“It will be.”
“What’s the second thing?”
“Notice people who feel safe.”
I stared at the card for a moment. “And then what?”
“You don’t have to do anything yet,” she said. “Just notice.”
When I stepped back outside, I gazed at the mountains.
Safe people.
My brain immediately tried to reject the concept. Unfortunately, it had also already started making a list.
The first name that showed up made me sigh.
Liam.
Markie watchedme from the back of the kitchen chair while I opened the container of seeds.
He had been quiet for several minutes, which meant he was preparing something. Silence from Markie was rarely accidental. It usually meant his brain was assembling an announcement that would arrive with absolute confidence regardless of whether it made sense.
I poured the seeds into his dish and slid it across the counter.
“There,” I said. “Dinner.”
He hopped down immediately and began cracking seeds with serious concentration as I picked up my phone.
Slack notifications had multiplied in the background while I ignored them. A bank alert sat underneath that. Then a calendar reminder about a meeting on Monday that already felt like a personal attack.
And below all of that sat the message I had already read twice earlier in the day.
Liam:Just checking in. How are you?
The night before that, there had been a missed call.
One call.
One text.
No follow-up.
The restraint alone made it harder to ignore.
I set the phone back on the counter and watched Markie crack another seed with methodical efficiency.
He lifted his head and looked at me. “DOG.”
“There is no dog.”
“DOG.”
Frustration built inside me. “There is a man.”
“DOG.”
“That man occasionally turns into a wolf.”
