Caspian

I was driving to work for the first time in weeks. Everything in me resisted leaving the house, but I had no choice. If I didn’t show up soon, the business I built from the ground up might fall apart completely.

My hands tightened around the wheel as my mind drifted dangerously back in time.

I was twelve years old when my mom took me on a trip to a quiet little island called Windmere. Just the two of us. She called it our birthday escape, since we were both November babies. I remember how excited she was, and how she said we needed time to just be—mother and...