“Theo?” I repeated, my voice hollow. Slowly my jaw hung open, my eyes widening so much, and I had to force myself to close it shut, but my eyes still maintained their surprise.

Maybe it was the fact that the man I was seeing here looked nothing like the man who had been drilling into me about a year ago.

Theo had never been a fan of beards, complaining they were itchy, but there he was sporting a full face of beard, but that wasn’t the only thing about him that changed.

He had gotten bigger, better, no longer the scrawny young man I had left behind. Well, actually, he...