Page 11 of See You Soon

"Paul died two months ago. I still refuse to believe it. It doesn't feel real."

"How'd he pass? I'm sorry if I'm asking for too much."

"No, it's fine. He was a Navy SEAL. He died on a deployment."

Danny stills. He squints his eyes, studying me.

"Although I don't know the details, just the autopsy report."

I decide to change the subject before things grew more uncomfortable. I wanted to know what his interests were. I wanted us to get to know each other without talking about heavy topics. So, we talked about almost everything we liked and eventually went back to the subject of my brother Paul. As I'm opening up about him, I can see Danny's behavior change as if a light bulb turned on over his head. Suddenly, Danny blurts out.

"I'm sorry about your brother but his name is very familiar. Are you talking about PaulAlvarez?" Danny asks me, in shock.

"Yes."

"Ari, I... I knew him. We were friends, best fucking friends. We met years back on my first deployment. We were on different teams but we worked closely together. We did that a lot, actually. We've been friends for years. Yet… I never knew about you… Of course, no details were ever spoken about you. Paul was very private about his family life. All I knew was he had a younger sister and a mom waiting for him at home."

Holy shit, he knew him? Small world.

Danny looks at me to see if I was going to break. With a glance like that, it was like he was asking me for permission to go on. I nod, biting my lip, a tear escaping my right eye. I quickly wipe it away with my hand. Crap. I didn't want to cry in front of Danny like this. But anytime there was an opportunity to talk about my amazing big brother, I took it. The pain was still fresh, and I didn't know when it would ever get better.

"It's okay, go on, please." I urge.

Danny reaches into his pocket, grabs his leather wallet, and pulls out a picture of him and Paul together with a bunch of other guys. A group photo of them on deployment is what it seemed like. All of them with their beards grown out, extremely sun tanned, and dirty, while holding rifles. Danny and Paul were smiling in the left corner as if laughing at their own inside joke. Even in a current situation like a dangerous deployment, Paul always seemed to find light in dark times, this photo shows proof of that. It was the first time I saw Paul with his lame attempt at growing a beard and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Wait, are youRider?" I ask. It all comes full circle. My brother would tell me about his over the phone while he was deployed and Rider was one guy who he consistently brought up. He shared stories about pranks they would pull on the other guys they worked with.

"Yeah. My full name is Daniel Rider."

I put my hand over my mouth.

"Can I take a picture of that please; he looks so happy in it."

"Of course."

"Wait, why haven't I met you before? Why didn't I see you at the funeral?" I ask bothersome.

Why wouldn't he attend his funeral if they were good friends? Why is this my first time meeting him?

Danny lets out a sigh. He looks down at his glass of whiskey, his hands tightening around it showing white knuckles. Then he looks back at me, ashamed. Small wrinkles appear on the edges of his eyes as he glares, sadly.

"I did. I was there for the burial. In the back, I was overlooking it all. I watched them put him into the ground. I apologize for not privately sharing my condolences with you and your mother, but it was really hard for me. My team showed up to the burial though."

As soon as he says it, it occurs to me that he's a special operator too. His head hangs down in defeat. He closes his eyes tight, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

My eyes widen.

"Team?" I ask quietly.

He nods.

Holy crap.

"Oh? Are you a Navy SEAL?"

Chapter5

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