by Sue Pethick
The undergrowth was thinner there, and Todd saw a light coming from somewhere up ahead. He hesitated, thinking it might be better just to go back to the parking lot than to take a chance, but decided to push on. If he’d noticed the light, maybe Archie had, too. With luck, they’d find shelter—and each other—there.
His first glimpse of the Spirit Inn nearly took Todd’s breath away; the place was lit up like a Christmas tree. It had been years since he’d been there, but the inn hadn’t changed a bit. The garden wasn’t as green as it had been in the summer, of course, and the pool was covered for the season, but the old building looked pretty much the same. If he walked through the front door blindfolded, he thought, he’d probably still be able to find his way around.
The paw prints he’d been following were nowhere in sight, but that didn’t mean Archie couldn’t have been there, and Todd was curious to take a look inside. He headed around to the front door to see if anyone had reported seeing a small dog in the area.
After he’d seen how little the outside of the inn had changed, stepping into the lobby was a shock. The comfortable, homey décor Todd remembered had been replaced by antique furniture, intricate stained glass, and heavy velvet curtains. One thing that hadn’t changed, though, was the clerk at the front desk. The man was older now and the green jacket was new, but Todd would never forget that hair and mustache.
As he approached the desk, the man gave him a cool, unfriendly smile and Todd realized how scruffy he must look after tramping through the woods. He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged apologetically.
“May I help you?” the man said.
“I’m looking for my dog.”
“I’m afraid we don’t allow dogs here.”
The man’s attitude was as intimidating as ever. It made Todd feel like he was twelve again, asking if his room key was in the Lost and Found. Why had he even gone inside? It wasn’t as if Archie could have walked in on his own.
“Sorry.” Todd shook his head. “I’m Todd Dwyer. I don’t know if you remember me, but my family used to vacation here a lot when I was a kid.”
The man’s expression remained unchanged.
“Uh, right,” Todd said.
This is awkward.
“You see, I was at the rest stop down the hill and my dog ran off. I thought one of your guests might have—”
“Clifton, when you’ve got a minute, can I—?”
A small, slim woman in a green blazer had poked her head out of the door behind the front desk. Todd felt his heart leap.
Emma?
“Oh,” she said, ducking back. “Sorry.”
“I’ll be right with you,” the clerk said. “Mr. Dwyer here was just leaving.”
The woman paused and took a second look at Todd. He grinned, and a sly smile spread across her face.
“Wasn’t there a Dwyer family who used to come here in the summer? They had a sweet girl named Claire and a rude little boy named Todd.”
Clifton spluttered, horrified; then Todd and Emma began to laugh.
“Oh, I see,” he said. “It’s a joke.”
Emma came around the desk and shook Todd’s hand.
“It’s good to see you again, Todd. How are you?”
“Fine,” he said, feeling oddly let down by the handshake. “So you’re working here now, huh?”
“Actually,” she said, “I own it.”
“Own it? What happened to your Gran?”
Emma sobered. “She passed away last year.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right,” she said. “What about you? How’s your family?”
Todd shrugged. “Dad’s gone. He had a heart attack about a month after our last visit.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Emma said. “He was always very kind to me.”
“Yeah,” Todd said. “He was a great guy.” He swallowed. “Anyway, Claire’s all grown up and has twin boys now.”
“No way! And your mom?”
“Same as ever; loves being a grandma; lots of hints being dropped about me getting married.”
Todd felt his face redden. Why had he said that?
If Emma noticed, however, she didn’t show it.
“I guess that’s the upside of being an orphan,” she said. “Nobody trying to push me down the aisle.” She looked around. “Are you checking in?”
“Actually, I came by to see if anyone had seen my dog. He got away from me at the rest stop down the hill. I was following his tracks when I realized I was close to the inn, so I thought I’d stop by and see if he’d come this way.”
Emma turned to Clifton.
“Have you checked with the staff to see if anyone’s seen Mr. Dwyer’s dog . . . ?”
She looked back at Todd.
“Archie,” he said.
Clifton picked up the phone. “I’ll call housekeeping.”
Emma smiled. “Why don’t I drive you back to the rest stop so you can get your car? Maybe he’ll have turned up by the time we get back.”
She went back to her office and grabbed her keys.
“Do you live around here?” she asked as they headed out to the parking lot.
“No,” Todd said. “I was on my way out to Claire’s. They live up near Monte Cristo.”
Emma gave him a worried look.
“You weren’t planning to get there tonight, were you? I hear the roads are pretty slick up north.”
He shook his head. “No, we were going to spend the night someplace around here and try again tomorrow. Now, though, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”
“Why don’t you stay with us?” she said. “My treat.”
Todd glanced back at the inn.
“I thought you didn’t allow pets.”
“Not in the hotel, but if you find him, Archie can stay with me. I live in the old cottage out back.”
“I remember that cottage!” Todd said. “It was always crammed full of old junk.”
Emma laughed. “Yeah, well, I cleaned it out. Now it’s crammed full of new junk.”
