“From Sophie’s knitting circle. I’m sure she and Hilda can get most of the other women from the group to join in, not to mention their families.”

“But—”

“And Oscar and as many DNR people as he can rustle up,” Sophie added before Harrison could protest. She knew what he was thinking—that the women of the knitting circle were the ones who caused her mother to move into the house in the first place—but that hardly mattered now. When it came to protecting their own, those fierce, loyal women were a godsend. And Harrison, whether he knew it or not, was one of their own.

Because he’s mine.

As Sophie was rapidly coming to learn, the people who loved her, who took such good care of her, didn’t just throw the mantle over herself. It automatically extended to everyone she held dear, no questions asked.

If that was what it meant to be weak, to know that she and everyone she held dear was loved, then so be it. She was willing to accept the consequences—if not for her own sake, then for Harrison’s. That man could use a safety net right about now.

“You should also include your parents,” Sophie’s mom added.

Harrison balked—as in physically balked, his entire body rearing back like a horse stopping at a jump. “Parents? Mine?”

“Good idea. They’ll have a better idea of all the hiding places out there, and Bubbles knows and trusts your father.” Sophie took one look at Harrison’s expression and added, “I’ll give them a call right now. I’m sure they’ll meet us out there.”

“Perfect. That gives us a nice, big number.” Her mom yanked open a cupboard and started pulling down all the to-go coffee cups she could find. “With a group this large, I’m sure we’ll have that little puppy home by noon.”

Chapter 21

To no one’s surprise, it turned out that noon was an optimistic estimate.

Harrison was no stranger to the weird ways time worked in an emergency situation. Some days, firefighting in the wilderness seemed to stretch into eternity, each second a minute, each minute an hour. Other days, he went from opening his eyes in the morning to closing them twelve hours later without so much as a memory of the events that occurred.

This was one of those former situations. True to their promise, the Vasquez women had marshalled a search party that was larger and more dedicated than he had any right to expect, but all the bodies in the world couldn’t force a two-pound puppy to materialize out of thin air.

“Bubbles!”

“Oh, Bubbles!”

“Here, puppy, puppy. Come out, doggie, doggie.”