There’s nothing more calming than floating on your back, eyes on a clear sky, fully immersed in the silence.

And there she lay, eyes up, not really looking at the slate-gray sky, notably cloudless after the torrential downpour that had been unleashed just three hours prior. Just far enough out from shore for it evade her peripheral, she observed more within than without.

She’d spent her childhood somewhere deep within Missouri, grew up faster than her heart. Her first kiss was discussed beforehand, and she still wasn’t on the same page. Recalling the thought, she smiled, finally over the shock of a rash end to her first “real” relationship.

They’d met at his friend’s house when he’d joked about taking her to prom. Then there was a concert, and nothing for a month until they got together to return her blanket. It hadn’t started out a date, but it definitely ended that way.

And then he decided she was too young. At this recollection she frowned. The sky darkened to match her mood.