“He is your brother, isn’t he?” I asked, getting more irritated by the second.
“Oh, he’s out of town. Yeah, I convinced him he needed to get away for a few days.”
“So, he’s just wandering the countryside?”
“God, I hope not,” she snorted. “So, anyway, I’ll have a nice, peaceful snowstorm in my pajamas with popcorn and hot chocolate and movies. It’ll be amazing.”
It sounded horrible to me, but who was I to judge?
I pulled into my drive and quickly got out, grabbing the multiple bags from the back seat to haul over to her house. She was already running through the drifts to unlock the door, and by the time I bounded up her steps, she had the door open.
“Thank you so much!” she beamed, taking off her hat and laying it out to dry on a table.
“Sure.”
Turning, I stomped down the steps and trekked back through the snow to my own house. I had never been through a snowstorm like this. In all my life, I’d only ever lived in mild climates. The most snow we ever got was a couple of inches, and usually, everything shut down well before the chance of getting stuck anywhere was even an option.
Shucking my coat, I tossed it on the chair and headed into the kitchen for some lunch. It was already two in the afternoon, but I knew Lizzy wanted to get out of there before the storm got too bad, so I didn’t bother grabbing anything to eat.
Opening my fridge, I sighed at the meager contents. Some leftover pizza, a few containers of Chinese food, and beer. That was hardly going to last me the whole night, but I’d make do.
Snagging a beer, I popped the top and went back to the front window to check out the storm. The wind was blowing like crazy and the snow was drifting in piles in the driveway. There had to be someone who could plow?—
“What the hell?” I muttered, watching as Josie ran around outside, trying to catch the damn dog. But whenever she tried to pick him up, he refused to be held.
She ran all the way across my front yard, then back the other way, chasing him as he purposely led her on a wild goose chase. She was going to freeze to death trying to catch that dog.
Sighing, I set the beer down and pulled on my coat.
I knew I was going to regret this.
12
JOSIE
“Josie!”
I heard his voice on the wind, but was too distracted by the dog in front of me to turn around and search for him. I was so close to catching Milo. Just another foot and I would have him.
I inched forward, holding out my hand with the treats, begging him to just give in and come inside with me. He’d freeze to death out here.
“Come on, Milo. You know you want your nummy nums.”
He panted as his eyes drifted to my hand, then back to my face.
“I’m gonna eat them if you don’t,” I teased.
He cocked his head at me in challenge.
I brought the first piece of food to my mouth, hoping he would take the hint and not make me eat this horrible, dried-out food. But he just yipped, as if to urge me on.
“Alright, if you don’t want it, I’ll eat it all for myself. It’ll be so yummy, and you’re going to miss out on all the treats.”
The food came closer and closer to my mouth until finally, I had no choice but to take a bite. “Mmm!” I hummed, but the disgusting flavor only took seconds to hit me, making me gag.
Spitting out the food, Milo rushed over and ate the tiny piece I spit out.
“Milo, come on! You’re going to freeze out here!”
