Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [33]
Selena waved to Kendra at the same time she whistled for Lola. The dog had taken off for the stream behind Kendra’s house and was eagerly investigating something on the ground.
“I told you that you didn’t have to bring the mail down, that I’d walk up later and pick it up,” Kendra said as she came out into the yard.
“I know, but I have appointments this afternoon in town and wanted to leave a little early to run a few errands, so I thought I’d drop your mail off before I started getting ready to leave. Besides,” the young woman grinned as she tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear, “Lola missed you. She made a beeline down the road as soon as I opened the door.”
“Where’s Lola?” Kendra frowned, looking around. She spotted the dog down near the edge of the stream. “What’s she got there?”
“Oh, who knows? She’s always picking up something.” Selena and Kendra walked across the yard to where the big dog stood, sniffing happily and wagging her tale with anticipation.
“What is that thing?” Selena bent over and picked up the remains of a sandwich, Lola lunging to grab a bite or two in passing. “Looks like one of the canoeists threw away their lunch.”
“Here, give it here,” Kendra reached for it, “and I’ll pitch it in the trash, unless you’re going to let Lola have the rest of it.”
“No, I don’t like her eating people-food. She gets plenty of doggie treats at home and, I dare say, here as well.” Selena followed Kendra to the back of the house where she lifted the lid of a trash can and dumped the sandwich in. “I did notice the box of extra-large Milk Bones on your counter.”
“Lola’s extra-large, aren’t you, girl? She’s my buddy.” Kendra rubbed the dog behind the ears, and Lola’s sorrow at watching the sandwich disappear vanished. “So what’s new in the neighborhood?”
“There were some canoes through last night. Several in a group, and later, one loner passed the back of my house, though I doubt he’ll be back anytime soon, since Lola took off after him something fierce.”
“She must have been having a guard-dog moment.”
“Well, she’ll have to get over it. It seems that every weekend there are more and more visitors.”
“A sure sign of spring, when the canoes start again in force.” Kendra nodded. Starting in the spring, weekends brought a steady stream of nature lovers to the Pines to explore and to enjoy the scenery. Kendra had never minded sharing the woods and the waterways with others who admired them, but her welcome ended at her property line. “I guess it’s time to put up new ‘No Trespassing’ signs, just in case someone else decides that my yard would make a good picnic area.”
“Actually, I think someone may have been down here the other night.” Selena paused, remembering. “Lola was barking to beat the band after dinner, but I couldn’t tell exactly where she was. I whistled for her, and eventually she came running back from this direction. I figured someone might have been passing by on their way back to the car lot up by the lake.”
“I’ll make a new sign and nail it up this afternoon. In the meantime, come on in and have some tea with me.”
“Can’t. I have patients coming at one and I’m booked steadily through till six.” Selena had a thriving therapy practice. Not only was she very good at what she did, but she was a Piney, born and raised, and proud of it. Troubled locals who would never dream of seeking help from a stranger would agree to counsel with Lem and Ida Brennan’s daughter in the office she had built off the back of the family home if they couldn’t get to her office in Reedsboro, the nearest real town.
Like Kendra, Selena had left the Pines to go to school, and like Kendra, as an adult, she had been drawn back to the simplicity and beauty of the Pines, and chose to make her life there. The two women had known each other since childhood, and had, with Kendra’s return to the Pines, rekindled their friendship.
“By the way, I saw Father Tim on Monday.