Hey Sunshine (21 page)

I flicked the hallway light switch a couple times and groaned. No power.

“Where’s the generator?” Fox hovered in the doorway, the water dripping off him into a puddle on the doormat.

I frowned. “Out back, but it should’ve come on automatically.”

“I’ll go check it out and look for the other dogs,” he said. “Stay inside with Annabelle.”

I hesitated. I couldn’t leave Annabelle alone in the dark, but I was really worried about Duke. He didn’t know Fox, and I wasn’t sure if he’d come when Fox called him. What if he was hurt?

“I’ll be right back, Avery,” Fox assured me. “I’ll find them.”

I grabbed a slicker off the hook by the door and pushed it into his chest. “At least wear this.”

The eyebrow reminded me that he was already drenched, but he took it. “Find some candles or flashlights, just in case. I’ll build a fire when I come back.”

I rolled my eyes. “There you go again, underestimating me.”

Fox caught my chin in his fingers and held my gaze, the heat in his eyes enough to start an inferno. “Never.”

Okay then. Who needed the generator? I was feeling pretty warm right now. Fox backed away and shut the door, shrugging into the slicker. I turned to Annabelle and saw that she’d made herself at home on the couch in the great room, but I knew she didn’t like the dark. I snagged the bin of toys my parents kept for her and dragged it over.

“Here Bells, find something to play with for now, okay? Mama’s going to get us some flashlights and we can read books or do shadow puppets until the lights come back on.”

Annabelle dug into her stuff and unearthed a few My Little Ponies and a play doctor’s kit. Knowing that would keep her busy for a while, I headed into the kitchen to retrieve the flashlights. My dad still kept them in the same place as when I was a kid, in the junk drawer next to the sink, as well as the big torch lantern on the top shelf of the pantry. I grabbed everything, added a box of crackers for Annabelle, and made my way back into the great room.

After I started a fire in the fireplace and firmly locked the childproof grate, we ate crackers and played with her toys for about fifteen minutes before I felt an empty second of silence in the air and then a surge of energy as the generator kicked on and the house buzzed to life.

I jumped up and ran around flicking the light switches in every room on the bottom floor until the downstairs was lit up like a beacon in the darkness. A moment later I heard Fox come in the front door and stomp his boots in the foyer. I hurried over, hoping Duke and Missy were with him.

Fox swiped a hand through his wet hair. “I didn’t find them. I’m going back out, I just wanted to make sure you two were all right.”

My heart sank at his first sentence. “We’re fine,” I assured him. “But Fox, you’ve done more than enough. I’ll go. Duke and Missy know me. They’ll come when I call them.” I could hear the wind beating the branches of the trees, howling down the pastures. It would be hard for anyone to hear a shout, even a dog. But I wasn’t going to let that deter me. I grabbed another slicker and shrugged it on, sticking a flashlight in my pocket. “I can’t leave them out there.”

A crease of worry deepened between Fox’s brows. “Ten minutes. Then we switch, okay?”

I nodded and headed out the door and down the porch. When I glanced back, I saw that Fox was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.
Think, Avery, think.
Where would Duke go? If he was trying to herd Missy, and the ranch house was too far, where would he take her?

Suddenly I knew. I ran down the driveway, past the working paddock to the tiny shed next to the main barn, almost a half mile away from the house. This was Duke’s favorite spot as he’d gotten older, because he could sit in the awning’s shade and look out over the property. I’d almost reached the shed when I saw that the door was slightly ajar like usual. My dad never thought there was a point to locking up a few rakes and lead ropes.

“Duke! Missy!” I called out. I heard an answering bark and relief made my eyes well up. Missy poked her head out of the shed and barked again. I ran inside and dropped down onto my knees next to Duke, who was lying in a corner of the small space. His tail thumped when he saw me and he struggled for a moment, trying to get to his feet.

“Duke! Are you okay?” I ran my hands over his coat and when I got to his left hip, he yelped softly. I pulled my hand away and saw that it was covered with sticky blood. “Oh no, oh Duke,” I cried. My eyes immediately filled with tears that threatened to spill over onto his matted fur.

Missy pushed her nose up against my arm and whined. I ruffled her ears with my clean hand. “Good girl, Missy,” I told her, sniffling. “Thank you for staying with him.”

