Page 38 of Fifty First Times (Sharing You 0.40)
“I wanted to call you.” He swept his hand through his hair. “I thought about you every day.” His eyes burned into mine. “Every goddamned day.” He turned away from me and followed after Shawnee, who continued to blaze the trail ahead of us.
I stood, blinking after him until the leash tightened in my hands and I was forced to stumble after it. I hurried forward. Anger flowed inside my veins like gasoline, and Tanner’s words struck the match setting me on fire. “How dare you say something like that, Tanner Wade. You have a lot of nerve.”
He looked at me over his shoulder and quirked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“This!” I gesture to space between us with my free hand. “You can’t take a girl to prom, promise her forever, disappear for four years, and then tell her how much you thought about her—as if it was so hard for you to dump me.”
“What?” He stopped walking and I stumbled against him. I placed my hand against his chest to brace myself, only to have the warmth and firmness of the muscles beneath my fingers make my throat go dry. “I never dumped you. And I’m certainly not lying about how I feel.”
I swallowed several times before I worked up enough saliva to answer him. “You don’t walk away from someone you love.”
He raised a hand as if to touch my cheek, but stopped short, leaving it to hover in the air. “You would if it meant protecting the person you love.” His hand fell to his side.
My pulse thrummed inside my head. “Protecting? What are you talking—” A whimper from Shawnee cut me off and it was then I realized the leash had gone slack in my hand. Shawnee spun in frantic circles at the other end.
“Shit,” I muttered.
Tanner frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“He lost Olivia’s trail.”
Tanner crouched and examined the ground around us. “What does that mean?”
“It means it’s a good time to take a break and regroup.” I couldn’t tell if the sweat trickling down my spine was from the humidity or Tanner’s revelation. Either way, I needed a minute. I patted my leg, calling Shawnee to me. He trotted over and I pulled a collapsible bowl and water bottle from my backpack. After filling the bowl and setting it in front of Shawnee, I took a long sip from the water bottle. When I finished, I offered the bottle to Tanner. As he tilted his head back to finish the bottle, I couldn’t help but wonder what he’d meant when he said he was protecting me. How on Earth was breaking someone’s heart protecting them?
Shawnee stopped drinking and looked up at me with water dripping from his muzzle.
“All finished?”
His tongue rolled out the side of his mouth and he grinned.
“Then let’s get back to work.” I picked up his nearly empty water dish, shook it out, and zipped it inside my backpack. Next, I pulled the stuffed horse back out and let Shawnee take several good sniffs. “We’re going to find her now, aren’t we?”
He tilted his head in the air and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply before moving forward at a slower pace than before. Every couple of feet he would stop and sniff the ground before continuing on.
Tanner was back at my side, moving with me as I trailed behind Shawnee. The familiarity of his presence felt like a knife to my side. If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine we were back in high school walking each other to our classes and stealing kisses before the bell rang.
Shawnee stopped again and lifted his nose in the air, making a chuffing sound with each exhale.
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“What’s he doing?” Tanner jutted his chin at the dog.
“He’s air scenting. He lost her foot path but he’s trying to scent her in the woods.” Thorns from a bramble pulled at my jeans and I kicked my leg free.
“He can do that?”
I nodded. “If the wind’s on our side, he can. But just in case, keep your eyes peeled for any sign a little girl might have passed through—a shoe, a torn snippet of clothing, or even a barrette.”
He nodded. Together, we spent several minutes combing through the brush. But no matter how hard we looked, there was nothing to be found.
I gave a frustrated sigh and Shawnee echoed me with a snort.
“That’s uncanny.” Tanner shook his head. “You guys really are a team.”
I smiled and shrugged. “What can I say? I have the best job in the world. In my opinion, dogs make much better coworkers than people. They’re always happy to see you and they never complain.”
“Or put a bullet in your leg,” Tanner added so quietly, I almost didn’t hear.
