that’s what the Dog Snatcher is trying to teach all of these parents—be grateful for what you have. People that have everything are never grateful for it. I know I sure wasn’t. It could be his way of warning them not to waste a single day because you never know what’s going to happen the next. Everything you love could be ripped from you in an instant.”

“That’s what the doctors call it anyway, but I’m not hypersexual, and I’m not super sold on the idea that I have a traumatic brain injury either.” I don’t know how many times and in how many different ways that I have to tell them that my relationship with Isaac wasn’t sexual. Yes, we touched. Physical contact was part of our relationship, but not like that. What we shared wasn’t sexual. It was beautiful.

She was convinced that she and Isaac were in this incredible, almost mythical relationship with each other because of what they’d been through together. It completely freaked Isaac out. He said he only talked to her because he felt sorry for her, and in the beginning, I thought it was really sweet. That was before they started spending so much time together outside the hospital. Nothing about that was normal.

True love is forever.”

“Why do you think they were so bothered by it?” “Really?” I roll my eyes at him. “Of course I know why they were bothered by our relationship. For the same reason I’d be bothered if Gabe was in a relationship with a forty-one-year-old woman.”

“I knew Isaac would know what it meant since he’s the one who told me about it in the first place. How hair symbolizes a person’s soul, so giving someone your hair is like giving someone a piece of your soul.

Sometimes Isaac couldn’t even wrap his brain around the magnitude of it.

You only have one soul mate.

But that night on the lake woke us up to each other. That’s when we remembered.”

“It sounds like you are trying to tell me that you developed strong feelings for Isaac?” He tries to reflect back what I’ve said, but he’s missing the point. “I’m trying to tell you that we didn’t have to develop anything. The feelings and the connection were already there.”

“I would never hurt Isaac. He was my heart living and breathing outside of me, but not in the same way as Gabe. Gabe was my son, so that went without saying, but Isaac and I have been together before. There is a familiarity and a comfortability in the way our spirits connect at a deep soul level that couldn’t happen if we hadn’t already traveled a million lifetimes together. And the reason I’m not bothered about Isaac being missing or possibly hurt somewhere is because I know that no matter where he is or what’s happening to him, even if he’s dead, it doesn’t matter. I will see him again. Not in this lifetime, but in the next and in the next one after that. It’s how it is with us. We’ll find each other. We always do.”

He didn’t bring me any coffee this morning, and I’m bummed. Did he take it away as punishment? That’s mean. You can’t bring a girl a cup of coffee one day and not bring her one the next. This isn’t the best way for us to start our day.

No matter what I promised, I was going to do whatever it took to find Isaac.

“Why didn’t you tell me all that before? It would’ve made me feel so much better to know that you were actually taking me seriously. Hell, that you were looking at her that seriously. That’s all I wanted.”

“You might’ve just jeopardized our investigation. Thrown away everything we’ve worked so hard for. I know you think you know what you’re doing in all this, but let me set you straight—you have no idea what you’re dealing with. Stop trying to do my job for me, understand?”

All my angry words quickly flashed through me. The way I’d waved my fist in her face as I shouted that I knew she took Isaac and the cops did too. That it was only a matter of time before they found out everything about her. How I’d make sure she got the harshest punishment.