Chapter Three
“Did you hear that?” Jessie asked Garrett as they reached the edge of the woods that covered a good ten acres of the southern section of Waterford Farm.
“No, but that’s why we have to be very, very quiet.” Garrett put his finger to his lips and whispered, “The quieter we are, the better chance we have of hearing the dog.”
“But did you hear that noise?” she asked, matching his breathy volume.
“You think it was a dog?”
“I think it was…” She peered into the darkness, her jaw tight and a lip trapped under her teeth. “Something.”
Garrett put his arm around his fiancée and tugged her closer. “Don’t worry, Little Red Riding Hood. There are no wolves in these woods.”
“But there are foxes and possums and…” She shivered. “Ghosts?”
He chuckled softly. “Like Christmas Past and Future?”
“Like…” She slowed her step as they neared the first bit of cleared brush that led to a path few people on earth knew as well as Garrett Kilcannon. “Ghosts.”
He kissed her head and took a second to inhale the smell of winter and woods that clung to her reddish-gold hair. “I’ve been in these woods a zillion times. It was one of my favorite Manhunt hiding places because my sisters didn’t have the nerve to come in here.”
“Exactly. Because it’s creepy.”
“Not with me. And do you remember the best game of Manhunt ever?” He pulled her closer and mouthed the rest into her ear. “I won the game and the woman I love.”
Her smile returned, normally bright at the mention of the night they’d gotten engaged while hiding in a tree, looked shaky. “That was near the lake within plain sight of the house,” Jessie said. “Why didn’t we take that section to find Jack Frost?”
“Because it’s easy and familiar, so it made sense for my dad to lead my cousins there. But I know every white oak and longleaf pine in here, and especially where the poison ivy lurks. This is, as we say in North Carolina, mah neck of mah woods.” He layered on his Southern accent, knowing it always made her smile.
But she sighed instead, leaning into him as if she were still battling some fears. “Is there an actual path we can follow?”
“Yup.” He pointed his flashlight at the thin dusting of snow and ice, and what, to an untrained eye, would look like, well, snow and ice. “See the path?”
“No, I don’t.”
He scraped some snow with his boot. “This is a path, I promise. Hold my hand and come with me.” He pulled her closer for a kiss. “Could be fun.”
“We’re supposed to be hunting for a dog.”
“We are. We just have to be very quiet and listen for any sounds.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “So kiss quietly.”
She gave him a warning look, but relented and kissed him back. “I can’t believe we’ll be married in one week,” she whispered against his lips.
He let out a little groan of pure pleasure. “Believe it.”
They held each other’s gaze for a moment. “I love you so much, Jessica Jane,” Garrett whispered.
“I know, and I love you, but we need to find a dog.”
“We will. The dog will come to us. Dogs come to me. And you,” he reminded her. “Remember the first time you met Lola?” He inhaled noisily, poking his nose in Jessie’s hair and knit scarf. “Love at first sniff. For both of us.”
She angled her head and practically purred at his touch, then that turned into a moan. “Oh, Lola. That just reminds me the book isn’t finished yet, and I wanted to get it done before the wedding.”
He curled an arm around her and moved them forward in slow, silent unison, knowing that talking—well, whispering—about the book she was writing would get her mind off being scared and cold.
“For the Love of Lola is going to be a masterpiece,” he said softly. “When you changed the perspective to Lola’s voice? Sheer genius.”
She snuggled closer in gratitude. “I just want to tell her story and combine it with the history of Waterford Farm in a way that will make readers fall in love with Lola and this amazing place.”
“It’s money in the bank, babe. For you and Waterford.” He truly believed that when her book was published, it would be a best seller. “Not only will it drive more canine training business, it’s going to promote rescuing dogs, which, as you know, is what matters most to me.” He added a kiss. “After my soon-to-be wife.”
“I hope so. But let’s find that dog, Garrett.”
“We are. We’re spreading our scent. He’ll come closer and we’ll hear him. Listen.”
They took a few steps, then stopped as Garrett carefully examined every bush and tree, peering into the shadows in case anything moved.
“How deep into the sinister woods should we go?” Jessie asked.
Garrett chuckled. “Sinister. You’re such a wordsmith.”
“What would you call them? Bright, cheery, and friendly?”
“I call them home,” he assured her. “I could find my way in and out of here blindfolded. Let’s go over here.” He tugged her toward the creek bed. “If the water isn’t frozen, he might be getting a drink.”
