He pulled against his restraints, head, ears, and tail up.Ready to charge the moment he saw something interesting.Willow tightened her grip on both leashes as they made their way down the narrow trail bordered by a thick carpet of evergreen sword ferns and Oregon grape that swayed in the wind.
Cool gusts whipped off the water and up the hill, bringing a rush of blood into her cheeks.Below them, a wide expanse of softball-size rocks formed most of the beach, dotted with silvery driftwood logs.
Beyond that, a thick band of drying seaweed marked the highwater mark where the tide had washed it up, and then the rocks gave way to a band of mud-colored sand that disappeared into the water.Small waves curled onto it, leaving foamy fingers decorated with seaweed and long strands of bull kelp.
At the bottom of the trail, she went right at the edge of the rocks, leading Rufus toward her favorite little cove tucked away around the corner.He trotted along beside her, nose stuck to the ground as if every single thing they passed had the most fascinating smell he’d ever encountered.
It made her wonder if he’d ever been to the beach before.
“This way, buddy.”She tugged him right.Had to pull him to make him abandon a particularly interesting smell he’d found.
They clambered over a huge driftwood log and some large boulders before Willow stopped to let him explore the sheltered tidepools amongst the rocks on the other side.Willow paused to look down at Shipwreck Cove, named after one of the nineteenth-century wrecks caught on the dangerous, unmarked reef just offshore.
The small round bay was a hidden oasis, the clear green water a perfect example of why this part of the world was nicknamed the Emerald Sea.Its round shape, protected on either side by rock formations and towering forest on a third, provided shelter from the ceaseless, windswept surf that pounded the rest of the shoreline.
Some of her best memories were of summer nights spent down here with Rafe, Tripp, Carson, and her brother.
She let the heavy weight of sadness roll over her like a wave.Paused atop a boulder to take a deep, cleansing breath, and then exhaled, consciously letting the pain go.
She missed her brother, but thinking about him now brought a pang, a short, bittersweet sting instead of the crushing grief that had engulfed her in the first few months after he’d died.
Seeing Tripp had triggered some of that again.Made her wonder if things might have been different if...
Rufus digging at something pulled her from her thoughts.He was straining away from her at the end of the leash, trying to get at something in the rocks.
She gave him the full six feet of leash to allow him more room to explore, and paused to take in the perfect little bit of paradise surrounding her.She’d needed this.
The space.The quiet.The chance to stop and breathe, soak in the magic of her new home.
At an insistent scratching sound, she looked over to see Rufus frantically pawing between the rocks near the high-tide line.“What’ve you got, buddy?A crab?Careful, you’ll get pinched.”
Rufus turned his head, holding something in his mouth.But it wasn’t a crab.
It was a long, ivory-colored bone.
TEN
