Second Chance Summer

by Morgan Matson

A thousand moments that I had just taken for granted—mostly because I had assumed that there would be a thousand more.

After a moment, I surprised myself by leaning into her and resting my head on her shoulder, in a way I hadn’t done since I’d been very little, and her shoulder had seemed a lot bigger, big enough to hold up not only me, but the whole world. And for just a second, as I closed my eyes and she ran her hand over my hair, it felt like it might still be true.

while I looked up at the stars, needing to see something fixed and permanent while everything else in my life seemed to be breaking apart.