“Good idea. Unless the ghosts are thirsty, too.”
“No ghosts, Jess.” He glanced at her, his heart shifting around as it always did when he looked into those green eyes. Jessica Jane Curtis came into his life to “expose” him to the world, and she’d done nothing but heal ancient wounds. “But I will not lose you or let you get hurt. Ever.”
She dropped her head on his shoulder, but then suddenly jerked away. “Did you hear that?”
He shook his head and made himself very still, closing his eyes to zero in on sound over every other sense.
“Listen.” She inched back. “I heard something. That.”
A chilly breeze rustled a thousand dry leaves, sending a few of them to the ground and a shiver over Jessie.
“That was wind,” he assured her. “Not a dog.”
“Or…” She wiggled her fingers in front of her face and made a woo-woo sound.
He laughed again. “You’re ridiculous, and there are…”
He heard it then, the sound of a twig cracking, then the brush of feet against leaves.
“Oh boy,” she whispered, hugging herself a little. “Definitely Casper.”
No, but it could be a bird, a deer, a possum…or even a sly fox.
“This way.” He gestured toward the sound, shining the flashlight beam for her to follow. But in less than twenty steps, brush covered the path, making it impossible to navigate.
Garrett pursed his lips and made a kissing noise, one most dogs would recognize as a call. “Here, little one,” he called loudly, snapping his fingers twice. “Come.”
They both turned at another rustling sound.
“There!” Jessie said, but whatever it was took off at the sound of her voice, cracking more branches and moving leaves. “Oh.” She put her hand over her mouth. “I scared it into the bushes.”
“I’ll go in there. Don’t move.” He took a few steps forward, reaching into his pocket for gloves, not to protect him from the cold, but because he knew these shrubs had thistles and thorns.
“Garrett!” Jessie called softly. “He’s back there.” She pointed in the complete other direction than where he was headed. Then another stirring of leaves where the original sound had been.
They looked at each other in dismay. “I heard it,” Jessie said, pointing one way.
“And I heard it over here,” Garrett replied, pointing the other.
Then they both heard sounds in both directions, growing more distant.
“I’m going with this one,” Garrett said, indicating the sound closest to him.
“But that other one could be the dog.” She reached for the flashlight. “Let me look for one, and you look for the other.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Garrett! You just said you could find your way through the woods blindfolded. Give me the flashlight.”
So he had, and he could. He relented and handed over the flashlight. “Don’t go more than twenty feet, and come right back. Promise?”
She nodded solemnly, taking the flashlight. “As if I want to be alone in the haunted forest.”
“You have your phone?”
She made a face. “I left my purse at the house.”
“Here, take mine.” He dug in his pocket for it. “Or you could just stay right here, Jessie. I’ll find one animal and—”
“The other will be gone. We have to find that dog,” she insisted. “I can do it.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “Twenty feet, no more.”
Once again, an animal snapped a twig on their right, while another one pushed some brush on their left. The one closer to Garrett sounded a little bigger. He had to get it out of here before it scared Jessie. With one last look, they turned and walked in opposite directions.
Garrett moved by the light coming from Jessie’s direction, but in seconds, the woods were bathed in darkness. He followed instinct and the sound of an animal darting through the trees, skipping over the path, silent on the snow.
He followed it left, then right, then round an old live oak he always climbed for Manhunt.
He stopped to listen, not hearing anything…not even Jessie. Then the sound of a footfall behind him made him turn, but whatever it was shot off in Jessie’s direction.
Garrett followed, stopping just to listen, then going deeper and deeper into the woods, a little out of familiar territory, but as long as the creek was on his left, he knew he could find his way back.
Fifty paces, then a hundred, then a turn, then the path stopped and…so did he, listening for any sound, especially the soft trickle of water.
Nothing.
Was the creek frozen? He headed that way, but…damn it. He was nowhere near the creek. Nowhere near a tree, stone, clearing, or landmark he recognized. He turned around, without a phone or a light, and stared back in the direction he thought he’d come from as a cold, sickening fear worked up his spine.
Jessie.
“Jess!” he shouted, his voice breaking the silence, but there was no echo. Not with this much snow and this many trees. “Jessie! Flash your light, so I can find you.”
But he didn’t hear a thing except the rustle of leaves.
He was lost in his own neck of the woods, and the woman he loved was alone and terrified. His siblings, one in particular, would have a ball with this turn of events on a night they’d expected to be so very merry.