Every Last Word

by Tamara Ireland Stone

“The trick is to recognize your mistakes, take what you need from them, and move on.”

Forgive yourself and move on,

I like to know where I stand with people, and I figure I owe them the same courtesy.

And without revealing the secret room underneath the school theater, I spend the rest of the session telling her about AJ, Caroline, Sydney, Cameron, Abigail, Jessica, Emily, and Chelsea. My eight new friends.

“I didn’t go there looking for you. I went looking for me.” My voice is soft, low, and shaky. “But now, here you are, and somehow, in finding you, I think I’ve found myself.”

thinking about how perfect he is, maybe not in every way, but in every way I need him to be.

Feeling all the pain of letting them go. And knowing I did the right thing.