Same Time Next Summer

by Annabel Monaghan

It’s like I went out into the world and grew up, and he’s still right here. Right where I left him.

All the characters have reassembled on this beach after fourteen years, and I am the only thing that’s different.

“I mean yes, it will be good to see him again. And maybe we can have a friendship of some sort.” I think of a waiter warning me that the plate is hot. He’s told me flat-out that if I touch it I’ll get burned. And I touch it every single time.

I close my eyes and picture Wyatt the way I want to see him, happy, with his guitar in his hands, and I let the waves sing me back to sleep.

I am back in time and also not; we aren’t the same people we were. I can’t believe I’ve traveled so far in my hunt for a happy life, and my happy life is right here,