath the covers with her eyes closed, listening to the sounds coming from the street below. A delivery truck rumbled to a stop somewhere near the corner, followed by the clatter of something being rolled across the sidewalk. A car horn sounded farther away,…
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The Mornings That Feel Different
Emma noticed the change before she was fully awake. The bedroom window was open, just as it had been most nights through the summer, but the air coming through it felt different. Cooler. She reached for the quilt folded at the foot of the bed and pulled it over her legs. For most of August,…
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When the Summer Begins to Leave
By the last Sunday in August, summer had begun to change in ways that were easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention. The afternoons were still warm, boats still moved in and out of the harbor, and the hydrangeas beside Emma’s house were holding on to their color, though some of the petals had…
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The Night the Water Held the Light
By late afternoon, Emma had read nearly fifty pages of the book she bought from The Quiet Tide bookstore the day before. She sat near the open window in the cottage with one leg tucked beneath her, the book resting against her knee. Outside, the air was warm but softer than it had been earlier…
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Where the Light Leads
A few days had passed since her parents boarded the afternoon ferry home. The cottage had settled into its familiar rhythm again, though small reminders of their visit still lingered. Her father’s gardening gloves rested neatly on the back porch where he’d forgotten them before leaving. Inside, the blue hydrangeas her mother had gathered from…
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The Day the Town Comes Together
Emma woke before the cottage had fully gathered the morning. For a few seconds she stayed where she was, listening through the open window to the soft drag of the tide beyond the neighboring houses and the first gulls calling over the harbor. The air coming in smelled faintly of salt, damp grass, and the…
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The Evenings that Stay
The last of the daylight lingered over the harbor, turning the water the color of worn blue glass. Emma eased onto the porch swing with a mug of chamomile tea warming her hands. The evening still held the warmth of the day, but a breeze wandered in from the water, stirring the white curtains through…
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When the Harbor Opens Again
The morning arrived clear and bright, the kind of early June day that seemed to carry the promise of summer on the breeze. Emma stood at the kitchen window with her coffee, watching sunlight filter through the trees beyond the cottage. The storm that had swept across the island earlier in the week had moved…