Hartland came running toward us, out of breath with Chewy’s leash in his hand.
“The dog ran out!”
“…come again?”
“He ran out the door into the rows. I can’t find him.”
I stared at him.My fucking son is missing?
“How you let that happen, Hart?!”
“Ms. Aurora, I am not a dog watcher,” he exhorted quickly. “I am not a contractor or your personal assistant. I just need money to put myself through school, okay? This shit is stressing me out!”
I raised my hands. “Okay, okay! Calm down. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. Which way did he go?”
He pointed toward the far rows. The same direction where the ATV got stuck the day before.
The ground over there was still heavy with mud. The sun hadn’t reached that section yet.
“My God,” I ran my hands through my hair as panic began to creep up in me. If Chewy even busts a grape in this field, Marley’s gonna kill my ass. “I gotta find him. Now.”
“It’s okay,” Wyatt said. “I’ll help you look.”
I softened. “You will?”
“You go left,” he commanded. “I’ll go right.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
I moved fast through the rows, heels sinking enough to slow me down.
“Chewyyyy?”
Nothing.
I pushed past another line of vines, scanning low, then wide. My grip tightened on the leash still wrapped around my wrist.
“Chewy!”
Still nothing.
My chest tightened.
He was small. Too small for this place. One wrong step, one wrong bite?—
My stomach dropped.
“Chew Toy! Don’t eat nothing,” I picked up my pace. “Don’t you touch nothing.”
I checked my phone.
I had maybe forty minutes before I needed to be back in the office.
“Chewy!”
The rows stretched on. The mud thickened the further I went. No workers in sight yet. No movement.
And the thought wouldn’t leave me alone.
