“Garrison. What do we know?”
“Vance.” Ben didn’t stop moving. “Six-year-old boy, twenty minutes, went out the front door heading north. Thought he saw Jolly near the tree line.”
“I’ll work the perimeter, loop around from the east and push inward.” Vance was already veering off. He glanced at me once, brief and reassuring. “We’ll find him, ma’am.” Then he disappeared into the trees at an angle.
Then it was just me and the darkening woods and Ben’s flashlight moving ahead through the pines.
I kept calling. My throat was raw.
Up ahead, Jolly barked.
One sharp, urgent sound. Then another. Then a volley of barking that split the quiet wide open, and Ben’s flashlight swung toward the sound and held.
I ran.
Thirty feet into the trees, past a fallen log and a cluster of brush that tore at my shins, and there he was.
William was sitting at the base of a ponderosa, knees pulled to his chest, arms wrapped around them. His face was streaked, and his body was rigid. A six-year-old boy sitting perfectly still in the dark woods because he’d stopped believing anyone was coming.
Jolly reached him first. Crashed through the brush and pushed his whole body against William’s side, nose in his neck, tail going, and the rigidity broke. William’s arms came off his knees and went around Jolly’s neck. He buried his face in the dark fur, and the sound that came out of him was the rawest thing I’d ever heard.
I was on the ground beside them before I knew I’d moved, pulling William into me. He came without letting goof Jolly, so I held them both, my son and the dog who’d found him, and pressed my face against William’s hair.
“I’m here. We’ve got you. You’re okay.”
He was shaking. Small, hard tremors that ran through his whole body. His fingers were cold where they gripped my shirt.
“I couldn’t find him.” His voice was muffled against my shoulder. “I saw him going into the trees and I followed but then I couldn’t find him and I couldn’t find my way back and it got dark?—”
“I know. I know, baby. But you’re safe now.”
Ben’s flashlight found us from a few feet away. He stayed back, giving us the space, but I could feel him there. Steady, solid, the calm center of a night that had tried to shake everything loose.
He keyed his phone. “Donovan, we’ve got him. He’s safe. Call Vance, stand everyone down.”
I held William tighter. He held on to Jolly. Jolly held still, his body pressed against us both, patient and warm like this was exactly where he was supposed to be.
Chapter 16
Kayla
It took all three of us to walk William back. He wouldn’t let go of Jolly, so Ben walked on one side with the dog, and I walked on the other with my arm around William’s shoulders. By the time we reached the yard, Donovan was leaning against his SUV at the curb. He gave a quiet nod as we passed. Vance met us at the edge of the property, hands in his pockets.
“Glad he’s okay.” He looked at William with a warmth that reached his eyes. “Tough kid.”
“Thank you,” I managed. “I’m sorry this was all for nothing.”
“Definitely not for nothing. It’s always a good day when everyone comes home safe and sound.” He clapped Ben on the shoulder, gave me one more nod, and headed for his car.
I led William, shivering under my arm, up the front porch.
I sat on the step and pulled him into my lap. He was toobig for it, legs dangling, but he curled against me anyway. Jolly lay at our feet, chin on his paws, eyes moving between William and Ben.
“William.” I waited until he looked up. “You scared me. You can never go roaming around the neighborhood by yourself. Not ever.”
His chin trembled. “But I asked. I asked if I could go, and you said yes.”
The words hit me like a slap. Because he was right. He had asked. And I had said yes without listening.