CHAPTER 8
Emma kept stealing glances at Todd while she drove to the rest stop. It was hard to believe she’d just been thinking about him and now there he was in the flesh. Of course, it wasn’t as if he’d come there to see her, but after the way things between them had ended, she never imagined she’d see him again.
It had been thirteen years, she thought. Thirteen long years since they’d seen each other. A lot had happened since then.
Emma had still been living with her mother back then, moving from place to place, changing schools twice or three times a year, and spending her summers working at the inn and trying to piece together enough of what she’d gleaned in the classroom to keep from being held back the next school year. She’d eventually graduated, gone to college, and been in and out of some bad relationships, but on the outside, she really hadn’t changed all that much. Todd, on the other hand, looked like a completely different person.
He’d been a skinny teenager with thick glasses back then, a shy boy who’d struggled to keep up with her as they roamed the backwoods, climbing trees and jumping streams. Now Todd was a head taller, the glasses were gone, and she could tell there was muscle under the old sweatshirt he was wearing. As Emma watched him from the corner of her eye, she wondered if his memories of her were as fond as the ones she had of him.
“I still can’t believe you own the old inn,” he said.
“Yeah, there’d been some hints over the years, but I never thought Gran was serious about leaving it to me. It felt like winning the lottery.”
“When I saw it from the trail, it was as if I’d just left. The outside looks exactly the way I remembered it.”
“There have been a few changes,” she said, “but you’re right. The building is pretty much the same as when your family was here last.”
He cleared his throat, looking shamefaced.
“I’m sorry you never heard from me. Things got pretty hairy aft
er my dad died. He didn’t believe in life insurance and we didn’t have much in savings. I pretty much became the man of the house.”
“Forget about it.” She glanced at him. “It was a long time ago.”
“It wasn’t really my choice,” he added hastily. “I wanted to write, but my mother wouldn’t let me.”
Emma smirked. If there was one thing she’d learned from her Gran, it was that you don’t blame others for your bad behavior.
“What did she do? Lock up all the pens and paper?”
She’d said it without thinking and it surprised her to hear how much venom there was in her voice.
“No, but she asked me not to,” he said. “What else could I do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. What does the man of the house usually do?”
Todd’s face clouded. “I said I was sorry.”
“I know.” Emma softened. “I guess I was just a little more upset about it than I thought. Apology accepted.”
There followed a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Emma felt sorry for giving Todd a hard time, but it wasn’t as if her life had been any easier back then. Had it never occurred to him that sharing their experiences might have helped them both? Still, she thought, it wasn’t her place to criticize, especially now, when he’d just lost his dog.
She began scanning the woods on either side of them.
“What does this dog of yours look like, anyway?”
“He’s small, with kind of wiry white fur, and he’s got a tan patch over one eye, but if he’s been running around in the mud, you might not be able to tell.”
“Any particular breed?”
“Nope. Just a mutt.”
The turnoff for the rest stop was ahead on the right. As Emma drove into the parking lot, her truck’s headlights swept across the only other vehicle there—an old Jeep Cherokee covered in road grime. It had to be at least fifteen years old, she thought, feeling a bit let down. Todd must not be doing so well.
“Is that yours?” she said.
“Yeah.”
Emma pulled into the space next to the Jeep and looked around. The rest stop had a wide grassy area that sloped sharply downward about fifty feet from the parking lot. There were bathrooms off to the left and a couple of picnic tables on either side of the concrete path that divided the space down the middle. If there was a dog out there, however, she didn’t see any evidence of him.
“Where were you guys when he got away?”
“Right here,” Todd said. “I hadn’t even stopped before Archie opened the window and took off.”
Emma looked at him. “He opened the window by himself ?”
“Yeah. I thought maybe it was an accident at first, but now I wonder if it was something he learned from Uncle Bertie.”
“Wait a minute. Is this the Uncle Bertie who was a circus clown?”
Todd laughed. “Did I tell you about him?”
“Oh, my gosh. I used to think that was the coolest thing I’d ever heard of. For years, I wanted to join the circus like your uncle did. Is he still performing?”
“No,” Todd said. “He died last week. That’s how I got Archie.”
“Oh, Todd.” Emma put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
She paused for a moment.
“Wait a minute. You mean Archie’s still alive? He must be ancient.”
“No, this is a different Archie. Uncle Bertie had a whole series of dogs with that name.”
“And they were all circus dogs?”
“Pretty much. This last one mostly did kids’ birthday parties, but he knows a lot of tricks.”
“Well, even a smart dog can get lost in the woods,” she said, reaching over and grabbing the flashlight from her glove box. “Come on. Let’s go take a look.”
They searched the rest stop for twenty minutes while the dusk deepened and the rain intensified. Todd and Emma yelled themselves hoarse calling for the little dog, but Archie either couldn’t hear them or didn’t want to be found. When the two of them finally turned and trudged back to the truck, the only sound they heard was the squelching of their shoes.
