Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
It was slow going and I had no sense of what part of the room I was in, or even what kind of room it was, but when Brewer suddenly pulled away from me, I felt completely abandoned. But the dog hadn't gone far. In fact, he stopped right in front of me and sat down, preventing me from taking another step. I was so relieved that the animal hadn't left me that I dropped my hands and praised him. "Okay, buddy, let's keep moving," I murmured as I tried to take another step forward. The reality was that I needed to find one room in particular to answer the call of Mother Nature. It was most definitely something I didn't want to have to ask for Gideon's help with.
But Brewer refused to move and when I tried to walk around him, the dog blocked me again. All of a sudden, I felt sharp teeth close around my hand. I yelped and yanked my hand back. I expected Brewer to follow through on his attack, but there was nothing but the sound of his tail thumping on the floor. I held my hand protectively against my chest. Once the shock of Brewer's behavior wore off, I focused on my hand and realized that it didn't actually hurt. I felt along the skin but there were no marks of any kind, no blood either. Why in the world had the dog grabbed me? Had I done something to upset him? Was he not liking me wandering around his territory?
"I think he's trying to help you," I heard a voice say. Once I got past being startled by the voice, a wave of relief and pleasure went through me.
Gideon.
The knowledge that he was still here held way too much weight with me. I tried to remind myself that of course he'd be here, it was his house. But somehow knowing he hadn't left me eased something inside of me. It didn't even bother me that he'd somehow managed to sneak up on me without me knowing.
"Help me?" I asked.
I heard footsteps approaching. "There's a table directly in front of you. Brewer is between you and that table."
I thought about how the dog had moved from my side to in front of me to keep me from moving forward. I flexed my hand. Had he really grabbed it because he was trying to maneuver me around the table? It seemed far-fetched for a dog. Still, the dog hadn't hurt me. I found myself dropping my hand to where it had been when Brewer had grabbed it. I was greeted with a cold nose and a wet lick. I found myself chuckling and petting the big animal.
"Try taking a step forward," Gideon murmured. He was off to my side somewhere. Strangely enough, his presence helped dissolve the remaining tension in my system. I took a step forward only to have Brewer's teeth once again close around my hand. This time, I forced myself not to yank it away. There was very little pressure as Brewer held my hand in his mouth. I stood there, not knowing what to do. Before I could ask Gideon how to react, I felt Brewer tug my hand. It didn't hurt in the least. I gave in and took a step in the direction the dog was trying to get me to go. One step, then another, then another. It was slow going, but amazingly enough, I didn't run into a single thing as I followed Brewer in a semi-circle, presumably around the table I'd been about to run into.
"I'll be damned," Gideon said.
Brewer released my hand a moment later but stayed by my side. As before, when I took a step, Brewer stayed pressed up against me. I stopped and glanced in what I hoped was Gideon's direction. "Has he ever done this before?" I asked.
"No," Gideon said. "He'll grab my hand to get my attention, but that's it."
I knelt down so I could get closer to the dog and then I gave him a good rubdown on his face. "Thank you, boy," I said. I was rewarded with several sticky dog kisses. I kept my hand on Brewer's head as I stood.
"How are you feeling?" Gideon asked. Normally, when someone spoke to me, I had a habit of dropping my eyes so I wouldn't be looking in some random direction because I wasn't able to pinpoint the person's exact location. It was my way of covering up for my disability. But I found myself looking for any shape that could potentially be Gideon so I could be talking to him.
"Okay," I said. "What time is it?"
"It's almost six p.m."
So I’d been asleep for several hours. "Are you hungry?" Gideon asked.
Surprisingly, I was. But even if I hadn't been, I needed to get back into the routine of eating on a regular schedule so I could get my blood sugar regulated again. "Yes," I said. "You can just take me back to my cabin, I'm sure I can find something. The power will probably be back on soon anyway, right?"