She put on the hat. It was still warm from Tom’s head.
Tom turned away from her.“Stevie!”
“Stevie!”Cherry shouted.
They walked deeper into the park.
“Stevie?”
“Stevie!”
There were fading dog tracks in the snow. And fading people tracks.
Cherry was crying. Her face was numb. She took a wrong step in her rubber boots and started to go down—Tom caught her arm. “I think we should go back,” he said.
“We have to keep looking for her.”
“I think we should go back, and you should stay home, in case she shows up.”
“I don’t think she knows the way home. She’s very dumb for such a smart dog.”
“I still think we should go back.”
Cherry tried to wipe her eyes. She couldn’t feel her fingers or her face. “This is my fault. If anything happens to her, it’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Cherry.”
“Then whose fault is it?”
“Does it have to be someone’s fault?”
“No,” Cherry said, wiping her face. “Unless it’s mine.”
Tom pulled one of his gloves off and reached for her hand. “Jesus,” he said, squeezing it. “You’re freezing.”
He tucked his other hand under his arm to pull off his glove. It dropped to the ground. He took both Cherry’s hands between his and chafed them. His skin was cool and dry. “We’re going back home now.”
“We can’t give up on Stevie.”
“We’re not giving up on her.”
Cherry’s face crumpled. Her head tipped forward.
“Hey...” Tom hauled her closer. He wrapped an arm around her. Cherry fell against his chest. “Stevie’s built like a polar bear,” he said, “and she loves everyone. She’ll play until she gets tired, then she’ll walk up to someone’s house and bark until they let her in. She might already be in one of these houses, eating beef stew and drinking warm milk.”
Cherry could see it. She was still crying. “They’ll probably try to keep her.”
“That’ll solveoneof our problems...”
Cherry laughed a little.
Then Tom laughed a little. His chest hitched. “Let me take you home,” he said.
Cherry cried a bit more. She felt cold everywhere. Her feet were wet. She might have frostbite. How would she get to the hospital in this weather if she had frostbite? “Okay,” she said tearfully.
Something thumped against the back of Cherry’s thigh. For a second, she thought it was another slow-moving car. She looked down. It was Stevie.
“Stevie!”
