Chapter 20 - The HorizonThe sun dipped low over the Gallatin Valley, painting the sky in streaks of amber, violet, and deep gold.
From the front porch of the house on Chestnut Street, the world looked vast, unending, and full of possibility. The streetlights flickered on one by one, casting warm circles of light across the pavement where cars drove past without stopping, heading toward destinations known only to them.
Inside, the house was warm and quiet, filled with the faint sound of a radio playing old folk songs and the steady ticking of the kitchen clock.
Diego stood beside me on the porch railing, looking out toward the mountains where the last light of day was fading behind the peaks. He reached down instinctively, his small fingers wrapping around the brass compass hanging from his zipper, letting the needle settle true north.
May you like
I put my arm around his shoulders, pulling him close against the autumn chill.
We didn't need to look back at the map anymore. We knew every turn of the road by heart, and for the first time in our lives, every direction we looked was straight toward home.
