That detail mattered to Carla later because people often imagine reunions as explosions of movement. Older dogs, especially dogs with arthritis, may express recognition differently.
Rufus walked quickly for him, but not recklessly.
He reached Megan.
Then he leaned.
His entire chest pressed into her body.
Megan wrapped both arms around him and buried her face into the side of his neck.
For the first time since entering the visitation room, she stopped trying to control her crying.
Her shoulders shook. One hand held the back of Rufus's neck while the other moved repeatedly over his shoulder and down his side, touching the same animal she had spent two months seeing only in her own memory.
Rufus stood against her.
After several seconds, he pushed his muzzle beneath her chin.
Megan pulled away just far enough to look at his face.
The gray around his muzzle appeared heavier than she remembered.
She held his cheeks gently between her hands.
Rufus licked once near the corner of her mouth.
Then Megan pulled him back against her.
Mercer stood near the doorway and watched the clock.
The approved contact period was two minutes.
He did not turn it into ten.
He did not ignore policy.
He did not make a speech about compassion.
He simply gave Megan the full two minutes she had been authorized and did not interrupt the silence with unnecessary instructions.
Carla later thought that restraint was part of why the moment remained so powerful. Nobody tried to make it larger than it already was.
At the end, Megan loosened her arms before she was asked.
She kept one hand on Rufus's shoulder while Carla took the leash again.
The dog looked back at Megan when he was led toward the door.
Megan cried harder then than she had during the hug.
Physical contact had given her something the glass could not.
It had also reminded her that she still had to let him leave.
Mercer closed the secure door.
Minutes later, Rufus was back in Carla's vehicle.
Megan returned to her housing unit.
Nothing about her sentence had changed.
But something about the next seven weeks had.