She rolls her eyes. I internally high-five myself. Getting a reaction out of her truly is the best feeling. Like you’ve just aced something not many people have.

“Molly!” a small voice shouts behind me.

Wren and I both spin and start walking toward the sound. When we escape the area dense with trees, we spot Callie running after Molly who has a small, violet mitten in her jaw. Meanwhile, Callie has one naked hand.

“That little heathen,” Wren mutters, lips pursed. I immediately snicker. There’s so much more to this girl than the stern but polite attitude she constantly gives.

Before I know it, Wren joins Callie and is running after Molly. The girls are fast, but the dog is faster.

“You’re not getting away with this, Molly Lawson!” Wren shouts, slightly breathless. “And you? What are you doing?” It takes me a second to realize she’s speaking to me. “Come help us!”

What can I do but oblige?

“Let’s take different corners,” Wren the leader of operation shouts. We spread over the terrain, and when Molly heads my way to escape her mother, I try to catch her collar. I fail miserably.

“Come on, lumberjack!” she tells me. “You need to catch—” Her sentence is interrupted when Molly starts running her way. As soon as the dog is within reach, Wren jumps—yes, jumps—to land on Molly’s back. However, the dog is too fast, so she lands face first in the snow.

God, this is really not her day.

I try hard not to laugh, but when I see the humored expression on her face as she gets back up, I let it out. To my right, Callie is giggling, a sound I haven’t heard in so long. It makes me beam even more.

“Are you all right?” I ask Wren.

She gives me a death stare, this time clearly finding it funny. “Why don’t you focus on your problems and I’ll focus on mine?”

I snicker.

“Gotcha!” Callie says before using a similar strategy to Wren’s, and failing just as bad.

Wren laughs. She doesn’t ask my sister if she’s hurt. I suspect she knows Callie wouldn’t complain about it anyway. “Come on, Callie, let’s get her!” Wren’s cheeks are red, bitten by the cold, while her smile is as white and bright as the snow covering her hat.

Callie doesn’t need to be told twice. She starts running after Molly, Wren joining her. Our lawyer must know they won’t catch her that way. Still, they try, my sister finally given the chance to act like a little kid at home.

Yeah, I don’t mind that Wren’s here at all.

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Wren

The air is warm as I walk into the memory care facility.