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I frowned. “So, you want the dog to be excited to see you?”
He just shook his head.
“That’s the thing,” he answered. “I don’t know what I want. Not one single bit.”
***
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting.
I, at least, would’ve thought there’d be some excitement on the dog’s part.
There was none.
And, like all the nuances that didn’t make sense when it came to Riel, I filed it away with everything else.
“He’s the sweetest dog ever,” Sierra said as she walked the dog alongside us. “I swear, I just love him to pieces. One day when he’s adopted, it’s going to break my heart.”
Riel walked on the opposite side of Sierra, absently running his hand along the dog’s head.
When the woman took a left into the dog park, Riel and I kept going straight.
“Have a good one,” Riel said.
“You, too!” Sierra waved.
Then she was talking to the dog quietly as she led him through the gates of the dog park, leaving me and Riel to continue walking or we’d look like weirdos.
“So…” I said. “The dog didn’t seem to recognize you.”
Riel rubbed his throat.
“Can I tell you a secret?” he asked softly.
I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this secret.
“What?” I asked, voice cracking on the words.
“I don’t think I’m Malachi,” he said.
My heart started pounding in my throat.
“What?” I asked, trying to make sense of the words he’d just spoken.
His eyes turned to me. His stare intense.
“I…” He licked his lips.
It was such a familiar movement on his part, that at first I didn’t think anything of it. He did it a lot.
But then he wiggled his tongue, and suddenly everything just… clicked.
His scent.
His mannerisms.
His eyes.
His voice.
The way he made me feel.
I started to shake.
Because… what if he was right?
“W-who do you think you are?” I wondered, trying not to let my rocketing heart rate show.
His eyes turned to me.
“I was never going to tell you,” he rasped. “Because I don’t feel like I’m that same person anymore.”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
My heart rate could be felt in my ears now.
“But too many things don’t add up,” he said. “They never did a DNA test. What was the point? I clearly had my dog tags on me…” He paused. “But… shouldn’t a dog know its owner?”
Yes.
“Shouldn’t parents who talk to me know who it is they’re talking to?” he pushed.
Yes.
“Shouldn’t my shoes still fit my feet and not change three sizes?”
Yes.
“Shouldn’t something seem familiar?” he asked. “A picture? A pair of my favorite sweats? My bank? My parents’ names? My name?”
“Yes,” I voiced that one.
“Nothing does,” he whispered. “Not a thing… until I’m with you.”
My breath hitched in my throat.
And all of the things he’d been doing over these last couple of months started to make me feel a little lightheaded.
The way that my hand felt right in his. The way that he felt when I hugged him. The way he spoke to me, deep and soft.
Hell, that was the thing.
He didn’t even ‘sound’ familiar as much as his tone was familiar. And the way that tone made me feel when he used it on me.
But… still.
I still couldn’t hold out hope.
I wouldn’t, either.
I couldn’t even think the words.
Because giving voice to the hope inside of me? What if he was wrong? What if what I was thinking was wrong?
What if I gave voice to that hope, and it was all taken away from me all over again?
No.
No, I couldn’t.
Not yet, anyway.
“A DNA test.” My voice croaked out. “We could do a DNA test.”
“How?” he asked. “Gabe and Ember made mention that they donated all of his stuff.”
Even Riel was being cautious.
I swallowed hard.
“Gabe and Ember, then,” I said. “I can go over there today. Steal a brush or something.”
He closed his eyes, looking torn for a few long seconds.
Then nodded once.
“I think… I think it’s time.”
And that was exactly what we did.
We stole some hair samples from both Gabe and Ember.
I took a hair sample from Riel.
And then I took it to my friend that worked in the hospital lab.
After a promise that she would get that information back to me in a couple of days at most, Riel told me that he was going to pack.
Because he was going with me to Florida.
And I wasn’t sure how the hell I was supposed to feel about it.
I told myself to calm down.
To think logically and rationally.
But my stupid, stupid heart.
It wouldn’t listen to a thing that I told it.Chapter 10My pen is bigger than yours.
-T-shirt
Frankie
The news of the rescued Navy SEAL that was held in captivity right alongside Riel for over a year hit the news like a category five hurricane.
News of the man’s rescue splattered all around the damn world, and Riel was caught right up in the middle of it. Again.
Hayes Ulysses Romaine, 31, rescued from an Afghan prison by SEAL Team 8.
