By Emma Johnson • February 16, 2026 • Share
I bought the beach house with my husband’s inheritance, thinking I would finally have some peace. Then the phone rang. “Mom, we’re all going this summer… but you can stay in the back room,” my son said. I smiled and replied, “Of course.”
I bought the beach house in Cádiz six months after my husband, Javier, died from a sudden heart attack. It wasn’t an impulsive decision; I sold the large apartment I no longer needed and used part of his inheritance to start over somewhere quieter. We had always dreamed of waking up to the sound of the sea, but in the end, it was me alone who walked through that white door that smelled of salt and damp wood.
For weeks I cleaned, painted, and fixed small things: a jammed shutter, a loose railing, a garden overrun with weeds. My back ached every night, but I also felt something close to peace. No one told me what to do, no one invaded my space. For the first time in forty years, silence didn’t frighten me. Until the phone rang.
“Mom, it’s great that you’re all settled in,” my son Álvaro said, in that rushed tone he uses when he’s already made a decision. “Listen, we’ve been thinking that this summer we’ll all go to the house. Laura, the kids… and her parents too. Since it’s big, it makes sense.”
I stayed quiet for a few seconds, looking out at the sea through the window. “Of course…” I finally replied.
“Great. Oh, and so we’re more comfortable, you can use the small bedroom at the back. The master suite is better for us with the kids, you know.”
“You know.” As if it were the most logical thing in the world. I swallowed and smiled, even though he couldn’t see me. “Yes, my son. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of preparing everything.”
I hung up and stood motionless in the middle of the living room. I looked at the freshly painted walls, the curtains I had sewn myself, the master bedroom where I had finally slept without crying. Something inside me hardened, like plaster once it dries and can no longer be reshaped.
I worked nonstop for three weeks before they arrived. I moved furniture, emptied closets, took apart things I had put together with hope. When they finally parked in front of the house and got out laughing, I was already sitting on the porch, waiting for them.
“Mom!” Álvaro shouted, carrying suitcases. “We can’t wait to see the house!”
I opened the door and let them go in first. It took less than ten seconds for them to stop smiling.
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