What's the subject in this sentence containing the word "apart"?

Question

Suppose I live with my family in a certain town, and I'm talking to someone who lives in another town which is 10 miles away. If I say:

We are 10 miles apart.

Does this "we" refer to "me and my family"? In this case the sentence would imply:

We are 10 miles apart from you. (Even though "apart from" would not be grammatically correct in this case).

I also found this sentence from Collins dictionary:

She saw Sheila standing some distance apart.

which means that Sheila is some distance apart (from whoever was present).

Or does "We" refer to "me, my family, and you"? In this case the sentence would mean:

We are 10 miles apart from each other.

In the first case the word "apart" would have the same meaning as "away", and I'm not sure the former can be used in this way.

I know that you'll probably suggest to add "from each other" to avoid ambiguity, but I'd like to know which meaning does the first sentence have if I don't specify anything else. Could it mean both?

Answer 1

It means that you are 10 miles from the person you are talking to.

In the sentence below, Sheila is standing apart from the subject (She).

She saw Sheila standing some distance apart.

Which could also be written as:

She saw Sheila standing some distance apart from her.

(for absolute clarity)

And yes, the first sentence could be rewritten as:

We are 10 miles apart from each other.

Answer 2

We refers to both sides which are separated by the distance of 10 miles: you and your family on the one side, and the person you're talking to on the other. Since you are from different cities, you might say that your towns are 10 miles apart.