Page 12 of Raw

I had thrown her favorite tennis ball and Sitka ran after it to fetch but didn’t come back.

Instead, she let the ball fall out of her mouth again, staring toward the dirt road leading into the woods and barking as if an intruder was walking her way.

“Sitka, come on!” I called. “Bring the ball back!”

She still didn’t move, and when I started to walk toward her, passing a few trees and finally getting a clear view of what she was seeing, my jaw dropped as I saw Fennec make his way toward us.

“Fen!”

I didn’t expect him to be here this early, but the way my heart pounded the second I saw him told me that I probably wouldn’t have survived one more hour waiting on him.

His wide grin made me smile brightly, and while I ran toward him, he stopped and held out his arms for me to run into.

Sitka was running too, thinking we were playing a different game now, and since she was a dog, she reached Fennec before I did.

“Down, girl,” Fennec ordered, pushing Sitka down to step aside and let me hug him tightly.

“Finally,” I whispered, pressing my body against his as his arms wrapped around my body.

“I missed you, sweet girl. Sorry it took me so long to come and get you,” he said, rubbing my back gently before letting go of me to look into my eyes.

“It’s been a while, huh?” he said, his wide grin still stuck on his face.

“I missed you. I missed Papa. How’s he doing?” I asked, keeping my arms around his shoulders while he continued to caress my back, keeping a bit of distance between us though.

“Papa’s fine. He’s excited to see you. Did you pack everything?” He was studying my face closely, taking in every single part of it while I did the same with his.

His hair had grown, and it was sticking out of his black beanie, curling at the ends.

I couldn’t deny his attractiveness and had to agree with those girls back in Fairbanks.

Fen was a handsome guy.

“I packed everything. I can’t wait to see him. Did anything change? How’s the treehouse?”

Papa built the treehouse when we were little, letting us sleep in there while he continued to sleep in the tent a few feet away from the tree.

The land we lived on in the forest was Papa’s, which he bought even before we were born, so he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to with the trees and space surrounding him.

“Nothing changed. Treehouse is still there,” he assured. “Go tell Jason I’m here,” he said, and I quickly nodded while letting go of him but grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the cabin.

“Jason?” I called out, pushing the door open and letting Sitka run inside first, announcing Fennec’s arrival by barking.

He walked out of the kitchen, nodding at Fennec and then looking at me. “I put your bag next to the bed.”

I nodded and squeezed Fennec’s hand before letting go of it to go grab my duffle bag.

“Everything all right up there?” I heard Jason ask.

“Yeah, we’re all good,” Fen replied. “Papa wants to know if you have enough firewood for the winter, or if you want us to bring you some later this week.”

“I’m good. You guys keep that wood for yourself. You need it more than I do.”

I walked back to Fennec, letting him take my bag and pull the short straps over his shoulders to carry it up the mountain.

“We can go now. Thank you for dinner and breakfast, Jason. And the ride,” I told him with a smile.

“Welcome. If you ever need to revisit reality, let me know. I’m heading back to Fairbanks around Thanksgiving.”

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