I surveyed the situation quickly. I’d been gone more than ten minutes already, probably closer to twenty. I could run back to get Fox, but I was afraid Duke would try to follow me and hurt himself worse. I skimmed my flashlight quickly over the wound, but his fur was too thick for me to tell how bad it was. I’d have to wait until I got him inside. I slid my arms underneath him to test his weight. Maybe I could carry him back. I grunted with the effort. He was an older dog but still every bit of sixty pounds. I sat back in defeat, knocking my head on a wooden handle that protruded from the dark edge of the shed.

“Ouch,” I muttered. Damn it.

Wait a minute. I spun around and realized I’d bumped into the handle of a rusty old wheelbarrow my dad had stashed in here sometime recently. I stood up to inspect it. It was dirty, but it would do the job.

“C’mon guys,” I told the dogs. “Let’s get out of here.”

The wheelbarrow nearly tipped a half dozen times while I tried to jog back to the ranch house. If I'd thought I was wet before, it was nothing compared to now, as I’d taken off my slicker to cover Duke so he wouldn’t get soaked on the trip back. Missy trotted at my heels, never trying to distance herself from us. I wasn’t sure how they’d gotten to the shed in the first place, but Missy certainly wasn’t leaving without Duke.

I rounded the corner by the working paddock and ran straight into Fox. The wheelbarrow tipped dangerously again, but he grabbed it and righted it just in time.

“Fox!” I cried. “I found Duke!”

The look he gave me was a cross between furious and relieved, but I didn’t want to sit out in the rain and analyze it right then. He yanked his slicker off and draped it around my shoulders before he plucked Duke out of the wheelbarrow like he weighed nothing at all, whistled to Missy, and started to run back to the ranch house. We all sprinted up the porch steps and through the front door and I kicked it closed behind me.

“Mama!” Annabelle jumped up and down in the hallway. The other two dogs stood on either side of her like sentries. “Duke!”

“He’s hurt, Fox. I don’t know how badly,” I told him.

Fox hurried into the dining room and laid Duke down in the middle of the table, Missy at his heels. He quickly unwrapped the slicker and started rubbing Duke’s fur gently, running his fingers over his legs and back, checking for injuries. When he got to the hip wound, Duke bared his teeth for a second but allowed Fox to explore the cut. I stood at Duke’s head with Annabelle next to me as we petted him softly and told him what a good boy he was.

After a moment, Fox raised his head to look at me. The worried look on his face had faded to merely preoccupied. “His hip is sprained, but it’ll heal. The cut’s not too deep,” he said, and I sighed with relief. “He must’ve snagged it on a wire or a nail. Dogs aren’t likely to get tetanus, but he probably needs a shot just in case. If you have a first aid kit, I can fix him up for tonight and then tomorrow we can get him to a vet.”

“Yes, I’ll get it.” I ran into the kitchen and pulled the big white box out from underneath the sink.

“I’ll get mine too!” Annabelle said, hurrying over to her play kit. She came back to the table wearing her plastic stethoscope, a determined look on her little face.

Fox fished out what he needed and started to work. I was afraid that Annabelle would be upset, seeing Duke bleeding and in pain, but she calmly stood back and watched with me as Fox clipped away Duke’s hair from the wound, cleaned it, and applied butterfly bandages. He finished the whole thing off with a big white dressing that he wrapped tightly around Duke’s leg.

“Is Duke going to be okay?” she asked Fox as she followed him into the great room with Duke in his arms. Fox settled him into a dog bed by the fire and crouched down in front of Annabelle.

“Yes,” he said. “Your mama found him just in time.”

Annabelle nodded, satisfied. “I’ll sit right here next to him so he doesn’t get lonely.” She sat down on Duke’s uninjured side and rested her blond head against his dark fur. “Don’t worry, Duke,” I heard her whisper to him, and Duke’s tail thumped on the floor softly.

Within minutes, Annabelle had the three dogs on the floor with her, her head still pillowed on Duke’s shoulder as she watched the movie Fox put on the large television. The dogs did their best impression of following along, and I smiled at the unlikely quartet. Maybe Annabelle would be a veterinarian someday.

A shiver ran through me, and I looked over to Fox. We were both soaked to the bone. “I’ll find us some dry clothes,” I told him.

He nodded, his eyes still on Annabelle and the dogs. “I’ll be right here.”

I looked around for a second, confused. “Where’s Missy?”

Fox scanned the room quickly. “She was under the table when I was examining Duke.”

