The second I saw his face, I froze completely. The serving spoon was still in my hand. My whole body went cold. Noah was tall and thin, dark hair curling slightly at his ears — but it was his eyes that stopped me. Gray-blue. Exactly like Michael’s. Then he turned his head, and I saw the small reddish birthmark just below his left ear. My fingers tightened around the spoon. No. It couldn’t be. Then I saw the necklace — a silver pendant against his shirt, small, oval, scratched near the bottom. I hadn’t seen it in twenty-one years, but I knew it instantly. My father had worn that pendant nearly every day of my childhood. When he died, my mother gave it to my younger brother, Michael. Michael had been wearing it the day he disappeared.
“Diane?” Noah was looking at me. I’d missed something Tyler said. I forced a smile. “Sorry — long day.” We made small talk, the kind that should have felt ordinary. It didn’t. I couldn’t stop staring at that pendant.
