Chapter 7“Are you home?” He sounded anxious now, no longer gruff.
“Yes, but don’t come here. Berne and Mitch went to town, but I don’t know when they’ll be back. I can walk down to the creek, though.”
She heard a sound, like his in-drawn breath. “I’ll meet you there. Be careful. There might be snakes or anything in that brush.”
As soon as she hung up, she ran to the house. In her room, she carefully propped the window open enough so she could raise it from the outside to climb in, if she needed to. She bunched up the pillow to make it look superficially like she was in bed, and scooped up the puppy. His sleepy soft warmth felt so nice, snuggled in her arms. He’d already lost his fear of her, replacing it with trusting devotion. As an afterthought, she slipped her flashlight in a pocket
