The One That Got Away by G. L. Snodgrass

The One That Got Away
     
     
    Alison Hamilton sat at the red light lost in thought. Nothing had changed. You’d think after ten years there’d be some kind of recognizable difference. The town looked the same as the day she'd left.
    The special on the Davidson’s grocery store had changed and of course the movies listed above the theater were different, a couple of months out of date, but different. Everything else seemed like it’d been left in a time capsule.
    She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She’d feared coming back, Afraid of what she might find or worse, what she might not be able to find. She didn’t know which. All she knew was that she had to come back to touch base. To ground herself in reality so that she could try and figure out where she had gone wrong and what she could do to fix it.
    A soft tap of a car horn behind her pulled her back into the present. A quick glance confirmed the light had turned green. She raised her hand in apology; you did that kind of thing around here. In New York you raised a single finger.
    Cruising down the main street she peered at every person she passed, wondering if she knew them. It surprised her how many people she recognized. If she didn’t know their names she knew who they were related to.
    Every building she passed brought back memories. There was the firehouse where the town held an annual car wash to raise money for the PTA. The girls used to see who could get away with the skimpiest outfit while the boys accidently on purpose sprayed them with water.
    Across the street was the drug store where she'd gotten her first birth control pills. She remembered the look on Mrs. Simpsons face when she leaned over the counter and whispered. “You be sure to use these girl. Don’t ruin your life at sixteen.” 
    Alison smiled to herself. She hadn’t ruined her life at sixteen; she’d waited until she was twenty eight to do that.
    Lowering the rental car's window she breathed in the smells of home. The pine, dust and Everson's bakery mixed to form a soft soothing smell that sent tingles down her spine. She almost cried there and then. It was a smell that was a part of her soul. Why had she ever left?
    Pulling herself together she continued down the main, and only large road. On the corner was Jacobson’s book store. Her heart skipped a beat to see that it was still here. Of all the stores she had been sure that it wouldn’t last. Not in today’s world of multi-media everything. A bitter sweet memory arose as she pulled into a parking spot outside the store.
    Eric Maurer had asked her to the movies in the store and she'd said no. She wondered how her life might have been different if she had said yes. It was one of those memories that surprised her by hanging around a lot longer than it should have. Ten years longer than it should have.
    “You’ve made a lot of mistakes in your life Alison,” she said to herself. “That might have been the biggest.”
    In the back of her mind he would always be the one that got away. The one that she’d let slip through her fingers.
    She’d been into bad boys back then. Hell, let’s be honest Alison, you’ve always been into bad boys and look where that’s got you. To tell the truth, she'd been more worried about what her friends would say. They knew she'd set her sights on Brian Dolby and his big black motorcycle. Eric hadn’t really been part of her social circle. He’d always been a nice guy, sweet really. But always on the outside looking in.
    A brief memory of him joining her at a library table to help with her history term paper in junior year flashed into her mind. She hadn’t thought about that in ages.
    A tall gangly boy. He’d only lived in town a couple of years and had never really ever fit in. The cliques had been formed long ago and they weren’t open to new members.
    A deep regret passed through her. Her heart had wanted to go out with him. Had always liked talking with him, he seemed so knowledgeable