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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?
