Page 39 of The Soul Never Forgets

“What do you think?”

“It’s nice. Looks like it belongs to a single man with no children.”

“You don’t like it.”

“No, I do like it. It’s perfect for you.”

“But you couldn’t see yourself living here?”

I can’t tell if that’s a question or a statement.

“You live here. For that reason I could see myself living here, but I’d need to make some new design choices. That’s all.”

New decor won’t change the fact that Devin’s been in and out of here for five years. She’s spent countless hours in this house. Been on his couch. In his bed. I’ll always know that.

“I’m teasing you, Cara. I know my house isn’t your style.”

“Could you see yourself living in my house?”

“I like your house a lot. I could see myself there, but we have the same dream––to own a historical house. I could picture us getting one that both of us love.”

Dawsey is sooo my soul mate. “I love that idea.”

He leads me to the kitchen. “What did you decide on for dinner?”

“I don’t know if this was the right decision or not, but my gut told me to go with Chinese. I ordered Peking roasted duck and kung pao chicken with brown rice.”

Smiling, I take the folded piece of paper out of my pocket and hand it to him. “What does it say?”

He unfolds it and reads aloud, “Chinese. A duck entrée.”

“You knew what I would want and I knew you knew. Always trust your gut with me.”

“What we have is pretty damn cool.”

“Yes, it is.”

We take a seat at the dining table. It’s littered with paper-wrapped chopsticks, packets of soy and duck sauce, and the typical white paper boxes adorned with red Chinese writing on them.

“I hope you weren’t expecting a candlelight dinner.”

“This is actually kind of perfect.” Everything with Dawsey is perfect.

We reach for the rice at the same time, and he gestures for me to go first.

“How was your day?” I ask.

“Wednesdays are always interesting because I have a schizophrenic patient who I see every week. She hears the voices of people from the past. After meeting you, I’ll be damned if I don’t find myself wondering if she’s not halfway telling the truth.”

“How remarkable would that be to have found someone else like us? What if we aren’t the only ones out there who are like this?”

“The voices she hears don’t pertain to anything regarding a soul mate.”

“That’s too bad. It would be nice to find other people like us.”

It’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought to but why would Dawsey and I be the only ones? Surely there are more like us out there somewhere.

Dawsey laughs. “I’ll never look at a schizophrenic the same after meeting you.”

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