To balance her mother, Shelby tried to stay level, but mostly that meant flat. Not happy, not sad, just careful. The reflection of the sunlit clouds on the water now reminded her of orange sherbet, perhaps mixed with some black cherry. Tomorrow she would go down to Redd’s, the great ice cream place in town. After all, it was summer. She would swim in the lake, walk the dog, and try some new flavors of her favorite treat.
Scarlett leapt into Shelby’s lap with her cold, muddy feet. “You ready to go home now, little one?”
Shelby hooked the leash back on, stood, and brushed off the sand. Her stomach growled and she remembered a welcoming dinner would be waiting for her. They hopped up the wooden steps and walked over to a grassy area overlooking the lake. She wanted to make sure Scarlett had a chance to go one more time before heading home. As they walked along, Shelby noticed a slumped elderly man with a beagle sitting on one of the benches. They walked quietly behind him, but Shelby couldn’t help but notice he seemed to be talking to someone next to him. Except there was no one sitting there. The words, “I wish you were here…” drifted in the air. Shelby pretended she did not hear and hurried past him. So much sadness everywhere, she thought.
She forced a smile back on her face. She had a whole summer before her, a wonderful place to live with her grandmother, and a dog to love. She could get a part-time job and make a friend. Maybe she was right where she was supposed to be, and everything would work out. At least now she could hope.
Chapter 4
The dog’s snoring woke Theo up. Wally was better than an alarm clock.
Another day.
He looked around the bedroom he’d shared with his wife, Jean, of almost fifty years. Every cell of his body ached. The weight on his chest made it hard to breathe. Without Jean’s warm body next to his at night, he could barely sleep. The old beagle would snuggle close, just the two of them, and for a moment everything would be all right. But the loneliness crept in the minute he opened his eyes and found the space beside him was empty.
“Give it time,” his son Cameron had said. It was well over a year now and time was not a healer for him. He knew he was kidding only himself if he believed this would get better.
The dog stirred and Theo knew he had to drag himself out of bed and put some clothes on. These dark moods had to lift sometime. It was summer and the sky was crystal blue reflecting off cool, clear water. At least he could leash up his old boy and go for a walk. Theo tried to keep to a routine for the dog, something he could hold on to. Wally’s safety kennel was in the corner of the room if Theo needed to go out for a few hours. But he hadn’t needed to use it for a long time.
Theo sat down in the brown leather recliner and put on his walking shoes. Wally used to jump in the air to go for a walk, but now he patiently waited by the door. Once outside, they trudged along the path adjacent to the lake, passing through familiar oaks and pines that he and his wife had admired so many times together. They had retired here over ten years ago and been active in the community. The townspeople were kind to him that summer after Jean passed, but the casseroles in his kitchen had been mostly left untouched. He stopped answering his door; he could not force a smile one more time. And then the summer folk left, the air chilled, and eventually it was just him, his dog, and his grief.
He wanted to sit down, but knew he needed to walk. Or at least the dog did. He watched Wally waddle up ahead, his gait slow.
"What a pair we make, two old men," Theo said.
The beagle's golden-brown muzzle was almost pure white now, and Theo couldn't believe Wally had turned down his favorite treats for days. When Jean had held the treat in her hands, Wally danced in the air, the room echoing with barks. But since she’d died, neither of them was doing much dancing. At first Wally had spent most of his day lying beside Theo on the bed or in