Page 92 of We Are Just Us

She stopped in front of a kennel, and there he was.

Hank.

Thinner than Kieran remembered, his coat matted and dirty, but whole. Alive. Tail wagging so hard his entire back end shook, his body pressed against the kennel door like he could push through it by force of want alone.

Sarah opened the kennel door, and Hank bolted out.

He hit Kieran at full speed, chest height, no coordination, all paws, and Kieran dropped to his knees on the concrete floor. Hank was everywhere at once, licking his face, his hands, his neck, whining in that high keening way he did when something was too big for his body to hold. He circled Kieran twice, then pressed himself against his chest like he was trying to burrow inside.

“Hey, buddy,” Kieran said, his voice breaking. “Hey. I missed you. I missed you so much.”

Hank’s tail didn’t stop. He pressed his skull into the hollow of Kieran’s throat and stayed there, body trembling.

Kieran buried his face in Hank’s fur. He smelled like dirt and other dogs and ten days of wherever he’d been, and underneath all of it, still, the distinct animal smell that was him.

Kieran wrapped his arms around him and held on. The concrete was cold under his knees and a stranger was watching and none of it mattered.

Sarah stood back, giving them space.

“How did you get so far?” Kieran murmured. “What were you thinking?”

Hank licked his ear in response.

He signed the paperwork in a daze, barely reading it, and walked Hank out to the car on a spare leash Sarah had given him.

Hank jumped into the back seat like he’d never left, circling twice before settling down with a satisfied huff.

Kieran looked at him in the rearview mirror. “You’re grounded. Forever. You know that, right?”

Hank’s tail thumped against the seat.

When Kieran pulled into the driveway, Mabel was already at the window.

She must’ve heard the car, or maybe she smelled him, because by the time Kieran opened the back to let Hank out, she was at the front door, barking frantically.

Kieran let her out, and what followed was pure chaos.

Mabel and Hank collided in the driveway like magnets, circling each other, sniffing frantically. Then they took off, sprinting across the yard, around the side of the house, back again, like it was the first time they’d ever seen each other.

Kieran watched them reunite, laughing despite the tears still wet on his face.

After a few minutes of mayhem, he corralled them both inside, filled their bowls with food and water, and watched them eat side by side.

Hank was home.

It hit him so hard he had to sit down on the kitchen floor.

Then he thought of Rory.

He grabbed his phone.

KIERAN: They found Hank.

The response came almost immediately.

RORY NEIGHBOR: Wait. Seriously??

KIERAN: Just picked him up. He’s home. He’s okay.