Tears were running down his face now.
“You should’ve thought about all that.”
I pulled him into me immediately, holding him tight.
“No one’s taking you anywhere,” I said, my voice unsteady. “You hear me? No one!”
“Serves him right for stressing us like that,” Dunn added, making matters worse.
“That’s not fair! What is this? You’re scaring him!”
Then Carlson’s expression softened.
“I’m so sorry, young man. We didn’t mean to scare you. We aren’t here to take you anywhere you don’t want to go, let alone punish you for what you did for Sam.”
“No one’s taking you anywhere.”
I felt Leo’s grip on me loosen just slightly.
“We’re actually here to honor you for your bravery.”
I blinked.
“What?!” Dunn retorted, but no one paid attention to him.
“There’s someone else here who wants to speak to you,” Carlson added.
Before I could respond, the other army man opened the door again.
And everything shifted.
“We’re actually here to honor you.”
A woman walked in, and I recognized her immediately.
“Sally?” I said, confused. “What’s really going on here?”
Sally, Sam’s mother, apologized. “I didn’t mean for it to look like this. I just had to do something. Because when I picked Sam up yesterday, he wouldn’t stop talking about the hike. He told me every exciting thing!”
Leo stilled beside me.
Sally continued, looking directly at Leo now.
“I just had to do something.”
“Sam said he offered to be left behind. But you didn’t. You told him, ‘As long as we are friends, I’ll never leave you behind.’”
