She swallowed, and the dog nudged her with his nose. She rubbed it, still looking at me, and the tears that filled her eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks.

“I’m going to Miles’ cottage. I’ll let you know if I won’t be home tonight.” My own ball of emotion welled inside me, and I turned and left before my voice broke.

Her sobs echoed through the hall, and I hesitated at the door, but I couldn’t comfort her now.

This was a storm of her own making, and she had to weather it.

I escaped through the front door and walked over to where Miles had been waiting. He’d not long finished work and had promised we’d cook together in his cottage where we’d have a little privacy, as long as I didn’t mind if we took something up to his grandpa.

I didn’t, obviously.

But that seemed a thousand miles away from me right now when all I wanted to do was run away and hide.

“Gabi?”

I drew in a deep breath. My jaw quivered at the sight of Miles, and it took all of me to keep it together. “Can we go? Please? I need to get away from here.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. Come on.” He all but carried me into his car and shut the door behind me, then got in the driver’s side. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head. “Not right now. I need a few minutes to pull myself together.”

“All right.” He reached over and rested his hand on my thigh, squeezing gently. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I squeezed his fingers, then he pulled away so he could put the car into gear. “I’m sure.”

A succession of loud barks made him pause. “Is that a dog?”

I rested my elbow on the window and pressed my fingers into my temples. “Don’t ask. Or at least wait for ten minutes before you do.”

***

“I left her there, crying! I am a horrible person!”

Miles watched as I paced up and down his very adorable and cosy living room. “Why does she have a dog, though?”

“I left her alone, crying, and you’re worried about the dog?”

“I just want to know where it came from.”

“She said she found it.”

“Did she get it checked for a microchip?”

“Yes. She found it at a dog rescue,” I said dryly. “I guess when Dad told her no more farm animals, he forgot to include dogs in that, and she exploited a loophole.”

“Ah. So the chip is registered to her.”

“Exactly.” I continued pacing. “What am I supposed to do? I shouted at her. I made her cry. And then I walked out and came here. I’m a terrible niece.”

“You are not a terrible niece.” Miles stood up and came over to me. He touched my arms, slowly running his hands up my arms and over my shoulders to cup my face. “Trying to look out for your dad and be a good daughter doesn’t make you a bad niece. I think she knows that, too. She knows what she did was…” He sighed. “It wasn’t wrong, was it? Not if it makes her happy. But the way she went about it has left a lot to be desired.”