I tuck a curl behind my ear. It immediately springs back in front of my face. My eyes stay glued to the wall as I breathe out a gust of air. “These are, wow. Lots of memories.”
“Yes.”
I twist the bracelet on my wrist. “We look so young.”
“Yes.”
Lightly tapping my foot on the floor, I turn to face him. “You searched for these specific ones and printed them out?”
“It would’ve been harder to find pictureswithoutyou in them.”
I blink rapidly. “Oh. Right. So, it was a convenience thing.”
His hazel eyes stare directly into mine. “No.”
I swallow nervously and take a moment to look at the pictures without me in them. Danny wearing a medal with Tessa after what looks like a 5K. Janie and him making cinnamon rolls together in his kitchen downstairs. Danny in a suit, standing between a beautiful couple on their wedding day.Was he the officiant?
In one picture, Danny’s on a trail, hiking up a mountain with two pretty women and a man. In another, he’s laughing with a group of friends at a bar and holding a birthday balloon with the number twenty-five on it. I stand there, closely studying the faces of people I don’t recognize, like they’ll tell me all about the Danny they know.
Feeling a little uneasy, I consider looking away before my eye catches on a very familiar face. I smile fondly at a picture of Charger while memories of him playing with us by the creek roll like a film reel in my mind. One of my favorite pictures of the two of them hangs in the center of the wall. Janie took the portrait, and the picture is heavily saturated to highlight Charger’s rich, chocolate brown coat. You can see every whisker in detail, including droplets of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.
As I scan the rest of the colorful Charger pictures, I spot one in black and white. Charger is sitting between us on Danny’s deck, and we’re all facing away from the camera. This one is a dual frame, with the picture on one side and…Oh my God. I take a shaky step forward. It’s my eulogy for Charger. The one I nervously read aloud to an audience of one at the creek.
It’s behind glass, but I reach out as if I could touch it. The amount of wrinkles in the paper rivals the letter that sits in my pocket today, both having been anxiously folded and unfolded by me while wondering when I should give it to Danny.
I turn to face him again, and his gaze pins me into place. With his eyes completely focused on me, he appears to be very interested in my expressions.
Shifting on my feet, I ask, “You kept this? For, um, fifteen years?”
“I told you I would.”
I sit with that for a moment as the memory plays back.I’ll keep this forever, he said. For a moment, I wonder why he kept this promise and not other, more important ones.
“Did you ever end up getting another dog?”
“No. My schedule makes it hard, especially if you don’t have someone at home taking care of your pet. But also, I just…couldn’t.” He taps on the center of his downturned bottom lip with his thumb. “Not after Charger.”
Chapter 13
Grace
Fifteen Years Old
Danny sobs into my shoulder, eyes red and swollen as we cling to each other, huddled up in our special spot. Shaded by the oak trees and sitting on our favorite log, a cool breeze wraps around us as silent tears stream down my face. This one hurts. Plus, his pain is my pain.
“Gracie,” he sniffles, “you know how best friends always say stuff like ‘promise me you’ll be the best man at my wedding’ or ‘promise me we’ll celebrate our twenty-first birthdays together?’”
Red leaves fall from the sky and land on his thigh. I take a deep breath, trying to slow my racing heart. “Yeah?”
“Well, the good times are easy. You’re already happy, you know? Will you promise me something else instead?” he asks, his lip quivering.
“Anything, Danny.”
He wipes the tears dripping off his chin with the back of his hand, looking hopelessly for his constant sidekick, Charger.
“Promise me, if either of us goes through something hard, we’ll be there for each other. I’ll need you, Gracie.”
“I need you t-too, Danny.”
