At first, I think she’s going to fling herself against Gabe—her owner—but she throws her body into mine, knocking me off balance. I hit the floor with my butt, hard, but I don’t care.

Gabe’s dog is alive and licking my face.

I start to cry.

“She remembers you,” Gabe says, not yet noticing my tears.

“Good girl,” I say, burying my face in her side.

I know it’s ridiculous and I’m definitely still a little buzzed from the whisky, but I inhale and convince myself that there’s still the tiniest hint of puppy smell there.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Gabe is kneeling down next to us. “Are you okay?”

I wipe my nose on my sleeve—it’s wet and sloppy and extremely gross but I don’t care.

“I’m fine,” I say. “I’m just happy to see her.”

“She’s happy to see you too,” Gabe says with the hushed, slightly questioning tone of someone who doesn’t understand why another person is crying but doesn’t want to do anything to set it off again.

“What’s her name?” I ask.

The whole point of this weekend, I’m realizing, is to get answers to unanswered questions. I just never thought this would be one of them.

“Teddy,” Gabe says.

I look at him.

“I never was a very creative adult,” he says.

I wipe my nose again and give Teddy a scratch behind her ears. She leans hard against me and then slowly slides onto her back, showing me her stomach. We sit there in the entryway of Gabe’s apartment for a long time, me rubbing her belly, her tail thumping on the hardwood floor.

“I’ll take your bag to your room,” Gabe says.

He gets up and leaves us alone.

I know the apartment is above the Cozy—the shop that Gabe bought for his mom and sister—but we came in from the back, so I didn’t get to see the building.

I stand—much to Teddy’s chagrin—and brush her hair off my legs.

There’s a little table in the entryway where I’m standing and it’s covered with framed photos.

Most of them are of Gabe’s niece, Lena.

I smile at what must be the most recent one—a thirteen-year-old girl scowling at the camera in a typical thirteen-year-old-girl fashion. I can feel that scowl deep down in my soul.

There’s a family photo on the end—Gabe, his mom, his sister, Lena, and a round-faced guy with Lena’s eyes.

My smile fades.

I’d read about Gabe’s brother-in-law. How he’d died in a car accident a few years ago.