She was in a house, at the lake.
And not just any house. And not just any fucking lake.
Nope, my ex-girlfriend was sitting at my mom’s house.
twelve years ago
ELLIE
I was walking past my bedroom window when a flash of movement caught my eye.
And I was pretty sure it was…yup.
Sully was running across the street, barefoot.
And if I wasn’t mistaken, he was yelling.
Throwing up the windowpane, I stuck my head outside. It was a warm night in the middle of July, and humidity stuck to my skin, eager for something to cling to.
“Sawyer!” I shouted, but he shot past my house without stopping. He yelled a mumble of words to me, though, and I thought it sounded like?—
“You lost your mom’s dog?!”
He hollered something back, but I couldn’t make it out, so I ran down the stairs, threw a pair of sneakers on, and raced out the front door, nearly smacking into Noah, who was running back from the direction Sully had disappeared, swearing beneath his breath.
“Shit, sorry,” he panted as he steadied me, both hands on my shoulders.
I looked around, searching for a flash of Sully’s blond hair. “Is everything okay?”
Noah shook his head and dropped his hands. “Mom’s new fosterdog ran out the back door when Sully opened it to put the trash out. She bolted that way.” He pointed between my house and our neighbor’s. “I’m gonna get Theo to drive us around. I don’t know if Sully’s gonna catch her on foot.”
“What’s the dog look like?” I asked, even as Noah was beginning to turn back toward their house. “What’s her name?”
“Honey,” he called over his shoulder. “She’s a beagle puppy.”
I nodded and then ran back inside my house, beelining for the hot dogs I knew were in the fridge. “Mom!” I called while grabbing the whole package. “I’m going to help the Londons find their dog!”
I heard her say something about not staying out too late before I took off out the back door, looking left and right as I tried to decide which way to run.
Somewhere in the distance, Sully called after Honey, and I was about to head toward the sound of his voice when movement caught my eye.
Pausing, I turned toward my neighbor’s house instead. And sure enough, huddled beneath their deck was the hunched-over form of a black, tan, and white puppy. Brown, droopy eyes stared at me from the shadows, making my heart melt.
She was sosmall.
Crouching to her level, I ripped off one end of a hot dog and held it out to her. “Come here, Honey,” I cooed, trying to stay as calm as possible. “Come here, it’s okay.”
Honey stood, putting one tentative foot in front of the other, emerging slowly from the shadows. She was shy, but the hot dog seemed to entice her.
“That’s it.” I smiled. “Come on out, sweetie.”
Her ears flopped as she picked up her pace, trotting across the lawn toward me. I tossed the piece of hot dog into the grass, and she quickly gobbled it up before looking for more. When I held another piece out to her, she all but flew into my arms.
Laughing, I fed her a few more pieces while making sure I had a grip on her collar.
“Sawyer!” I yelled, and I knew when his own shouts ceased that he heard me. “Sawyer, I have her!”
He seemed to make it back to me in seconds, breaking through the line of trees in my backyard while huffing and puffing.
