That gets Neal to relax. He smiles a little. “It’s about time someone did, then.”

For a second he studies Malcolm’s face, tracing all the similarities between this man and the one he knew first, all the little differences. He touches Malcolm’s cheek.

“I would be his friend,” Neal says abruptly. “The Malcolm I knew first. I would be his friend, if he showed up here. But I don’t know if I’d be something else.”