Standing there in front of Samantha, I realized I still didn’t have the right words.
The only thing that came out of my mouth was a broken apology.
I told her I was sorry, fully aware that a two-word sentence was pathetic compared to the weight of her loss. Samantha looked down at the leather band on my wrist and told me that her family had been told it was lost in the field and never recovered.
Her mother had waited years, hoping someone would eventually tell her where it had gone.
The mystery of that bracelet had been a constant ache for her family because the only other man who knew the truth had never come forward.
I reached down and slowly undid the clasp of the leather band.
My fingers were shaking as I held it out to her because I had always felt like I was just the temporary guardian of that piece of history. In my mind, I was only keeping it safe until the day it could finally be returned to the person it belonged to.
I told Samantha that the band was never meant to be mine.
