“Hold on. I’ll be right back.”

He leaped over the rail, hitting the dirt hard and disappearing around the side of the cottage.

“Andrew, where are you going?”

The Adirondack chair was built on an angle that made it hard for Kate to get up on her own, but she managed. Buttons was on his feet too, nose between the wood slats, staring at where Andrew had gone. Unlike her husband, the dog didn’t seem all that concerned.

“Andrew!”

She noticed someone in a canoe. When they heard her, they stopped paddling and waved. She couldn’t see them well enough to tell if it was a man or woman, young or old. Waving back, she gripped the railing and leaned as far as she could without losing her balance, hoping to see where Andrew had run off to. His footsteps were unmistakable, fading with each passing second.

“I think your daddy needs to be cut off,” she said.

How the hell could a snapping branch get him so riled up? She made her way to the front of the house, standing on the porch, her hips crying out for her to get off her feet and lie down.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called his name.

When he didn’t reply, she started to get worried.

Thrashing sounds close by didn’t help matters much.

Buttons whizzed past her feet, bounding down the steps and into the woods.

“Buttons! Stop!”

The dog that had to be coerced to leave her side didn’t even break his stride as he too slipped into the woods.

“What the heck’s going on?”

Her heart started to race, and with that came the pain. Her left hand massaged her chest while her right held on to the doorframe.

“Andrew! Buttons!”

“Where’s Buttons?” Andrew startled her, popping out from behind a tree as if he’d been hiding there the whole time.

“I think he went looking for you. Why did you run off like that?”

He looked in her eyes, and she saw the shine of panic wash over his face.

“Oh my God, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He ran onto the porch, wrapping her in his arms.

“Really? You jump off the porch, dash into the woods, ignore my calls and you didn’t think that would freak me out?”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“No, you were thinking, but about what?”

“First, let me get you inside and I’ll go find Buttons.”

Kate looked over his shoulder and saw the beagle trotting toward them with a big, broken stick in his mouth. It was a wonder he’d been able to get his jaws around it, much less carry it.

“I think Buttons found the source of your panic,” she said, not believing it. How could Buttons know that was the branch out of all the branches lying about that had startled Andrew?