“Missy!” I called softly, not wanting to disturb Annabelle and the other dogs. “Missy?” I walked into the dining room and saw her curled up underneath the table like Fox had said. “Missy! What are you doing in here all by yourself?” When she didn’t move or lift her head, my heart jumped. “Missy?”

I crouched down next to her and put a hand on her fur. Her body seemed cold, her breathing barely detectable. “Fox!” I called, trying to keep my voice calm so Annabelle wouldn’t notice.

Fox was in the dining room within seconds, obviously not fooled by my faux-nonchalant voice. “What is it?”

“Is she–?” I asked him when he knelt next to us. “She’s not responding.”

Fox took Missy’s head in his big hands gently, first lifting an eyelid to look at her membranes and then sliding a finger into her mouth so he could see her gums. I saw the look on his face and bile rose in my throat. “What, Fox?”

“I’m not sure,” he said shortly. Carefully, he rolled her over onto her back and I gasped when I saw a huge jagged cut on her stomach with the glistening of intestine just beyond. Blood stained the carpet where she was lying, and her head lolled to the side as Fox supported her.

“No! She was fine!” I cried. “She ran with us all the way back!”

“She wasn’t fine, Avery,” he said. “Dogs have a pack mentality, they keep up or get left behind. Missy either injured herself worse when she left the shed or she kept going on adrenaline until she got home.”

“Can you help her? You can help her, right?”

Fox put his ear to Missy’s chest for a moment and then sat back. “I’m sorry, Avery. She’s gone.”

* * *

I woke up the next morning when the sun filtered through the blinds in my parent’s great room, my head in Fox’s lap and his arm draped along my body, cradling my torso. My nerve endings were immediately aware of the exact placement of his skin on mine, even through our clothes. I slid my fingers up his arm experimentally, over the blond hairs on his forearm to where his sleeve bunched just below his elbow.

His chest expanded quickly at my touch, and his hand flexed where it rested on my stomach. “Good morning,” he said in a low voice.

I looked up into his eyes. “Good morning.”

I tried to sit up, but his arm was heavy and he didn’t seem inclined to move it.

“Don’t get up yet.” His hand slid over my stomach in a light caress. Giving in, I snuggled back down, but not before I glanced over at Annabelle on the other couch. She was sleeping in a nest of blankets, with Duke in his bed on the floor at her side. The other two dogs sprawled in front of the waning fire, luxuriating on the rug.

This moment would’ve been nearly perfect if I didn’t have to pee. I glanced up at Fox again and saw that he was looking out the window. The sun continued to stream in from outside, hitting the back of the couch and bathing him in a soft light.

“How does it look out there?” I asked.

His dimple smiled down at me. “Messy, but fixable.”

I nodded. “Good.” I couldn’t take any more bad news. Tears sprang to my eyes when I thought about Missy, and I let them roll down my cheeks for a moment before brushing them away.

Last night, Fox put Missy in a wooden box lined with towels and placed her on the sun porch while I rolled up the rug that was stained with her blood. Fox offered to bury her in the morning, but I wanted my parents to have a chance to say goodbye first. Annabelle was preoccupied with being Duke’s caretaker and hadn’t noticed that Missy wasn’t around, but I’d have to tell her eventually.

We sat in silence for another couple minutes while my bladder screamed but the rest of my body was too numb to listen. I watched as Fox’s arm rose and fell with my chest, mesmerized by the way his long fingers looked against the fabric of my thermal shirt.

“How did you know we were out there?” I asked finally. “Stuck, I mean?”

Fox’s index finger drew lazy circles on the side of my ribcage. “Your dad called the diner, said he’d asked you to get the dogs.”

I nodded. “He didn’t realize the storm would be this bad.”

Whatever guilt I was feeling over Missy, my father’s would be ten times worse. He wasn’t an incredibly emotional man, but he loved those dogs like children.

“I was listening to the radio in the kitchen, and they were reporting lightning strikes and downed lines across the county.” He looked down at me, the barest hint of anxiety clouding his face.

“My dad must’ve been panicked,” I said slowly, watching his expression.
And you?
I wanted to ask. He came for us, so obviously Fox must’ve been worried too.

“Listening to my gut has kept me alive so far.” His arm tightened around me so briefly, I wasn’t sure if I imagined it. “So I hung up the phone and got in the car.”