Page 2 of A Snowy Escape

Echo chuffs, bumping her body against my leg like she’s trying to remind me that she’s here and waiting.

“Sorry, girl,” I tell her, gently trying to redirect her away from the door. I’ve seen Tommy shove her out of the way, but I feel guilty even giving her a gentle push. She’s a solid seventy-five pounds, so it doesn’t do much. “I can’t take you with me. I don’t even know where I’ll end up. I’ll come back in and say goodbye, though.”

Her head tilts, and it’s clear she’s not buying what I’m selling.

I still need to do another sweep to make sure I haven’t missed anything important.

“Back up.” Pointing a few feet away, I say, “Sit. I’ll be right back.”

Her chocolate-brown eyes convey her displeasure as she reverses and sits on her haunches.

I take my chances, pulling the door open and struggling to get out with how full my arms are.

Echo has no chill, running out past me.

She looks back, wagging her tail. Her body language says she’s just waiting for me to catch up before she runs ahead again.

We’ve danced this dance many times.

“Okay, you can walk to the car with me, but then you have to go back inside.”

* * *

“You’re going to get me killed,” I mutter, leaning against the steering wheel.

I’ve already told her this many times over the last four hours of driving. I pray I’m overreacting, but my gut says Tommy is going to shit a brick.

Even knowing that, I couldn’t bring myself to leave her behind. His temper is too volatile when he doesn’t get his way.

“What are we going to do if he comes looking for us?” I ask, peeking over at her. “Would you bite him for me?”

She’s not the best conversationalist, but I do feel safer with her by my side. Not that I think she would really attack Tommy. I do have faith she would protect me from anyone else, though.

We’re going to have to find a parking lot or rest area to sleep in tonight.

Knowing she’ll bark and growl if someone comes close to the car gives me an extra layer of protection, but she’s also a massive beast. Her chunky butt takes up the entire passenger seat of my car.

Once I stop for the night, I’ll make space for her in the back seat, since I’m a little worried that it’s not safe for her to ride up here. I would have put her in the back from the get-go, but it was already packed with boxes and all my bedding.

“We’ve got this. We’re just two independent ladies on an adventure.” Reaching a hand over, I dig my fingers into her neck rolls. “You’re going to protect me. Right, Echo? In exchange, I’ll feed you and give you all the pets and scratches.”

She licks my wrist, and I think that’s the only confirmation I’m going to get.

I pull my hand back to the wheel and focus on the lines on the road. It’s way past my bedtime, but I need to get as far away as possible.

When I saw there was a snowstorm coming, I decided it was an extra special message from the universe that it was my time to go.

I shut off the location-sharing app on my phone, deleted it, and even went so far as to print out four different sets of fake directions. That way, if Tommy checks the printer history, he’ll have a three out of four chance of going on a wild-goose chase.

Under normal circumstances, I would trust my phone to guide me, but service can be spotty, and I have next to no sense of direction. It seemed safer to have a physical copy, especially with bad weather coming in.

I should be able to stay ahead of the storm, and by the time it hits tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be out of its path or at least out of the worst of it.

* * *

My entire body jolts as Echo nuzzles her cold nose to my cheek, whining.

Holy shit.