Charlotte yells words I can’t understand through the wind and points to my right. Ember emerges with something red in her mouth.
The scarf.
She drops it at my feet.
“Good girl, Ember. Thank you.”
I search the scarf. Flip it over. Shake it out. Nothing. My chest tightens. I dig around the base of the tree. The thought of losing one of the last items my father gave me punches me in the gut.
For a moment, I wonder if Duke would’ve been able to locate the necklace, but that’s not fair. Ember tried. She found the scarf, which I’m grateful for, but it’s too late. How could I have been so careless?
Charlotte places a hand on my shoulder and offers a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry. I don’t think we’re going to find it out here, though. Not in this weather.”
She’s right. Sitting here freezing won’t change anything. It certainly won’t bring back my necklace or change the fact that I have to return to work the day after Christmas, leaving the cabin behind. I finally wake up from the fairytale life I’ve been having with Charlotte. My world feels like it’s crumbling.
I stand and wipe my cheeks, but only toss snow on them. We walk back toward the cabin when Ember suddenly bolts.
She turns into a brown and white blur, racing toward the tree line at the edge of the property.
“Ember, stop!” I yell out, but she doesn’t. I sprint after her, leaving Charlotte behind me without saying a word. More commands surge from my throat, but nothing changes.
I keep my eyes locked on my puppy. She’s just ahead of me as she cuts through the open space between the cabin and the trees. I can still see the cabin behind me, maybe fifty yards back. Charlotte’s voice calling after us carries on the wind, but I don’tstop running. The thought of losing Ember on top of everything else brings a sharp pain to my chest.
She reaches the tree line and disappears into the pines.
I follow her in. It’s darker here, the thick branches blocking some of the falling snow. I can still see her ahead, weaving between trunks.
Her barking cuts through the trees. I push through the branches toward the sound. She can’t be more than twenty yards into the woods.
My chest heaving, I find her at the base of a massive oak. She’s sitting, barking at a hole in the tree trunk. The exact cadence I taught her.
I drop to my knees, breathing hard. “Fuck. When did you get so fast?” I look closer. Raccoons? Their masked faces peer out from inside.
I’m both mortified and impressed. Ember just treed her first animal.
“We really have to work on your timing,” I tell Ember and scoop her up, relieved to have found her amongst the blizzard. My jeans are soaked through, and my chest aches from running in more ways than one.
I turn back the way I came. Through the break in the trees, I see the cabin clearly. The clearing between us and home. Charlotte’s standing at the edge of the tree line. Right where the fence posts are located. She’s not moving, just staring at me.
I glance around. My chest tightens when I realize where I am.
I’m on the wrong side.
The property line disappeared the moment Ember took off. Although I don’t regret my decision, the truth that I officially forfeited my rights to the cabin and my family memories crushes my spirit.
Charlotte and I meet each other’s eyes across the clearing again. The wind eases, snow falling softer now. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out.
Charlotte lifts her foot.
Time slows as she steps over the property line.
My breath catches. Why would she give up the cabin when I already had?
She takes another step and then another, the snow coming up to her calves, but she doesn’t stop. She keeps walking toward me through the clearing.
When she reaches me, I can see everything on her face. The weight of what just happened. What we both did.
“Are you okay?” Charlotte asks, her voice soft, while looking between Ember and me.
