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worse than that. Would she coldly and icily ignore him? He could take
that as well. He did, indeed, know that he deserved that.
    Would she scream at him? It
would serve him right; she would only be repaying him in kind. He could deal
with that.
    It was what would come after
the initial anger that scared him. A thousand years of ongoing resentment. Yes.
He could deal with that. Spiteful snipes. Yes. He could deal with that.
    But the worst possibility,
too painful to even consider, was that once her initial residual teenage
resentment had burned out, she would treat him as someone whom she remembered
only vaguely. A passing acquaintance, ten years gone from her life.
    What if, when all was said
and done, it didn't really matter to her if he was around or not?
    What if, when it came down
to it, she didn't really care?
    How the hell would he ever
deal with that?
    --- ~ ---
    Amanda felt her senses coming back to her, not slowly or
bit by bit, but rather in a rush of frantic fur flying past her. She felt a
warm, furry bulk bump her legs as a dark and distinctly canine form barreled
past her into the room, nearly knocking her feet from under her. She did a
double take.  Was that - could that be – Teddy?
    Her calm, mellow black lab
hadn’t moved in a way that could be described as faster or more frantic than
“ambling” in probably two years. Could this be the same pooch? The question of
what could have inspired this sudden burst of frenetic energy was not one that
was difficult for Amanda to answer. Justin. Of course, Justin.
    If there was anyone in the
world who loved Justin even more than Amanda had, it was sweet Teddy. As a
puppy, for the entire first year of his life, he had followed Justin around all
day long, like a duckling trailing after its mama. As Justin went about his
daily duties, performing tasks which took him to every corner of the sprawling
property, Teddy had never been more than a few feet away. Amanda often joked
that he was more Justin’s dog than he was hers. But she hadn’t minded. It had
felt like just one more thread in the bond that wove them together.
    But Amanda would never have
guessed that the pup’s devotion, or even memory, would span the course of a
decade. Yet here he was, graying muzzle and all, frolicking around Justin’s
legs like he was a puppy again. Amanda couldn’t remember the last time she had
seen so much joy in his eyes.
    She found herself laughing
along with the girls and Henry, and just like that, the tension was magically
broken. 
    Henry walked over to Justin,
gave him a hearty handshake, and said, “Welcome home, son. It’s been far too
long. And I am happy to see you, although maybe not as happy as some people in
the room.”  He bent down and scratched Teddy’s head as he delivered this last
quip, but the clandestine wink he made sure that only Amanda could see let her
know that his words had not been referencing Teddy alone.
    Amanda, blushing, turned and
began picking up the mason jars, now empty of iced tea, and placing them back
on the tray. She used the quick trip back and forth to the kitchen to put them
in the sink as an opportunity to get herself back under control - as under
control as she could be, at any rate. She vowed to herself that, even if she
was a shaken mess on the inside, her face, voice, and gestures would not betray
her. She needed to be strong, so that as far as Justin or anyone else in the
room would be able to tell, the return of her childhood soulmate was nothing
more than a blip on her radar.
    Amanda stepped back into the
living room and smiled at all of the laughing voices still raised in greeting.
Karina in particular seemed quite pleased to see Justin. Amanda remembered that
Karina and Justin had always gotten along. They had always appreciated one
another’s sense of humor, and enjoyed a playful rivalry. Amanda hoped that this
dynamic between them, still obviously fully in force, would serve as a buffer
for her own interactions with