Chase didn’t understand, but he nodded. The man left. Chase reached over to the nightstand and picked up the dog collar. “This is for you, buddy,” he said, his chest filled with grief.
He changed out the dog’s collar and then buried his face in Baxter’s thick fur and let a few more tears fall. “I thought I’d lost you, too. But no.” He pulled back and took the dog’s face in his hand and looked into his dark eyes. “It was really you, wasn’t it? You called me back. I heard you.”
Somehow Chase knew it was true. Baxter had saved his life. He didn’t know how he could hear the dog from the mountainside. Didn’t know how he’d survived the crash. Or what the hell had happened to him, or … He looked at the glass with a red rim around it. Was that … ? Oh, hell, he still didn’t know what was happening to him. He bent his legs again, remembering not being able to move them. And his arm. It had been broken. How had he healed so quickly?
Taking a deep breath, he glanced at the collar. NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A CHALLENGE.
Live, son, his dad’s words echoed inside him. Live for us.
“I’ll try, Dad. I’ll try.”