The Matchbook — Brent Jones

Corbyn Thurber, seventeen, meets the love of his life while passing through the small town of Wakefield -- he just doesn't know it at the time.

He returns years later in search of the woman he never forgot only to discover she has a dark secret. And tracking her down under the watch of judgmental locals is only half as antagonizing as his sense of self-doubt.

Told from the perspective of a man haunted by regret, this short story, from the author of Fender and The Fifteenth of June, masterfully considers the consequences of a life unexplored.