Todd looked dispirited. “Do you mind if we wait a few more minutes? He might still turn up.”
“Okay,” she said. “But let’s get back in the truck. My teeth are starting to chatter.”
Emma started the engine and turned on the heat. It didn’t take long before the windows began to fog up.
“I’ll fix that,” he said.
Todd stripped off his wet sweatshirt, revealing a T-shirt underneath that clung to him like a second skin. As he started wiping down the glass, Emma tried not to stare.
“I can have housekeeping launder that when we get back, if you’d like.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’ve got plenty of dry clothes in the Jeep.”
As Todd worked his way across the windshield, she kept her eyes on the trail that had led him to the inn. There was no sign of anything even remotely resembling a small white dog out there, but at least it distracted her from ogling Todd.
I’ve been alone too long, Emma thought. I’m becoming shameless.
“You see something?” he said, following her gaze.
Emma shook her head. “Nope. I don’t see anything.”
Todd sat back and tossed his sweatshirt onto the floor. Between the effort of looking for Archie and clearing the windows, he’d begun to sweat, and in the close confines of the truck’s cab, Emma found the effect intoxicating. There was something she still found very attractive about Todd, she realized, and bit her lip. He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, either, which was encouraging. What was it he’d said about his mother bugging him to get married?
Whoa, slow down, girl! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
“Why don’t we head back?” she said. “Maybe someone’s seen him up at the inn.”
“Maybe.” Todd was still watching the woods. “The inside seemed a lot different, but maybe I’m just misremembering.”
It took her a second to figure out that he was talking about the inn. He doesn’t want to give up yet, she thought. He’s stalling for time.
“You’re right,” she said. “When business started going downhill about eight years ago, Gran decided to come up with a theme that would attract new customers. She and Clifton liked the idea of tying it in with the age of the building—”
“Hence the Victorian stuff.”
“Right. The antiques, the stained glass, all the period pieces you see in the lobby, are in the rooms, too. And everything just clicked when she discovered that the place was haunted.”
Todd’s head swiveled. “Haunted? You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Gran and Clifton did some digging into the history of the inn and found out about it. We’ve had people come from all over the world hoping to encounter one of our ghosts.”
“And do they?”
“Who knows?” She shrugged. “I’ve never encountered one myself.”
“So the new theme worked.”
Emma paused, thinking about her current financial struggles.
“More or less. I worry sometimes that we’re dependent upon a pretty limited clientele, but they’re loyal and it’s hard trying to differentiate yourself from the big chains.”
He looked back out the window.
“I can imagine.”
“So,” Emma said, “what are you doing with yourself these days?”
Todd hesitated, looking uncomfortable.
“I’m in a period of transition at the moment,” he said. “I left my old job a few months ago and now I work at home part-time.”
Emma nodded. Well, that settles it, she thought. A period of transition? Working part-time from home? Todd was definitely down on his luck. She sighed. Why am I always attracted to the losers?
Todd set his hand on the door.
“I’d better let you get back to work. I’ll get the Jeep warmed up and follow you in a few minutes.”
As the door clicked open, he shook his head.
“I keep thinking that Archie must have seen a squirrel,” he said. “Why else would a dog just take off like that?”
Emma shrugged. “Maybe he saw a ghost.”
CHAPTER 9
By the time Todd stepped into his hotel room, he was exhausted. It had been a long day of driving on top of a pretty sleepless night when Archie ran away, and that had been more than two hours ago. Cold, hungry, and sick with worry, he was too tired to set his burden down gently. He opened his hands and let the suitcase and dog carrier crash to the floor.
Archie might be trapped somewhere, he thought, or hurt. A coyote or a black bear could have eaten him. Had he run out onto the highway and been hit by a car? Was he shivering and wet, in danger of starving to death? The myriad ways a little dog could be killed or injured flashed through Todd’s mind like a montage of disaster.
Cut it out. All you’re doing is borrowing trouble.
He stripped off his clothing and stepped into the shower. Once he was clean and wearing warmer clothes, he’d get himself some dinner and figure out what to do next. There had to be an emergency vet or an animal shelter around somewhere. He’d give them a call and see if anyone had brought in a small white dog. After that, well, who knew?
At least he had a place to stay that wasn’t a smelly, run-down kennel. When Todd thought about the Dog Days Inn, it made him shudder. He’d probably be spending the night in his Jeep if Emma hadn’t offered to take Archie in. Todd hoped she knew how grateful he was. He could never have left the area without knowing what had happened to the little dog.
He dried himself off and put on the complimentary robe that was hanging on the back of the door, then walked out to the bedroom, picked up his suitcase, and keyed in the four-digit security code. It was ridiculous having luggage that was as impregnable as Fort Knox. Todd would have exchanged it for something simpler, but Gwen’s father had made a big deal about that particular feature and he knew the old man would take it personally if he found out Todd had gotten rid of it—which he would. Living with Gwen was like having her father’s spy in the house.