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Rain came down in sheets. Lightning crackled in the sky. Honey yelped, her hoarse bark drowned out by the rumbling thunder.
“Living without you is so hard. Jess, please. Please. Tell me what I need to do.” Charlie reached for the door and opened it wide.
“NO! STOP—”
Honey bolted, sprinting around Charlie and down the stairs, disappearing into the inky night.
Jess chased after her, pushing Charlie out of the way as she ran. “HONEY STOP!”
She kept her eyes on her golden fur as Honey ran down the street and to the beach. Lightning ruptured again in the sky, the sound causing Honey to pivot from the sand toward the wall of boulders at the end of the beach, vanishing into a forest of evergreen trees.
“Shit!” Jess screamed. Her hair was plastered to her face. She looked back at the porch and stalled. Charlie stood there in shock, his eyes wide. But he didn’t bother to run after her, to help her.
It was enough of a confirmation as any.
She stormed up to the steps, her drenched clothes dripping on the porch as she pointed at his car. “Get out of my sight.”
“Jessie—”
“Don’t call me that,” she demanded. “We are done, Charlie. I’m not going to let you rely on me anymore. Enjoy your life in Garrison. Do not contact me again.”
She didn’t care to watch him leave as she swung the door wide and snatched her phone from her bag. She dialed a number and hit Call, pressing the phone to her ear. Violent shivers ripped through her as she paced the linoleum floor. Gram was up and at her heels, her eyes full of worry.
He answered on the second ring. “Yes?”
She let out a sob. “Kev, it’s Honey. She ran away. Charlie was here and he opened the door and the lightning scared her and she—”
“I’m on my way,” he interrupted.
Her shoulders shook as she held a hand up to her mouth. “What if she can’t hear us and we can’t find her and—”
“We will find our girl, Jessica,” he said. “Take a deep breath.”
She did as she was told, listening to the sounds of jingling keys on the other end of the line.
“Now another.”
She obeyed.
“Go, I’ll be there in ten.”
She hung up, handing Gram her phone and running back out into the rain. Charlie was already gone, the black Lexus turning the corner as he exited the neighborhood. She hustled down the beach and scrambled up the boulders, standing on the cement dock as she screamed Honey’s name over the sound of the wind howling and waves crashing. Nothing. She weaved through the trees and kept shouting, stepping through a clearing that backed onto a curved road. She jogged down the street, swiping at the rain that pelted down on her, unable to see anything clearly.
Clicking from a bike wheel sounded as she rounded the corner back toward the cottage. Kevin dropped his bike in the lawn and ran up to her, his sweatshirt and board shorts sticking to him like a second skin. He stopped a few feet from her, keeping his distance. “Any luck?”
Her bottom lip quivered. She shook her head.
“Tell me exactly where she ran.”
Jess motioned for him to follow as they retraced her path, down the beach and toward the boulders, then up into the trees. She followed Kevin as he stepped toward the evergreens, the branches partially shielding them from the rain.
“I already looked here,” she shouted as thunder boomed again. “I couldn’t find her.”
The sound from the thunder faded. Kevin lifted a finger and tapped his ear. “Do you hear that?”
She frowned. “Hear what?”
He pointed to her. “Exactly. It’s quieter around the trees. She hates the noise, so she probably wanted to find somewhere quiet.”
