Page 52 of Stone
“True that,” he interjected with a chuckle.
“But I hope you keep it forever. It never hurts to have a talisman or a touchstone. We all need them at different times throughout our lives.”
With his stone in one hand, he cupped Juliana’s cheek, then leaned forward and kissed her. It was sentimental, it was mush, it was all sorts of things his brothers would chide him about even though they’d probably also be a tiny bit jealous. But it felt right to hold his little gray token in one hand and Juliana in the other.
She stepped into him, and his fingers trailed down her back as he basked in the moment. Her hands came to rest at his waist and, hooking his belt loops, she tugged him against her.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are an amazing kisser?” she said as he lifted his hand and tangled his fingers in her hair, tipping her head to the side to trail kisses down her throat.
“It only matters that you think so,” he murmured, tracing the line of her neck to her jaw. He was about to set his lips to hers again when something crashed on his back porch.
His body shot to attention and he tightened his arms around Juliana, holding her close, as he listened.
“What was that?” she whispered.
He strained to hear signs of any movement. Then keeping his hold on her, he set the stone back in its bowl and pulled his phone out.
“Security system?” she asked, her voice low.
He nodded, then quickly opened the app and started thumbing through the cameras. No alarms had gone off, which made him think it was an animal—of the nonhuman sort—but he wanted to be sure.
Pausing on the camera that covered the back deck, he studied the area. The only thing amiss was a toppled-over chair.
“It was probably an animal that scared itself,” he said, cycling through the cameras one more time and double-checking thatthe system was fully functional. When he was mostly reassured, he released Juliana and stepped away.
“Can you look at the footage to confirm?” she asked.
He nodded. “I wanted to be sure there wasn’t an imminent threat, but now that we know there’s not, that’s next on the agenda.”
He led her to the end of his bed where they perched, leaning over his small screen. Pulling up the footage, he rewound four minutes, then let it play.
“What’s that?” Juliana asked immediately. In the lower right corner, a dark furry shape darted in and out of the frame. “A baby deer? Isn’t that what you thought I might have heard the other morning?” She paused and frowned. “That looks different than what we saw with the heat sensors. It’s…furrier.”
He cocked his head as a paw once again stepped onto his porch. “The heat sensing image is different than video imaging. It’s about the same size.” A second paw stepped onto the deck. A few seconds later, a black nose tentatively sniffed the area.
“A baby bear?” Juliana asked.
Stone shook his head. “A puppy. A large one, but a puppy.” As if to confirm his statement, a young dog stepped fully into view. It held its head low, swinging it side to side, ever watchful. Pausing with its front paws on the patio and bottom paws on a lower stair, it glanced furtively around before inching all the way onto the deck.
“It’s terrified,” Juliana said. “The poor thing. Do you think someone dumped it?”
“Probably,” he said, his heart heavy with compassion for the young animal. They watched it climb up onto a chair and lean toward the window they’d opened in the kitchen. Stone grimaced, knowing what was coming next. Sure enough, the large, though judging by the size of its feet, young dog leaned a little too far forward and the chair tipped before crashing tothe ground. All they saw next was a blur of black-and-brown fur making a beeline back to the woods.
When it was clear the puppy was gone, Stone closed his phone and looked at Juliana. “I don’t even need to say it, do I?”
“If by ‘it’ you were going to say we need to try to help it, then no, you don’t,” she replied. “It seemed hungry, let’s try that.”
Without further discussion, they retreated to the kitchen where they prepared not just their own plates, but one for the puppy. In unspoken agreement, they set their own dinners on the bistro table, then Stone walked thirty feet from the house—in the direction the dog had fled—and set the third plate down.
Ten minutes into their food, the bushes at the tree line stirred. They stilled, and Stone suspected that like him, Juliana was holding her breath. A minute passed before the form emerged from the woods. It paused, lifted its nose, and took a visible sniff. As it lowered its head, it caught sight of them and froze.
“Hey, sweet baby,” Juliana crooned, startling Stone. He didn’t have much experience with dogs and assumed staying silent would be the best route. But judging by the way the puppy cocked its head, maybe not.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you? Some people left you to fend for yourself and you’re far too young for that, aren’t you?” she continued. The dog dropped to its belly but inched forward as she continued talking.
Five minutes later, it was eating the salmon they’d left in the yard, darting looks at them between bites. Although, with each passing moment, it seemed to relax more and more.
“Should we approach it?” he asked.
