Chapter 4
By the time they reached the shelter of the porch, they were giggling, their hair tousled by the wind, snowflakes on their eyelashes and soaking their shoulders. It was one of those moments Belle wanted to linger in, carefree, the joy on Julie’s face truly a beautiful sight. Had she not been shivering, the fingers of the storm tearing away her body heat, Belle would have grabbed Julie for a kiss.
“What a rush,” Julie said, running a hand through her short hair.
A kiss like the one in the kitchen yesterday.
Instead she reached for the dog statue sitting beside the door. It was too obvious a hiding place, she’d told her parents back when they’d first showed it to her, but they insisted on using it nonetheless. From the false bottom she withdrew a key, having misplaced hers in t
