Page 40 of The Soul Never Forgets

“Gee, thanks a lot.”

“I mean that in the best possible way. And just so you know, my professional opinion is that you have been misdiagnosed. You’re not a schizophrenic.”

“Are you really just now figuring out that I’m not insane?” I try to sound offended, but it’s almost impossible to tease soul mates. They always feel your mood.

“I always knew. I felt it in my bones, but I couldn’t admit that to you at the start when I had no idea what was happening.”

“I know.”

He needed to come to that conclusion on his own and in his own time. And he has.

I feel like playing a game. “Tell me something about your life that I don’t know.”

The chopsticks on the way to his mouth halt midair. “I’m an excellent poker player. A natural.”

“I said tell me something about you that I don’t know.”

His head tilts to the side and wrinkles form between his eyes. “I don’t remember telling you that.”

“Frank was a gambler. He was excellent at poker. I knew you would be as well.”

“Well, damn. I hope everything isn’t going to be like this.”

“Like what?”

“You already knowing everything about me because it’s the same as Frank. That would be dull.”

Dawsey could never be dull to me.

“You aren’t the exact same person, but you will have many of the same characteristics. Let’s try again.”

“I play the guitar. Acoustic.” I wasn’t expecting him to be a guitarist.

Dawsey with a guitar. That’s sexy.

“Frank enjoyed music, but he didn’t play an instrument.”

“Good. Finally something that is only me. What is your favorite song?”

“I have so many.”

“Choose any song, and I’ll learn to play it for you.”

No one has ever done anything like that for me. “That’s so sweet.”

“I can be sweet.”

“I know you can. Tell me something else.”

“I love to ride motorcycles.” He sighs. “But I already know that Frank did too because I rode it from the boat shop to Mr. Le Blanc’s house.”

“Frank had that old Indian Scout bike when he married Augustina, but he bought a new motorcycle a few years later.” Augustina loved riding on the back with him… when she wasn’t pregnant or didn’t have a baby on her hip.

“I guess that’s where my love of motorcycles comes from.”

“Let’s try again.”

Dawsey taps his chopsticks on the edge of his plate. “I love to read.”

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