“Caspian!”
Griffin must have heard it too, because he picked up his pace, working hard with his shoes and poles.
The barking closed in and then Caspian appeared on the trail, a black bundle of energy and frenzied barking.
And with him, Keely, knee-deep in snow, carrying someone on her back.
Wren.
Keely was bent over, breathing hard. She looked up at them.
Wren slid off her back and sank in the snow. Keely fell to her knees in the snowpack.
Griffin reached them first. “What happened?”
He didn’t hear Keely’s answer. Wren started to cry.
Griffin picked the girl up in his arms. “You get Keely.” He moved past Dawson, hustling back along the trail.
Keely sat back, looked up, still breathing hard.
“What were you thinking? That you’d go sledding? Today? I mean, I know you like this girl, but—”
“Seriously.” Her voice rasped out. “No. I didn’t go sledding. I followed your dumb dog, who I thought was running away and in fact led me to where Wren had crashed her sled.” She struggled up. “Sorry for trying to do the right thing.”
Oh, shoot. And now she stumbled past him, her feet crashing through the snow.
“Keely.”
She ignored him.
“I’m sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t have ... You did the right thing.”
She rounded on him. Stood there in the wan light, just breathing. “You know, I’ve spent most of my life doing thewrongthing. Being the wrong thing. Being the wrong person, despite everything I’ve done. I just ... I was trying to help.”
Aw.
“I’m sorry that I got you into this mess and stranded you here ... if I hadn’t run away from Vic, maybe ... maybe I wouldn’t have been on that plane.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Itdoesmatter.” And now her voice was dying, her pretty hazel-blue eyes glossy. “It matters because Ialwaysdo the wrong thing. And people get hurt.”
His throat thickened at her words, and he softened his voice. “No one got hurt. You saved Wren. She would have been lost in the storm.”
She wiped a mitten across her eyes, her cheeks. “And yet you’re out here, with your bum knee.”
“My knee’s fine.” In fact, he hadn’t thought about it all day. Hetook a step toward her. “I don’t think you’re the wrong person.” He didn’t know where that came from, but ... “And I don’t think you do the wrong thing.”
What was he doing? But he couldn’t seem to stop, suddenly, and even took another step toward her.
“No. Stop talking, Dawson.” She held up her hand. “You don’t know anything about me.”
His voice shook. “But I very much want to.”
Really, Dawson? It had just spilled out, so he threw out an amendment. “And I knowa little.I know about your mom, and the fact she liked to sing. And that you have X-ray Battleship vision, and that ... that you would risk your life for a child. Which ... yeah, I get. I really get.”
She stared at him, her eyes pinned to his.
