I feel like we're looking past the Jopper parallels Byler has in the epilogue
Like ~ Joyce and Hopper were friends in school who kind of skirted around feelings as teens. Joyce was with Lonnie, so they never had a chance. Hopper left town, went to a big city, while Joyce stayed behind.
But they found their way back to each other eventually.
I don't really subscribe to the idea that Mike isn't getting out of that town. And I don't think they'd take as long as Joyce and Hop do. But I just kind feel like there is an inevitability there. They find their way back to each other again.
